Papa Ben's has a great selection, the N Scale inventory is massive. It is heavily loaded up with MicroTrains cars. Lots to sort through. No detail parts for the N Scalers, but lots to pick from. Plan some extra time to sort through the crazy number of cars. Great location, great service, great selection! read more

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Experienced train guys. Helped troubleshoot my train. Reasonable prices with a decent selection of new and used.

From reading the reviews and my recent experience with my five year old son, it's obvious this place does not care for kids, even when they are appropriately behaved. This business does not want to be bothered or invest the time to develop potential new customers. If Papa Ben's is happy with the revenue they get from their older customers, those with kids will have to look to other resources to nurture their child's train interests. read more

Love that stores like this still exist. You can feel the history of the place. Makes me feel like a kid again.

So I have been to this store a few times as I'm getting back into the craft. But my last visit here was horrible. As I was looking at the models I had one of the employees (didn't know his name) speak to me in a harsh tone saying "move we are working here" as he was trying to show another customer a train. I'm sorry but don't I qualify as a customer as well. This place is highly overpriced for what they offer. There are other places with larger inventory and sell it for a fraction of what you would pay here and the staff is much nicer. read more

I'm an elderly handicapped lady with a small yorkie Today we were kicked out of the store by Al. the owner the rudest man I've ever in my whole 72 years have ever encountered. he claimed my yorkie peed in his store. I never saw her pee. i tried to apologize and say I didn't know. He yelled at me that I need glasses. He yelled at me to get out!! I let him know I'm handI capped and need a minute He said he didn't care.... Ponted with his ugly skinny hand to get out! As I left I noticed a sticker on his door that They Love Dogs! My husband also handicapped got on his knees to clean up a teaspoon of dog pee. if there even was any.... Al himself owns a greyhound who was also in the store. poor dog... We will never go back To add my poor husband had been so excited to start a hobby. We will do business elsewhere read more

We came in search of some new HO scale cars for an old train set from my childhood. I had no idea that there was still a fully dedicated train store in Houston. We came shortly before closing and my son got to help back the model trains into the station. He had a blast. The members of the train club that were there were very sweet with him, and explained a lot of their models to him. We will be back! read more

Super cool place! So happy I stumbled upon it! The employee on shift, Mike, was super welcoming and informative! I will definitely be coming back to check it out some more! read more

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I was told that this was the Place in Houston for N Scale parts.... I went in and every question I asked was greated with "I don't do N.... I only do HO....." What an Old Putz!!!! If you are going to run or work in a shop, please at least learn your craft!!!!! Unless things change dramatically, I will NEVER go back!!!!! Mail order works!!!! read more

The first thing that hits you when you walk in are the smiles and the hospitality table with CAKE and "snacking yummies". Who does this? Here is a really nice store and consignment place for your trains (to purchase or even sell your collection) I've been in this store many many times and the feel is really great. For the engineer: Lots of parts, intelligent toy train operational layout guides, and track plans. For the novice: Boxed sets of COMPLETE plug in and go train sets with your own remote control! For the collector...consider this your retail Marshall's...meaning you gotta stop in because good merchandise is rolling through in all the time. Come on in! For the educated consumer: BOOKS and a Lionel service tech on site! Yowxers! Come meet charming train author Douglas Weiskopf, author of Rails Around Houston. His claim to fame is not only working here, but cheerfully guiding you on your train experience. Conveniently located in Houston. Why not stop in? Multiple times. read more

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We came here multiple times with my son from him being 6-8 years old over the visits. He loves this place. It does have expensive breakable items so if your kid is unruly then maybe not the best place for them (I don't bring my crazy hooligan 2 year old for instance). However they have always been kind to me and my son as he is a new train enthusiast. My son is very calm and thoughtful and loves trains. Every Saturday all day (they will pack up about an hour or so early!!!! So be aware of that! I think that's fine but just so you know) they have a wonderful intricate N Scale train set going. There are hobbyists there who own/run the train in a club of some kind. They will happily explain things to you and show you items you may like and such. We have loved seeing those trains going and bought various items. I have noticed that some items are more expensive than I can get online but some things are cheaper. It just depends. But this is sort of like going to a candy shop, part of it is the fun of the experience. There are lots of things to look at. It is a smaller space so a walker or stroller may struggle to get through the aisle safely. However there is a main walkway (not down each aisle) that is decent size. If you have a wheelchair you can get in at least and go down the main walk and maybe ask if you need assistance and cannot reach/get somewhere. It's in a strip center and may be difficult to notice at first but it's very old style shop inside and I love that. We brought some old German trains and asked around. A man there was able to look it over and talk about some parts with me. He was so kind to me and my son. He would have been willing to repair it but I needed a part that I didn't have on hand. Anyway, all together we love our special occasional visits and if we lived closer we'd go more! Last time I brought my louder 5 year old and they were even kind to her and gave the kiddos candy. My son came on his birthday and we bought a couple things and they gave him a free notepad for his birthday. They also have fliers for local train events and some have coupons for the events! Great place! read more

I am not a train enthusiast but needed some miniatures for a photo project. The staff was helpful with store navigation and offered courteous service. I enjoyed their vast selection and I am sure this place is quite the find/resource for train hobbyists. read more

I am amazed at all the N scale items Papa Bens Carries! To date I've never seen this many N scale items and at such great prices. Consignment items and new items are available. We spent 2 hours looking and came out with some great finds. We drove 4 hours to visit Papa Ben's and we weren't disappointed. Everyone that works there is awesome and helpful. Before we head back home tomorrow we plan to head back and pick up a few more items. The Houston N Crowd (N scale layout club) has a wonderful layout in back so dont forget to check it out. Preowned items are tested before you leave the store so no worries. Can't say enough read more

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Great place to find all gauges of stuff. The staff is always helpful, friendly and engaging and always points you in the right direction. Even my wife likes to go and look at all the cool stuff. Very welcoming. My go to place read more

Love this place! The guys are always willing to help and they have a great selection of n scale cars and track and all other goodies highly recommend this place read more

A model railroad treasure. Excellent customer service, a friendly and knowleable staff! Made some good finds and some amazing finds!!

Just experienced probably the two rudest gentlemen in customer service. I have a three year old son who loves trains and the thought of going to a train store made his day. He was so excited. My parents drove him out to the Bellaire store all the way from Magnolia. Once they arrived my mother was immediately approached by one of the site clerks to be warned not to touch anything. She then carried my son and walked around the store. A few minutes later the other gentleman informed them to be careful because everything is very expensive and if you break it you buy it. I'm not sure if the store owner was present that day but your two employees just lost you around $500 in sales in one day. They should understand that this is an older generation very niche market. Maximizing the customer experience for a child should be a must. Sending my son home crying. The should be ashamed. read more

Great place for looking or information about any scale model railroad. They have a great selection of Woodland scenics. Biggest selection of reference books and if they don't have they will order for you! read more

The customer service is aweful, was enquiring on how to purchase products from this site, all I got was we don't have this , we don't have that, or that sold out during the holidays , ok fine so how do you Oder from your site??? And do you re-stock what you have sold out of??? Smh! Lesson learned no more mom & pop stores for me! If you have to email them to get information on how to buy from their site , probably not worth the time and effort to keep going back and forth emailing them getting nowhere! read more

Nice area for people to wait while others shop. Enthusiastic employees. Fantastic selection.

This place is owned by one of the nicest persons who loves model trains and his friends. They are knowledgeable in their field have all the scales you are looking for and even Märklin. I highly recommend for anyone to stop by and see Allyn's place and buy something. It is very international as well since Dutch and South Afrikanen stop by there. read more

A fun store, friendly staff and personalized service. Stop by and see the Houston N'crowd in store club layout, open on Saturdays

Interesting that it's listed as a "toy shop", since you will not have a positive experience unless you're a man over 50. Twice, my very well behaved children and I (their mother) were treated dismissively and rudely. Sure, they followed us around and told my children (who were watching, NOT touching a train) to move away from it. Use Amazon and avoid these smug, self indulgent hobbyists. I regret that I spent money the first time there, and am glad I had the good sense to walk out today. read more