Frequently Asked Questions

Where are you located? Where do you ship?

All orders ship from Peachtree City, Georgia.

At this time, we are selling and shipping to customers inside the United States only. We plan to expand to international sales and shipping in the future. Not all items can be shipped overseas and there are other regulatory challenges standing in the way of international sales and shipping at this time.

Southern Crescent Hobby is currently online-only and not able to accept walk-in business at a physical location. As many of us in the model railroading community are aware, recent economic challenges, long pre-order periods, the proliferation of discount online retailers, and rising costs all pose significant barriers to the sustainable full-time operation of a dedicated retail storefront for a specialized hobby.

Recognizing that a local hobby shop is a vitally important part of the community, we are evaluating the viability of a physical retail presence in the future while also working toward establishing a presence at model train shows and conventions, as well as exploring partnerships with area model railroad clubs.

If you represent a model railroad club and are interested in discussing a partnership with your organization, please send an email to waybills (at) southerncrescenthobby.com.

What hobby products do you sell?

Southern Crescent Hobby is primarily focused on HO and N-scale model railroad products. We also sell paint, adhesives, scenery diorama supplies, hobby tools, and consumables popular with other hobbyists. We do not stock or sell any products or parts related to RC cars, trucks, airplanes, drones or any other radio-control vehicles.

Why don't you sell [specific item]? Can I order something I don't see listed on your website?

Our expertise is in HO and N scale model trains. In order to provide the best service possible, we focus on stocking and selling products that we are familiar with or have personally used. Narrowing our focus to HO and N scales only also allows us to invest more of our limited time, capital and other resources into carrying a wider variety of products for serious model railroaders. For these reasons, we are not expanding to other hobby focuses at this time. In the future as the business grows, we may carry other hobby products. Stay tuned!

If you're looking for something specific in HO or N scale model trains that you do not see listed on our website, please send an email to waybills (at) southerncrescenthobby.com or use the Contact form on our website, linked on the menu bar above. We will be happy to look into finding whatever you are looking for if it's available through our distributor network. Currently, we are unable to order any products from Athearn, Scaletrains or any manufacturer engaging only in direct-to-consumer sales that you do not presently see available on our site.

In limited cases, it may be possible for us to special order items outside of HO or N scale model train product lines. It depends on what is available through our distribution network. For other model railroad scales such as Z scale, 2-rail O scale or large scale, we do have limited access to certain items. We do not have any expertise in 3-rail O (Lionel, MTH, Atlas O, etc) and at this time do not offer advice, sales or service on any 3-rail O products.

We stock paints, adhesives, tools and modeling supplies popular with hobbyists engaged in scale model building, Gunpla, dioramas, wargaming and other similar interests. If you don't see it on our website, ask and we will let you know if we can get it for you.

We do not stock any products or parts related to radio-control vehicles, and we are not able to special order these items or provide any service of any kind for any radio-control products of any type. We do not have distributor relationships with any companies who manufacture any radio-control vehicles or associated parts and accessories and are completely unable to offer anything for radio control at this time.

Do you sell outside of this website?

Yes, we regularly sell at Atlanta-area model train shows and we also have a limited amount of items listed for sale on eBay. We are working on establishing a physical brick-and-mortar store in the future as market conditions and available affordable retail space become more favorable.

Why can I not get free shipping or use coupons on your eBay store?

eBay's selling fees and platform costs (card processing, listing fees, etc) are very high, in some cases 3-4 times higher than our selling costs via this website. We want to offer the same prices on items no matter how you buy from us. For that reason, we must recoup some of the lost margins by charging for shipping on eBay. eBay shipping costs remain as low as possible, in most cases only covering our true cost of the shipping label, box, packing material and transportation to the selected shipper.

Do you do pre-orders for model railroad products?

Yes! There are thousands upon thousands of model railroad products available for pre-order at any given time, and we have a limited amount of time to add items to the website for pre-order. Therefore, we choose a select quantity of pre-order campaigns to publish on our site at any given time from major market brands like Broadway Limited Imports, Kato, Rapido Trains and Walthers. We can still pre-order anything from most other manufacturers if you ask, and if the deadline has not passed. Check out our page on Pre-Orders for more information and to submit a request.

Can you repair, paint or upgrade my locomotive?

No, sorry. At this time we are not equipped, trained or authorized by any manufacturer to provide any repair or decoder/sound installation services on your equipment. Please contact the manufacturer for information on repair services or reach out to local hobby groups about other shops, companies or private individuals who may offer these services.

What's my item/collection worth? Will you buy it?

Southern Crescent Hobby is not currently purchasing any secondhand items or collections. Additionally, we do not currently offer appraisal services.

Properly appraising hobby items and/or collections is often not a straightforward process and can depend on a variety of circumstances. Checking recently sold listings (not active listings) on sites like eBay may give you a general idea of current secondhand values for your item or similar items, but is not an ironclad strategy. At the end of the day, a secondhand item is only worth what an interested buyer is willing to pay to you at the time of the transaction.

Please keep in mind that you will always receive the most value for your secondhand items by selling directly to a highly interested private collector who will personally use them. Selling to a hobby shop or wholesale collection acquisition company will always result in receiving less money for your items than you may expect - remember that reputable businesses must inspect your items, catalog them, repair or refurbish as necessary and then place them for sale and may not sell the items for quite some time after purchasing from you. There are substantial time and opportunity costs involved in selling secondhand products and businesses must be able to make enough profit off of those items to make it worth that effort, while also pricing them accordingly to be appealing to customers. Except for very rare cases with exceptionally high quality or rare items, a secondhand item will almost always have a lower value than a brand-new item.

The Southern Crescent Hobby Story

As the saying goes - when one door closes, another one opens.

In October of 2025, Atlanta-area model railroaders lost a beloved staple of their community when Riverdale Station closed its doors after four decades as the local destination of choice for serious modelers.

Southern Crescent Hobby has acquired the entire remaining retail inventory of the former Riverdale Station hobby shop and is working diligently to catalog and list everything online with the goal of establishing a brand-new community source for high-quality model train products and associated hobby goods.

What's in a name?

The phrase "Southern Crescent" represents two things:

First, it represents the Southern Crescent region of Georgia - an area south of Atlanta home to major industrial drivers like aviation, manufacturing, and entertainment media. Through it run multiple Class 1 Railroad main lines as CSX and Norfolk Southern move freight between Atlanta, container ports along the coast, and industry everywhere in between.

Second, it represents an homage to famous passenger trains that served the region in the past, and one that continues today. The mighty Southern Railway of old ran a streamlined service named the Southerner between New York City and New Orleans from 1940 to 1970, and separately a similar service named the Crescent which followed a more direct route between the two cities - both calling in Atlanta along the way. In 1971, the railroad merged the two trains into a single service named the Southern Crescent, which operated under Southern Railway power on the original Southerner route until 1979, when the railroad ended all passenger operations. Today, Amtrak operates its Crescent service along that same route.