Milepost Hobbies

Milepost Hobbies Why buy on-line when you can support local? He has brought his knowledge and experience to Amsterdam in a friendly and intimate environment.

Milepost Hobbies was opened in December 2012 by an individual with nearly 20 years experience in Model railroading, plus 15 years of working and/or running another area model train shop. Big enough to have what you're looking for, small enough to give personalized service, close enough to drive to. Give Milepost Hobbies a try today.

New today here at Milepost Hobbies is a vintage model car collection. There are a few kits that have been started or co...
05/06/2026

New today here at Milepost Hobbies is a vintage model car collection. There are a few kits that have been started or completed without paint and those are cheap, a few that are open but complete which are slightly less cheap, a whole bunch that are factory sealed which are even less cheap, and a few hard to find kits which aren't really cheap at all. All cleaned from the condition the arrived and ready for new homes.

05/05/2026

A reminder that we start our "summer" hours today so the shop is now closed on Tuesdays until fall.

04/28/2026

Quick note on store hours:

Should have posted this sooner but today will be the last Tuesday we will be open until fall as we start our summer hours. Yes it's a little early but the last few weeks with the weather starting to turn have turned the early days of the week consistently into a ghost town and I can always use more mental health days 🤪

After hours post because apparently I'm having technology problems today. Could be operator error... 🤔Long overdue catc...
04/22/2026

After hours post because apparently I'm having technology problems today. Could be operator error... 🤔

Long overdue catchup post. A few months back we started taking in what is turning out to be the largest Pre-War O Gauge collection I've ever seen. Heavy with Lionel and Ives (more than I've ever seen) with a smattering of Dorfan, Hafner, American Flyer, Bing, and a few pieces from Kar-Bub and Hoge. The good news is there have been a lot of rare and hard to find pieces. The bad news is the condition varies widely with a few things being very rough and a few things very nice, with a lot of in between. I knew when it started that this collection was going to push the local collectors to the saturation point but I also kept that in mind when buying it so most of this stuff is priced very reasonably. I also know the Pre-War market has gotten soft especially the O Gauge side (there have only been four Standard Gauge pieces in the collection so far) but the shelves are now STUFFED and the time to see the selection is now. Inventory has been increasing weekly with more to come. Come on down and let's make some deals!

Howdy all! The attached picture is a rare glimpse into our disaster of a hold/layaway cabinet. This is one of my bigg...
04/21/2026

Howdy all! The attached picture is a rare glimpse into our disaster of a hold/layaway cabinet. This is one of my biggest sore spots in the shop and it is time to do something about it. I have a lot of customers that order things and pick them up as they can, or get behind for several reasons and can't pick them up as timely as we both my like. If that describes you this post is not for you. We are good. This post is for all the people that may have ordered something or put something on layaway and forgotten, or may have issues picking up an order and having talked to me about it. This is for you. This is a disaster area that needs cleaning and organizing and yes it is my fault it has gotten this bad but we need to fix it together. So, if you have ordered something recently or put something on layaway recently you have until May 2nd to stop in or call and talk about it, unless we already have recently. 🤔 You don't even have to pick it up. I just need to know who you are, what you have and that you plan on picking it up soon, or that you need more time or have to make payments. That's all. Otherwise unclaimed or un-discussed items will be going back out on the shelves. Technically my policy is 30 days layaway unless regular payments are being made or items are being moved in and out with regularity and I am always willing to work with people. But after putting an expensive item on the shelf that a customer has not called about or made an effort to pick up in six months it is time for an overhaul and refresh of both the cabinet and my policies. Hope everyone is having a fantastic day!

Phrase of the week is "EMD Switcher" as new HO arrivals from Walthers and Rapido are now on the shelf.
04/15/2026

Phrase of the week is "EMD Switcher" as new HO arrivals from Walthers and Rapido are now on the shelf.

Come see us today at the show! 10 to 3.
04/12/2026

Come see us today at the show! 10 to 3.

Ok now on to something slightly more positive. So many of you that know me know sometimes I have trouble turning junk a...
04/03/2026

Ok now on to something slightly more positive. So many of you that know me know sometimes I have trouble turning junk away. Especially when it's right in front of me and it's from long time customers. I've really tried to be better and that's why the free table exists. Unfortunately a few weeks back a long time customer with a newly degraded medical condition walked in the shop with all his remaining Lionel FastTrack. Now this particular customer has traditionally been very hard on their trains and this stuff certainly shows and even though I said I really didn't want it I guilted myself into making an offer anyway. Now I'm regretting that decision as I do not have the proper time or space to process it. So here is my offer: first person to commit for $180 for the lot gets it. That bails me out and gives someone a smoking deal on some terrible track that has all the potential in the world to be cleaned up and used. There is over 150 pieces here including switches and crossings. Most broken or dirty but probably still useable. There is also a box of Lionel and MTH trestle pieces. And I'll throw in the jungle animals! First come first served. Help! Lol

04/03/2026

Noteworthy news:

Some of you have asked and some of you I'm sure have been wondering and now I can give definitive answers:

I have been in this business for 30 years, almost 14 working for myself. Over time some things change for good reason and others change for no good reason. Some hoops are worth jumping trough and others aren't worth the energy. It is for both of those second points that I have to unfortunately say that we will no longer carry magazines published by Firecrown Media. I will however still carry their books as I can get them through normal distribution channels. It is still business as usual with the superior White River Publications.

I had a wonderful relationship with Kalmbach Publishing maintaining the same excellent sales representative for the entirety of the time I have been in business for myself as well as my seven years managing Mohawk Valley Railroad under Lenny's ownership. Magazine orders are handled a certain way with standing monthly orders and good communication between shop and sales rep to make sure quantities are right and there isn't excessive waste with returns. When Kalmbach (or Clambake as Lenny used to call them) was acquired by Firecrown we knew there would be changes and were hopeful the would all be for the better. When my long term sales rep abruptly retired at the end of October, it did not give me a good feeling about the changes that would come next. Indeed I was later notified by Firecrown that they would be moving away from account representatives and shops would be required to order though the Trains.com website powered by Shopify and returns would no longer be accepted. Now on top of this I have been notified (but had already suspected) that standing monthly orders would no longer be honored. It is now my responsibility to log in and purchase my magazines every month. Now anyone that has been behind the counter of a business that sells magazines probably knows that there is not a lot of profit in them. The old saying always went "Having them gets people in the door". So to expend an extra amount of time and effort ordering magazines for what little you make on them means "the juice is no longer worth the squeeze". And this means we will no longer have Trains, Model Railroader, Classic Trains, Classic Toy Trains and all the special issues such as Model Railroad Planning. I suggest if you really don't want to miss any of this publications you contact Firecrown and subscribe. I hear they are just about giving away subscriptions. I suspect based on the sevear slump in sales of all these titles most of you either already have or no longer care. I apologize for this inconvenience but as they say change is inevitable. I'm sure there will be more disappointing business decisions to come as things in the hobby change and I have to change my business to accommodate.

Matt G
Assistant To the Reginal Manager

And now for something other than HO RS3us! Hot off the press from Garbely Publishing and local author Tim Stockwell is ...
03/19/2026

And now for something other than HO RS3us! Hot off the press from Garbely Publishing and local author Tim Stockwell is volume 2 of "Capital Region Rails" with a nice orange ALCO on the cover. Stop in and get your copy soon!

03/19/2026

Ok folks story time. Here is how the Bowser RS3u situation I have found myself in unfolded:

These locomotives were announced over four years ago and at the time myself and others knew they would be popular. Because I was not a Bowser dealer at the time I split my orders up between my three main distributors. Because of computer program and record keeping reasons I ordered all the early customer orders through Walthers and then did early "extra" orders for store stock split between Hobbytyme and Horizon Hobby. Between the three I committed to roughly $10K in preorders. As late customer orders came in past the initial deadline I decided to assign people's names to already ordered "stock" locomotives rather than add on because I didn't want end up with too much more of a financial commitment than I already had. I am not a large business with unlimited funds and tying up this much capital in one production run honestly terrified me. All was good as I had ordered plenty extra above the customer orders to cover all the late orders as well as have a few for stock. That is until I was notified by one of my sales reps from one of my other two distributors that Horizon Hobby had notified Bowser that they would no longer carry them as a distributed brand. This was a problem as I had put names with items on order from them. When asked my Horizon rep couldn't offer me any information on the subject and couldn't say what would happen with my preorders. To this day I have not gotten an explanation. To be safe I shifted all the Horizon orders to Hobbytyme and Walthers to hopefully keep everyone covered. Keep in mind this was several years after the locomotives were announced. Fast forward to last week when I get my invoices from Hobbytyme and Walthers and I end up being short by about 12 locomotives from my full totals. Walthers and Hobbytyme gave me all they had but couldn't cover the full add on order shifted from Horizon two years later. So I was left with a complicated mess that it took having everything in front of me to sort out. And with a little luck and help from a friend I was able to cover all orders with the exception of two sound locomotives, but it left me with exactly two locomotives for "stock". These were a WNY&P 406 DC and D&H 502 with sound. Both sold almost instantly when put on the shelf. Unless by some miracle the Horizon units show up this effectively means I have no more to sell outside of the customer orders. I find it very hard to believe that with the popularity of these Bowser won't do a second run. There are more numbers to do plus all lightning stripe units ended up with big numbers eventually. Plus they could do Tioga Central and Arcade & Attica. All speculation right now but if that happens we are now a Bowser dealer and can order direct and guarantee quantities. Hope this clears up any confusion and gives a little peek behind the curtain of what it is like to own a hobby shop. It is not as fun as it may sound. Lol.

Matt G.
Janitor/Manager

Address

4207 State Highway 30
Amsterdam, NY
12010

Opening Hours

Wednesday 10am - 6pm
Thursday 10am - 6pm
Friday 10am - 6pm
Saturday 10am - 6pm

Telephone

+15188424270

Website

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