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TROLLEYVILLE VISITS LAS VEGAS HOBBY SHOPS, ATTENDS GATS DIRECTOR’S MEETING
George Huckaby - I visited the city of Las Vegas, May 3-5, 2000 to attend a Director’s meeting of the Great American Train Shows, LTD. While in the city, it was decided to visit the local model railroad hobby shops and both I and Chet Piotrowski of GATS did so on both May 3rd and 4th.

The first shop to be visited was J. W. Railways, 3450E S. Procyon, just west of the ‘strip’. We were greeted by the owners, the brother-sister combo of Verne and Deb Hackbarth, two of the friendliest hobby shop owners we have ever met. Their Christmas card shown below says it all. This 2000 square foot shop was chock full of a little of everything a model railroader could want. There is an ample N-scale area, a generous G-scale section and plenty of good old HO trains. A portion of the store has been set aside for the heritage model trains (Lionel - American Flyer -Marx). As a traction fan, I was surprised to find the following HO scale traction models: Suydam Pacific Electric PCC, Suydam Illinois Terminal Class C, Ken Kidder Baldwin-Westinghouse Class D Steeple Cab, a CSS&SB steeple cab electric locomotive, Bowser IRR Lightweight Interurban, and Bowser Brill Suburban. By the way, one of those left with the writer and is being converted to overhead operation as you read this. There were even two Bachmann On30 single truck closed cars. When in town, call them at 702-251-5787 or toll free at 877-JW-RAILS. Just get on I-15 and get off at Spring Mountain Road West. Before you know it you are at Procyon. Just turn north and they are on your right.

When the BuildAKit program was explained to Steve and Deb, they immediately asked to host a BuildAKit session at the next Las Vegas GATS and you should be able to see them in 2001 doing exactly that. And for you web surfers, it is www.unlimited-systems.com/JWRailways. Overall, we so enjoyed visiting this shop that we returned the next day for another visit.

Our next stop was Train Exchange, 6008 Boulder Hwy. This one-man operation is the product of Dick Hughes, a retired United States Air Force officer. The fact that he can get so many items into 640 square feet shows his logistical talent gained while in the Air Force. This shop is quite east of the main city and boasts a unique view of the geography to the east, which in itself was quite an experience. We found two HO scale Bachmann PCC cars there along with both Lionel and Bowser trolleys. This is a "must see" shop for the model railroader. There are so many one of a kind items in this store that you must look carefully or you will miss something. The writer found some tools here that he had not seen in a while and they also left with him. Dick won’t bother you while you browse. He is usually busy repairing some model train or accessory but will respond to any question asked. Once you get Dick talking, you will be a repeat customer. We came back here a second time also.

We also visited two more locations where one can buy model railroad equipment but did not talk to anyone in charge. These two locations are Hobbytown USA on Sahara near Decatur and Imagination Unlimited on Tropicana just east of Boulder Highway. Both locations have many locomotive, rolling stock and structure kits. So there are many more places to shop for your model railroading needs in Las Vegas than any of us originally thought. So the next time, you get tired of dropping your hard earned coins into one armed bandits, check out these shops. You won’t regret it. Tell ‘em Trolleyville sent ya!