Any good hobby shops for HO and N scale items in the area? Any help would be apprecaited
Ed's Hobby's, the service can be terrible, but the stock it just incredible. You can buy use or new engines for a deal, they have 3 Big Boys and an entire industrial shelve of Athearn freight cars. And Acela engines. I also recommend Pat's hobbies, that's where I got my F40PH set from, they have N scale too.
In Chicago: Grayland Station (HO, N), RAM Hobby Shop (HO, N -- call ahead, as owner has recently had health problems), Zientek's Model Trains (HO). In the suburbs, Des Plaines Hobbies (HO, N), Lombard Hobbies (HO, N).