Amsterdam Hobby Shops

Late last month I took advantage of a business trip to Europe to take a day off for train-spotting and (maybe) some shopping!  On my way to visit the Nederlandse Spoorwegmuseum (Netherlands Railway Museum in Utrecht) I spent some time in Amsterdam and scouted out a few hobby shops.  Since my interest is mainly N Scale, I'll give you my review and some general directions based on my own personal interests in the hope that they will help other fellow travelers!

I was able to visit 4 model train specific hobby shops, three of which are located fairly close to the central Amsterdam area, while one (Harlar Modeltreinen) is located about halfway between the central area and Schiphol airport.

Schaal Treinen Huis: The fist shop I visited had the appropriately named "Schaal Treinen Huis" and is easily accessible via Tram Line 3 (or 7).  Note that I found the Tram drivers to be extremel helpful and friendly and made this trek for this English traveller quite easy.

The shop had a lot of nice materials for layouts and a decent selection of HO, but not too much in the way of N gauge.  Its probably worth a stop if your in the neighborhood as it is really convenient to the central area (perhaps a place to sneak off to while your wife visits the Rembrandt museum?), but for N gauge materials, not too much.

Hobbyland: The second shop I visited was called Hobbyland, which is fairly easy to get to from Tram line 1.  Located across the street from a park, I had hoped to find more N Gauge here, but alas, it is primarily an HO shop.  Rumor has it that the owners will be retiring soon and will be shutting their doors soon, so check ahead if you decide to visit to ensure they are still open!

Marklin Store: My third visit was a bit further out on the periphery of Amsterdam out near Amstelveen.  Tram line 5 was able to get me to "Station Zuid" where a 5 or 10 minute walk found me at the Marklin Store in Amsterdam.  Of course, a Marklin store can't be expected to have more than a few Minitrix items, and this store did indeed have a nice selection of Minitrix locomotives and rolling stock.  I had a nice chat with the clerk who was working there, who encouraged me to visit their 'bigger store' further out from Amsterdam. 

The quest for Harlar Modeltreinen:  Getting to Harlar Modeltreinen using public transit (or at least the tram lines) requires taking Line 2 all the way out to the very end of the line at Nieuw Sloten.  Once off the tram, follow the bike path through this very suburban area.  Eventually this bike path T-bones at a roadway named "Vrije Geer" where you take a left at this roadway.

Walk alongside Vrije Geer for a while which will take you in a West/Southwest general direction.

Vrike Geer eventually T-bones into another street in a more commercial area, where you again take a left and walk along for a few minutes (head towards the windmill) where you will cross a small bridge over a a canal.

Once across the bridge, you are in the little hamlet of Badhoevedorp, where you will find the street Badhoevelaan. which looks like a residential street with a few small shops along the way.

 

Almost to the end of this street you'll come across this sign - which means you have arrived at your desitnation (perhaps after a 15 minute walk).

The shop is actually down a driveway behind this blue house.

A large display window makes the shop quite obvious!

The store manager was kind enough to allow me to shoot a few photos of their very clean, nice shop layout!

The good news for modellers like myself, was a very good selection of European N Gauge materials, with a very healthy selection of Fleischmann and Minitrix locomotives, as well as Hobbytrain, Brawa, and others. 

Plus, plenty of rolling stock!  Definitely the best destination for N scale in terms of breadth and depth! And well worth the walk and tram ride to get to the shop! Important to note as well, is that its also pretty close to Schipohl International Airport as well.