"foreign" model shops.

steve836 · November 16, 2014, 11:33:14 AM

Just seen Joe Cassidy's thread re model shops in Capetown, and as I am off to Goa soon and had similar thoughts,IE does anyone know of a good model shop there? it occured to me that it might be good to have a thread (perhaps a sticky) where we could recommend model shops in different towns round the world so any one could look it up before travelling.

railsquid · November 16, 2014, 11:43:19 AM

There's a subforum devoted to offline model shops in the UK and abroad, though it might be useful to have a sticky there linking to posts of interest, or a subforum for non-UK shops.

joe cassidy · November 16, 2014, 09:25:56 PM

As far as Cape Town is concerned I've had a look around the main shopping areas but so far I haven't found the Smithdown Road of Cape Town.

Best regards,

Joe

silly moo · November 17, 2014, 06:48:43 AM

Hi Joe,

I'm afraid model railways are not a priority for most of the people in Africa, the hobby has a small following here hence the scarcity of model railway shops.

joe cassidy · November 17, 2014, 09:44:06 PM

I did find a hobby shop in Centurion a few years ago but unfortunately they had no model railway stuff

Best regards,

Joe

silly moo · November 18, 2014, 04:27:08 AM

Johannesburg has three model railway shops but only one has a small selection of British outline N, the others have a smattering of US and continental outline.

Most of the N gaugers I know buy from the internet which has now become a big problem because our post office is not operational because of strike action.

Regards

Veronica

DesertHound · November 18, 2014, 05:32:40 AM

Quote from: steve836 on November 16, 2014, 11:33:14 AM
Just seen Joe Cassidy's thread re model shops in Capetown, and as I am off to Goa soon and had similar thoughts,IE does anyone know of a good model shop there? it occured to me that it might be good to have a thread (perhaps a sticky) where we could recommend model shops in different towns round the world so any one could look it up before travelling.

Steve

Having been often to India, I'd echo Silly Moo's point about Africa, it's just not a priority for people. Most people there barely have enough food to eat or clothes to wear, let alone a proper home to build a model railway in. (Not meaning that in a condescending way - just what I've observed). My observation is that for there to be a customer base for model railways countries need:

a) a certain level of GDP (or a sizeable number of people with a certain level of disposable income)

b) a general culture of inquisitiveness towards things scientific and a history of scientific achievement

One without the other leads to a very small / non-existent model railway interest.

I'd say if there was anything it would be in Delhi and Mumbai (Bombay). Possibly Chennai (Madras) and Kolkata (Calcutta). Good luck though if you find something and I think you've come up with an excellent idea to have some kind of directory of model shops we find on our travels.

I live in hope when I'm travelling around the world that I'll stumble on a model train shop. After years of hoping, I sometimes think a meteor is more likely to land at my feet.

In a city of perhaps 5 million, Dubai has not one model train shop

Oh, forgot to say, enjoy Goa. Never been there but I'm sure it will be lovely.

Dan

DesertHound · November 18, 2014, 05:46:39 AM

Railsquid

Thanks for the link, I hadn't seen that before.

Building on Steve's point, a message to mods / Tank: How about a proper directory with shops listed under towns / cities, with the towns / cities being listed in alphabetical order, within countries also listed in alphabetical order? Perhaps have a standard format to describe what the shop sells, so that we don't end up with too much text. Perhaps YES/NO kind of answers to pre-set questions.

What do others think?

And how about names? I'll throw my hat in the ring with "N Pages". I'm sure someone will come up with better.

Dan

steve836 · November 18, 2014, 10:59:09 AM

Quote from: DesertHound on November 18, 2014, 05:46:39 AM
Railsquid

Thanks for the link, I hadn't seen that before.

Building on Steve's point, a message to mods / Tank: How about a proper directory with shops listed under towns / cities, with the towns / cities being listed in alphabetical order, within countries also listed in alphabetical order? Perhaps have a standard format to describe what the shop sells, so that we don't end up with too much text. Perhaps YES/NO kind of answers to pre-set questions.

What do others think?

And how about names? I'll throw my hat in the ring with "N Pages". I'm sure someone will come up with better.

Dan

That's the sort of thing I had in mind.

red_death · November 18, 2014, 11:02:38 AM

There is the perfect solution for such a directory - use the wiki: http://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/wiki/Main_Page

Cheers, Mike

steve836 · November 18, 2014, 11:31:02 AM

Quote from: red_death on November 18, 2014, 11:02:38 AM
There is the perfect solution for such a directory - use the wiki: http://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/wiki/Main_Page

Cheers, Mike

No checked it out. It doesn't really help,I was thinking of a thread where someone going to a strange country could look up to find a model shop where they could , perhaps, pick up a railway related souveneer.

railsquid · November 18, 2014, 11:38:29 AM

Well if you want a directory format, the wiki is the only viable option. The downside to that is that it's a separate system and seems to lead rather an isolated existence; moreover its content won't turn up in forum searches.

The other alternative would be to add slightly more structure to the existing topic, with maybe per-continent sub-topics and stickies in each containing links to reports of interest.

Anything else will probably require more resources and commitment than is realistically available.

DesertHound · November 18, 2014, 11:47:19 AM

Quote from: red_death on November 18, 2014, 11:02:38 AM
There is the perfect solution for such a directory - use the wiki: http://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/wiki/Main_Page

Cheers, Mike

Hi Mike

I clicked on the link, which took me to the wiki page. Are you referring to the "N Gauge Suppliers" page within that? That is indeed a fantastic tool to search for a supplier, albeit by name of supplier.

I think what Steve has in mind (or at least what I'm thinking) is a directory so that you can easily find a model shop by town name. Indeed, this directory just popped to mind, listing shops by county;

http://www.ukmodelshops.co.uk/counties/modelShops

So, perhaps we could say that the job has been done for us, and we don't require a new one. However (and no disrespect to the other website) the international section at the bottom is quite "light" I think. Okay, for 99% of guys on here, they are not interested in model shops in South Africa, Hong Kong, India, or wherever it might be outside of the UK, but for those of us overseas, it could be a useful little project.

Am I missing something in the link you posted Mike?

Cheers

Dan

red_death · November 18, 2014, 11:52:14 AM

My point was that the wiki is a suitable tool to create such a directory (much more suitable and manageable than a forum thread).

M

DesertHound · November 18, 2014, 11:53:23 AM

Right, I think I'm getting the gist of this Mike / Railsquid. If we go down the wiki route (which maybe is the most suitable) then perhaps we could have a section titled "International Shops". Could we then have countries listed under the A-Z format, and then models shops under those countries?

Just a thought. I'm always away due to work and would be happy to add model shops if / when I find them.

Cheers

Dan