Not far. My dealer is on my computer, sadly. Or fortunately!
There are no dealers comparable to those in Germany near my house.

Yep. 6 inches to press the order button from Lippe.

I'm just back and Mike at Westend Trains had a surprise for me the Insiders Annual Car 2019!

The only think that would finish off this trip perfectly would be a nice cup of MOCCONA Coffee! Hey, now that’s what life is all about..........

Michel, I could not begin to think of starting my day without my Moccona cup of coffee. I feel for you when those supplies run out mate

Hello Dereck, your living not to far from that terrible disaster of White Island volcano eruption that befell the bay of plenty yesterday. It is all over the news in OZ. The passengers of "Ovation of the seas" have sadly lost some of its passengers that when on that trip of a lifetime. Lot of questions going to be asked of why tourist were allowed on the island when the alert level had been raised not long ago.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTn5MAZOtuA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GeGgO0Z7XE

Hi,

I have to drive 40km to Helsinki https://www.mallikauppa.fi/

Or 46km to Helsinki also https://www.hobbypoint.fi/

Both have quite limited range of M goodies and prices are high.
Shopping small spareparts is cheaper and faster from them as there is no freight involved. ( I don't count gasoline price )
Bigger purchases go to "evil bay" and its German sellers.

Cheers

Åke

I went to Westend Trains in Toronto, Ont., Canada just as michelvr did. The shop is only 25km from my place. This is much more convenient than when I started the hobby in the mid 1960s - my supplier was my grandmother in Germany - could only buy from catalogue pictures and always a long wait for desired items to come by post. The other goodies in the package always made it worth the wait!

Harold.

I have Scograil of Ipswich, UK just 1m from me but, although they trade as ScogBahn sometimes and sell Roco, Piko, Fleischmann, etc. they can only get Marklin from Gaugemaster. Gaugemaster, as is well known, turn Euros into pounds at 1.00 and then add on some. Sometimes, Scograil's discount makes it work but, a lot of the time, it doesn't and Gaugemaster's stock isn't great.

Find a Viessmann signal in their box and get it for £10. Order it from Gaugemaster and it is £31 less 10%. Buy it from MSL and it is 19 Euros. Hence, most of my purchases are from my armchair.

Oh, I have a friend who came to me via this forum who is a constant surprise at what he can source me from his stash at good prices but, even then I sit in my armchair and get my friendly postman to deliver.

My closest shop is in Bilbao. In the city-center, on the high street(!) So around 35 km.
They carry very little stock of Marklin; mostly obsolete articles and a few new starter-sets.
It was once a fairly well-assorted hobby-shop. (Well, it still is, but focus has shifted to other tecnical toys...)
Anyway their prices are completly prohibitive.

There is another train-focused hobby shop in Bilbao, But I havent visisted it for the last 15 years. (No 3-rail trains, but lots of 2-rail!) Good shop if you are into 2-rail.

So, in the end... I do most of my train-shopping from the living-room,using the PC and internet.

It is very sad, because I *LOVE* to visit these shops, but I see them disappear one by one.
Many years ago, when the huge shopping-malls began killing off the small neighbourhood shops, the internet is now doing the same to the shopping malls today. Soon it will all be internet.
What will the next be? -Homeprinted 3D objects will kill off the internet shops?
In the future, the only thing that Märklin will sell, are the designs needed to print the objects in your own house???