Loco-Boose Electric Train Shop

Unfortunately I have to give Locoboose one star because I haven’t even been able to set foot into their store or talk to anyone who works there. I have called several times during their normal business hours (as they are closed Sun-​Tues) and no one has picked the phone and the voicemail box is full. So, thinking there might be phone system problems I drove down there 3 times on 3 separate days during their normal business hours and no one was there, all dark and locked up. And finally, their website is completely useless… So useless that they can’t even post their business hours on their site… No, it says on the site to «call for business hours». Other problem with the site is that email addresses for owners Hal and Rhonda are listed but when you email them you get a bounce-​back! It’s sad because I’m ready to drop a couple thousand dollars on O gauge stuff and I can’t even get into the place to do so. And so, I am giving up in frustration. Locoboose needs to change their business name just plain «loco».

Wanda and her crew at this train hobby store in Redwood City are at the top of the game. Complete perfection in the way customers are treated regardless of age or gender. I went to this store with my son and I was amazed at the level of professionalism by the staff and the detailed knowledge about trains. This is an amazing store with a deep range of products and parts. I am not going anywhere else for my son’s train hobby – which incidentally has also become my new hobby.

holy smokes what a nightmare this place is. you try to support independent family businesses and sometimes it backfires in your face. i had a repair and after being told there was a 6 mo. backlog on repairs, i got a call shortly after i got home saying the train was fixed. the original quote was $ 50, and now they wanted $ 100, claiming «that’s cheap.» (the train isn’t even worth $ 100)
after i finally got ahold of the owner Hal, he was extremely rude about the whole thing. in the end he said ok $ 50 and hung up on me.
do yourself a favor and avoid this place. it sucks. go to Talbot’s instead, they are upfront and reasonable and will not hang up on you if they make a mistake.

A lot of knowledge when it comes to trains, they helped me with my sound and did not chanrge me since I did buy a few things from them. I know they are not a patient but considering the time they have been running their shop and the different people they have to deal with, I think they do a great job.

These guys have gone out of their way to help me find much needed parts for my cars. The store has a wide offering from Z to G. The largest amount of stock is of Marklin HO and Lionel O. They even carry a good stock of vintage O gauge which is interesting if you have never seen it before.
While I am not personally into HO, the Marklin brand in HO is always amazing in terms of the detail and the quality of the brand. I haven’t seen as large a stock of Marklin in the Bay Area. This is a classic train store.

This is the only model train shop I’ve ever managed to visit without buying anything. Nuff said!
They seemed to have a lot of Z scale, so if that’s your thing, might be worth a visit.

They greeted me warmly. They helpfully entered my contact information into their database. They happily sold me a product. But, a week later, when it was not working, they were no longer warm, no longer helpful, no longer happy. I walked away with a product that does not work. They did not seem to care. Returns are for «in-​store credit only» according to their receipt.