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Lack of model shops- Belfast


johna
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Remember the old days when you didn't have to use the Internet or mail order to buy model railway items.

 

Today I exhausted my supply for Peco code 75 flexitrack so decided to do a bit of searching locally but it seems nobody's stock it anymore. There aren't many model shops around but I did find a supplier 100 miles away.

 

Such I shame. I will have to wait until the Bangor exhibition in April now.

 

Feeling frustrated

 

Johna

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Sad situation, John.  Its all too common these days unfortunately especially in train starved areas.  We've lost three local hobby shops over the last few years and our nearest is forty miles away.

 

Brian.

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Such I shame. I will have to wait until the Bangor exhibition in April now.

 

Feeling frustrated

 

 

Hi Johna, as a matter of interest why wait until April?  You could order the track on Monday and have it delivered by Wednesday.  Either by phone order or using internet, and at better prices than most retail stores anyway. Noel

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Remember the old days when you didn't have to use the Internet or mail order to buy model railway items.

Today I exhausted my supply for Peco code 75 flexitrack so decided to do a bit of searching locally but it seems nobody's stock it anymore. There aren't many model shops around but I did find a supplier 100 miles away.

Such I shame. I will have to wait until the Bangor exhibition in April now.

Feeling frustrated

Johna

Marks in Dublin have a good online system and next day delivery on the island, if you were really pushed it’s 2 hours down the motorway ,

 

Alternatively many internet retailers will deliver it it 2 days or so , some even faster if you pay more

 

Just what is the issue here ?

Edited by Junctionmad
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  • 3 weeks later...
  • RMweb Gold

Living in Belfast in the late 70s and early 80s I spent many Saturday mornings in Leisure World and the Belfast Model Shop in Queen Street. There was also a model shop in Glengormley and one in Bangor near the seafront as I recall - visited it with my Grandad on a train trip to Bangor.

 

I know the Belfast shops are now long gone - as probably are the Glengormley and Bangor shops.

 

Darius

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It's the way of the world, local shop owners cannot compete with the range and price of online suppliers.

 

Probably Enniskillen is the best stocked shop locally with others which carry limited items in Belfast, Newtownards, Coleraine, Cullybackey, Bangor & Portadown

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  • 4 months later...

I agree. I’m from Derry (let’s not get controversial) and my nearest model shop is Bobs models coleraine. Yes, I know it’s cheaper and faster online but to get that feeling of walking into a model shop, seeing the cars and boats and planes and trains, that’s a special feeling. It isn’t the same as clicking add to basket.

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  • RMweb Gold

I agree. I’m from Derry (let’s not get controversial) and my nearest model shop is Bobs models coleraine. Yes, I know it’s cheaper and faster online but to get that feeling of walking into a model shop, seeing the cars and boats and planes and trains, that’s a special feeling. It isn’t the same as clicking add to basket.

 

Quite a few times I have used Maine Models in Cullybackey, giving him a call beforehand to check opening times, handy too as it's possible to get there by train :-)

 

http://www.ukmodelshops.co.uk/shops/656-MaineModels

 

Otherwise I buy stuff from the (few) model railway exhibitions we get in NI.

 

cheers,

 

Keith

Edited by tractionman
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Hi Johna, as a matter of interest why wait until April?  You could order the track on Monday and have it delivered by Wednesday.  Either by phone order or using internet, and at better prices than most retail stores anyway. Noel

 

That's why there are no model shops anymore.... If there were you could have your track on Monday without having to wait till Wednesday.

 

Dave.

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I'm in Omagh where there was a couple of fantastic shops in the 1980s. Enniskillen is brilliant but they don't keep Code 75 at all. You just cannot beat TrackShack - Isle of Man.  If you place an order before 4pm it arrives the next day like magic. Postage on Flexi track, that arrives in stiff cardboard tubes is £3-£4 max.

Edited by tmcg1959
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  • RMweb Gold

That's why there are no model shops anymore.... If there were yoyyu could have your track on Monday without having to wait till Wednesday.

 

Dave.

It's hardly ultra urgent stuff like medical supplies!

 

Face it. This is 2018 and small model shops whose running costs were financed by the owner instead of the customers, have been replaced by something more efficient.

 

Anyway Marks Model in Cork is closed on Mondays :)

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