The Train Shop

Have to downgrade my review after today’s visit. Seriously I’ve gotten better service at Burger King. Spent a few hundred and WOULD have spent a few hundred more had the salesman actually cared about me as a customer. When asking him about trains he showed almost ZERO product knowledge and total disinterest in selling the engine I was inquiring about. I don’t know his name but he was an older guy with glasses (late 60’s –70’s). If this was an isolated incident, it might not be a big deal — but considering the numerous 1 star reviews on here, it clearly isn’t.
PS If you are compelled to come here, get the young guy with the beard — he’s friendly, knowledgeable and a hell of a lot better than the others here.

They are only friendly to return customers. The selection is pretty decent considering the Internet offers everything these days, but I like to frequent local Establishments. You really should try to buy from this place since they’re one of the few train shops that have stuck around. They always have plenty of paint and other hobbyist supplies.

Worst service ever. The mean lady behind the counter never even looked at me when I asked a question. Horrible person, we left.

It’s very disappointing that a mom and pop shop operates like this, they rather drive customers away then make a sale shame on you! @ 2:00pm on November 15, 2015.
I came in today and drove an hour to Santa Clara on my lunch break to spend a few hundred dollars on rebuilding my N gauge layout with new track, locomotives and passenger cars.
I was interested in a set of CalTrain passenger cars that with will go along with the KATO CalTrain Locomotive that they had but my purchase was derailed by a very rude Woman at the counter.

This is one of the last train stores in the area. I really appreciate that it is close by. When I need a part or a piece right now, they are here for me. I support them when ever I can.
I was not surprised that there are some negative reviews for customer service, but, 1 stars? Really?
My thoughts are that the people that felt this way were intimidated by the nature of the store in the first place This is an expert hobbyists source for parts, materials, and community. You have to take in consideration of their main clientele. They have folks come in and drop thousands of dollars without even batting an eye. Yes, they have some Thomas stuff, cheap train sets and some souvenir trinkets. But, look around a little deeper. The expectation of the staff is that you know what you are looking for when you walk in the doors. And yes, Bachmann is cheap, but, they are getting better.
If you are a beginner and feel a bit lost, tell them up front. They will know how to help you. I feel the same way when I go into computer parts stores; I have know idea what I am looking at, but, I know what I want to accomplish. We (the model train community) want to get new people involved. You are not the ideal customer of this store, but, you might become one if you try hard enough. ;)
Might I suggest you find a mentor? I did the same with my lack of computer knowledge. They have a bulletin board just inside the door of upcoming events and clubs in the area.
Now, to all the serious scale-​ferroequinists; Can you find the same stuff on the internet at a lower price? Sure… But if you keep doing that, this store will close. Then what are you going to do when you need a 00 brush, 3 #5 couplers, a bottle of labelle oil, some code 40 connectors, 2 sound decoder (a light steam and climax), a six pack of tortoise switch machines, and a book on the history of some obscure niche of the world that you have decided to create in 1:48 scale at 3pm on a Friday afternoon? Right now you can find them all in one place: The Train Shop.

The Train Shop is the BEST model railroad shop in California. They have a huge selection of model railroad items and books. You can spend hours here looking at all the items and displays. I make it a point to stop by every time I am in the Bay Area.

I went to this place for the first time about a month ago and I will never be going back. Right from the moment I walked in the door I felt unwelcome and watched. The old man and woman behind the counter were extremely rude and went to far as to mock customers in the store with what I guessed were some regulars. The selection is good but now that I’ve had a chance to see the materials in real life I will be ordering everything online and not from them. The young guy behind the counter was helpful and friendly but it must be a nightmare for him to have to deal with those terrible coworkers. Save yourself an unpleasant experience and shop online or elsewhere.

I was very impressed with The Train Shop’s inventory. Just about any of the items I had seen in catalogs, or on eBay, were on their shelves… plus a WHOLE LOT MORE!
I’m still new to the hobby, and don’t always know what I need, or how to best accomplish something, so it’s a great help to talk to someone with a few more years in the game than me. Having said that, I will agree with some of the recent reviews that the folks behind the counter were less than engaging, and borderline rude, until I offered up a purchase. When I started asking questions, and plunked down a couple hundred dollars in stuff, the lady behind the counter brightened noticeably. In all fairness, this seems to be true of just about every shop I have been to; it’s a lot like walking into the diner of a little town, everyone kind of stops and locks eyes on you while they keep their conversations going with the regulars.
All things considered I would still love a chance to roam around this shop the next time I am in town (I drove an hour south to pay these folks a visit!)

All the reviews about this store are very accurate. What I mean by that is indeed they have an excellent and amazing selection of train. Yet you better deal with robot than these guys. I was with my son when I visited this store. He loves train so I figured that I will certainly find Thomas and Friends unique pieces. And we did. You should have seen my 28 months old in this store. It was like heaven on earth for him.
I decided to stay and buy him two T&F items just because I did not want him to have the same horrendous experience as me. Frankly I don’t believe I have ever been into any store where you do not feel welcomed. It was as if they wanted me to go and not talk to them nor buy anything from them. At least guys be polite (hello and buy). Seriously, you did not even talk to me during the entire checkout process nor at any time while I was in your store!
I never wish bad things to others but I think that this kind of people and store should not exist. They are the reason why people don’t bother drive to small shops and go to big department store or worst online. I will never ever set foot in this place and before you do, ask yourself you want their product at any cost.

I may be going a bit too high on the rating, but relative to other similar shops I’ve been to, this is pretty good. For starters, it’s a real train shop that focuses on model trains. The inventory is pretty robust — they cater to the smaller gauges (HO and below) but have plenty for the O gauge and bigger fans.
There is plenty of floor and shelf space and it’s filled with all kinds of rolling stock by the major manufacturers and includes a few by outliers like Tichy, Kadee, and Red Caboose.
I got a relatively inexpensive Athearn HO Santa Fe passenger car series for my Warbonnet engine. The stock was priced competitively (sometimes less than $ 15 or $ 20 for ready-​to-​run quality cars — the passenger cars were in the $ 25-​$ 35 range).
Right now I’m at the newb stage of the hobby. The guy was quiet but not surly and once you got to know him pretty encouraging. He walked me through what I needed for the passenger Santa Fe cars to make it look all right and didn’t try to gouge me by insisting I need a post car or extra luggage cars. I can get them later.
Also, he helped me pick out some decent wire for doing piping around my damaged HO tank cars. The place has a pretty good inventory of all kinds of realistic HO scale (and others) stuff — everything from rock talus to modeling wires to little houses and heavy equipment.
They have track too — Kato HO track features a whole slew of different radii to choose from. I didn’t buy these because I was out of money and didn’t want to clear out their inventory (they don’t, to the best of my knowledge, sell full HO Kato track circles, but they sell 4 pack segments).
Ah — one last thing — books — coffee table books, technical books, train books, modeling books, books and pubs for specific historic train lines. I bought one general train book to get up to speed on stuff I should know if I’m going to take this seriously.
I can’t go back anytime soon because I’ll spend too much money.

Worst customer service EVER! Seriously, do not bother with this place. I left annoyed and upset. How they stay in business is beyond me. I drove an hour to Just Trains where I bought a nice set and had all my questions answered with a genuine smile!

I had a very disappointing experience at this store. They definitely carry a wide selection of trains for the experienced hobbyist, but the staff was very unhelpful and borderline rude (I’m not an experienced railroad hobbyist) — did not even care to answer my questions and said «the manufacturer’s decide everything. I can’t help you».
I’m sure experienced people would find this a great place to find what they need, but this place is not for beginners looking to start. I was looking to spend a significant amount of money (in the thousands) and the unhelpful staff was such as turnoff I decided to save my money and find other places. There was an older gentleman (with glasses), and a woman (I think also with glasses) that didn’t seem to care, a younger guy that was busy with other customers (that appeared to be helpful), and one other older gentleman that was a bit busy. So the place was well staffed, just not with the right attitude to help new customers. The place looks like it’s thriving well but if their current customer base shrinks they will probably wonder what they did wrong — not developing new customers.
The sad part of this review, I live a stone’s throw away from this shop and wanted to support a local business and now I have to go to stores farther away.
In conclusion, given the competitive nature of business I would not be surprised if this joint struggles to stay in business as the old customer base shrinks and prospective customers are put off by the poor service.

This is a «hobby shop» in the truest sense of the phrase. It’s run by hobbyists FOR hobbyists plus it does carry some more mainstream train toys especially at Holiday time.
I have been visiting this shop my entire life from when it was on Bellomy St. to off of Stevens Creek at the 880 on-​ramp and now on Pruneridge.
There are other hobby shops that carry train supplies, but nothing like this place in the Bay Area. Do your research and go in looking for specific things or just browse and enjoy, either way its enough to satisfy the interests of just about any level of model railroader or scale modeler.
By the way, the place is frequented by several NMRA Master Model Railroaders out of the 500+ or so that exist world-​wide.

I don’t often write reviews against local small business but I felt it appropriate this time.
I came in looking for some standard small working blades for a craft. The gentleman at the counter was very helpful but the woman behind the counter was unreasonably rude. Since I didn’t know the exact amount of tooth blade I wanted she was barely willing to help. Questioned me a few times, what size, what size, what size, never once looking up at me. Maybe with a little customer service I could’ve been helped to find exactly what I needed? Maybe talk with the customer instead of at them?
Overall the store seems great and seems to thrive but at the end of the day employees should be there to help customers with what they’re looking for. I did spend money here and will likely come back if I cannot locate what I’m looking for elsewhere.

The owner is a jerk. How dare you say to someone that Bachmann is a cheap train set. I really hope you go out of business with that attitude.

All they have is trains. The staff is very knowledgeable and offered good advice for getting started with an outdoor train. The advised me to look at the LGB trains which after doing further research I purchased a set from them. The pricing is fair and they have a large selection of trains, parts, & accessories.

I love that there are still local, small businesses that have that mom and pop feel to them. I needed a small lightbulb for my daughter’s science fair project, and they were super helpful in trying to help me get the project working. They gave me ideas for generating more light, and ended up sending me down the street to use a flashlight bulb instead of a train lightbulb. They were very kind and helpful, and they actually knew what they were talking about. Definitely a place for train enthusiasts and hobbyists, so a great place to go if you need expert advise or very specific parts.

Three stars for a great selection. If they could find a way to operate without the staff, it would go up to five. Service certainly isn’t bad enough to keep me away, but geeze, man.

Great selection of trains at this store, with lots of literature and tools for the hobby. They have a continuous flow of new stock coming in, and I’ve found some items here that I was having trouble locating online. I love the display case of locomotives, ranging from inexpensive to really pricey (and beautiful) brass items. The owners/​managers are friendly. This is much more a serious hobby store than a toy store, although you can find a few items strictly for kids, like Thomas the Tank Engine supplies. They also carry some Lionel train sets that are more Christmas tree oriented than for the serious model train hobbyists. Prices are close enough to online levels to make it worth supporting our local store. It’s definitely worth paying a dollar or two more to have a place locally to go and look items over in person.

I would like to give a 4.5 Reason is this store is Great that have a very good selection if your very serious about model trains. There have been few other stores pop in the bay area and I have stopped in other locations in the Valley but their stock and Prices are not as FAIR as The Train Shop. I find that a lot of times especially for small orders and for locomotives I get them at the Train Shop so I know I have a working Item.
As to Fair prices, they are able to sell N Scale items below MSRP and when you add taxes you can still get stuff cheaper here than ordering it online. Since most online stores charge MSRP + S&H will be more expensive than picking it up locally and you don’t have to worry about return shipping if the locomotive is defective, since The Train shop will test in front of you before you leave.
The negative if your into DCC or getting started with DCC you will find they have a great selection of DCC but you wont get much help here. Recommend the yahoo digitrax group is a good place to start. Also Digitrax Published a book called the the BIG BOOK OF DCC good book to get started.