December 2014
Happy Holidays!
Rail Tales will close for business at 5 pm on December 24th, remain closed December 25th, and reopen December 26th at our usual time.
Rail Tales will be closed for business December 31st and January 1st and will reopen January 2nd at our usual time.
All month we will be running Magic the Gathering Friday Night Fights as usual on Friday nights at 6:30 pm. At this time, all these events will be booster drafts using the Kahns of Takir set.
Wednesday December 17th: The Charlottesville Model Club will meet at 6 pm as usual.
There will be no Jefferson Railroad meeting this month. The Jefferson Railroad will resume meeting Sunday, January 25th (the fourth Sunday).
November 2014
Rail Tales will be closed for business on Thanksgiving (November 27). We will be open for our usual hours Wednesday (November 26) and Friday (November 28).
All month we will be running Magic the Gathering Friday Night Fights as usual on Friday nights at 6:30 pm. At this time, all these events will be booster drafts using the Kahns of Takir set.
Veteran’s Day: Tuesday November 11: As is our tradition, all U.S. military service personal, current or former, may take an extra 10% off the purchase of any one item in the store for this day only.
Jefferson Railroad Club will meet Sunday, November 16 at 1 pm.
Charlottesville Model Club will meet Wednesday, November 19 at 6 pm. At this time we hope to present our World War One models. Those who wish to display them in the store will have space made for their work.
October 2014
Okay, somehow I forgot to post the calendar for October. It was a good month. We apologize for any inconvenience.
September 2014
Special Announcement- As of September 2, all new HO, N, and HOn3 rolling stock and locomotives will have at least a 20% cash discount off of MSRP. Some items will have a greater discount. The credit card discount will be 15%.
*This sale will continue indefinitely. Marklin items are NOT included. Vintage items are NOT included. Items which have been modified from original condition (such as those with aftermarket parts installed) are NOT included.
All Month: As usual, we will be hosting Friday Night Magic every Friday starting at 6:30 and Saturday Game Night starting at 5. Both are open to the public.
All Month: we will be working on an HO layout in the store including track laying, wiring, and basic scenery. If you wish to know particular activities on particular days, contact us.
August 17: (Wednesday) The monthly meeting of the Charlottesville Model Club will convene at 6 pm at the store. In addition to our usual business, we will have an airbrushing demonstration.
August 21: (Sunday) Khans of Tarkir pre-release event. Registration starts at 11 with the event starting at 12 noon. We are accepting pre-registration with the first 19 persons registering receiving free MtG play mats. In addition to the usual prizes, first place will also receive a Dragon backpack and there will be door prizes as well. Cost is $24.99 which includes 6 booster packs plus a life counter and a mystery prize.
August 28: (Sunday) The monthly meeting of the Jefferson Railroad Club will convene at 1 pm at the store.
August 2014
All Month: As usual, we will be hosting Friday Night Magic every Friday starting at 6:30 and Saturday Game Night starting at 5. Both are open to the public.
August 2: The Virginia Train Collectors Summer Train Show will be held at the Holiday Inn Monticello on Saturday August 2 starting at 9 am and running until 3 pm. Admission is $6.00 for non-VTC members and $5.00 for members. This is the fourth year for this event and it is always a lot of fun. Rail Tales will be there with our store operating layouts in N and Marklin HO and there will also be operating layouts in O scale as well.
August 3 through 11: Bret Jones will be on vacation in Durango Colorado with his wife. We will be taking dealer training for Soundtraxx and exploring the local area. Oh, and we will be riding the Durrango and Silverton Railroad… Nathan will be in charge in my absence.
August 9 (Saturday): Lynchburg Rail Day 2014 will take place in Lynchburg Virginia. Rail Tales will not be there due to the above conflict but its a great event for train fans. For more information go to www.blueridgenrhs.org
August 17 (Sunday): The monthly meeting of the Jefferson Railroad Club, our local modular group, will start at 1 pm. Some of us attended the National Train Show last month and are looking to share inspiration and ideas about what to do with the club.
August 20 (Wednesday): the monthly meeting of the Charlottesville Model Club will start at 6 pm.
July 2014
Oops- I messed up some dates- corrected 7/13/2014
All Month: As usual, we will be hosting Friday Night Magic every Friday starting at 6:30 and Saturday Game Night starting at 5. Both are open to the public.
All month: We will continue to work on Chesapeake and Western and will also be taking on two new projects, one of them a large HO European project that we will be doing trackwork for in the store. Come by and see it develop.
July 12 (Saturday) special event! Rail Tales will host a meeting of the James River Division of the National Model Railroad Association from 10 am to 1 pm. the first portion of the meeting will be for JRD business and will be closed to the public. Starting at 11 am, however, the meeting will be open to the public. Rail Tales will be presenting a demonstration of building weathering techniques using both the wash and brush method and the weathering powder method. Both these methods can be used with completed buildings.
After the demonstration, Rail Tales will lead a hands-on clinic for those interested. Participants must bring their own structures. Plastic structures must be washed. If the powder method is to be used on plastic, they must also be painted and/or sealed (sprayed with Dullcote or the like). Weathering materials will be provided to JRD members at no charge. Non-JRD members may participate but will be charged a nominal fee for materials (or you can buy a set for yourself…). Reservations ARE required to participate as space is limited, so contact Phil at jrdnmra@gmail.com if you want to participate. The techniques are fast and easy so don’t be shy…
July 13 (Sunday) special event! Rail tales will host an M15 Pre-Release event for Magic the Gathering. Registration starts at 11 am and the event itself starts at noon. The cost is 24.99, which includes everything you need to play. In addition to the usual prize support, we will be giving away some surprise prizes if the attendance warrants, so bring your friends and have a good time.
July 16th (Wednesday) The regular monthly meeting of the Charlottesville Model Club will take place at 6 pm. Rail Tales is sponsoring a group build for the 100th Anniversary of WWI. For more information, see the club website (click here)
July 20th (Sunday) The regular monthly meeting of the Jefferson Area Railroad Club will take place at 1 pm. Last month we had our first ‘hook up’ and operating session. We hope to maybe do some more track laying and wiring this session, so bring your module to work on. Tools are provided.
The JARC meeting has been cancelled because I will be in Cleveland at the National. Train Show. I got the dates wrong- I used last year’s dates…
July 20th through July 27th July 13th- July 20th. The NMRA national meeting and the National Train Show will be taking place in Cleveland Ohio. Bret will be attending for Rail Tales from Wednesday the 16th through Sunday the 20th and so will not be available. Nathan will be in charge of things… The National Train Show is when Rail Tales makes most of its stocking decisions and major purchases for the year so if there is something you are looking for, let us know.
June 2014
Happy Anniversary Rail Tales!
Rail Tales was incorporated in June of 2012 in order to provide train repair and layout construction services to the central Virginia region. In June of 2013, Rail Tales purchased the model train and plastic model departments from Cville’s Hobbies, Games, and Toys. We subleased the hobby department space from them and became a retail store within a store. So this month is the 1 year anniversary of Rail Tales Hobby Shop and the two year anniversary for the business as a whole.
To all those loyal customers who have made this possible, especially those who stuck with us after Cville Hobbies went out of business and we had to move: thank you for growing with us.
Whole Month
We will be working on the Chesapeake and Western Railroad (after a hiatus) in the store as well as installing decoders and doing some custom model work. Come by during the week and see how it all (hopefully) goes together.
June 15th (Sunday)
The Jefferson Area Railroad Club will meet at the store at 1 pm. The two Rail Tales modules are operational (including track ballast and painting) and will be set up to run with whomever else brings in a module with track.
Note, the JRR meeting in July will be the SECOND Sunday (July 13) to avoid conflicts with the NMRA and National Train Show in Cleveland on the 3rd and 4th weekends.
June 18th (Wednesday)
The Charlottesville Model Club will meet at the store at 6 pm.
Every Friday in June
We will continue our weekly Magic the Gathering Friday Night Magic events. However, the format will not always be a conventional draft.
Every Saturday in June
We will continue our Saturday Game Night event every Saturday in June, starting officially at 5 pm but usually there are folks waiting for a game by 4 pm.
May 2014
Special Event! 28th Annual Shenandoah Valley Model Train & Railroading Show, sponsored by the Augusta Co Model Railroad Club is Sunday, May 4 at the August Expo in Fishersville, Va. It runs from 10 am to 4 pm and admission is 5 for adults with children under 12 getting in free. This is a pretty big show with all sorts of things to see and do. Rail Tales will be there, so come and get your train on! (Update May 5th- the show was very well attended and the Rail Tales crew worked very hard to answer everyone’s questions. Nothing got broken, the layouts ran perfectly, and a good time was had by all.)
Special Event! Magic the Gathering Game Day is Sunday, May 25th. Rail Tales will be hosting a Standard Constructed Format for Journey into Nix starting at 12 pm. The table fee is $5 per person but we’ll be giving out that and more in prizes so come and have a good time testing the latest deck construction theories…
General Notice: Rail Tales now sells cold drinks in cans and bottles for all events, so let us know your favorite beverage and we’ll try to have some on hand for you.
Friday May 2nd we will hold a second pre-release style sealed deck tournament for Journey into Nix with the details depending on the number of attendees. Cost for a deck and the entry fee is still $25.
All other Fridays of May we will continue our Magic the Gathering Draft Events, starting at 6:30 pm.
Sunday May 18th is the 3rd Sunday of the month and that means Jefferson Railroad Club. We are ready to wire one store module but that won’t take long so we should get to track painting and ballasting too.
Wednesday, May 21st is the 3rd Wednesday of the month and that means Charlottesville Model Club.
We will be continuing our work on N scale layouts in the store and have progressed to scenery details. We will also be working on portions of an HO European style layout.
April 2014
Special Event! Magic the Gathering Pre-release for “Journey into Nyx” on Sunday, April 27th! Registration is at 10:30 and start time is at 12:00. The start time is subject to change so check this space closer to the event. Come and play in the main Sealed Deck Event and/or the side event “Intro Deck Challenge”.
As always, we have a Magic the Gathering draft event every Friday at 6:30.
The Charlottesville Model Club meeting will be Wednesday, April 16th at 6 pm.
The Jefferson Railroad Club will meet Sunday, April 20th at 1 pm.
All month we will be working on several N scale layouts in the store, so come by during the week to see how these things go together.
MARCH 2014
Well this is embarrassing: halfway into the month and I forgot to post the events…
Every Friday in March: Friday Night Magic at the store starting at 6:30. This is a current format draft event.
Special Magic event for March: Introduce a New Player! If you bring in a friend who is not DCI registered to play in a Friday Night Magic event at Rail Tales, we will give you your draft packs for free (or you and your friend can each get your packs at half price).
March 1st through March 31st: Rail Tales will have an exhibit of a western style HOn3 (that’s HO narrow gauge) on display in the Jefferson Madison Regional Library- Downtown branch. This is the same diorama we had in Crozet library for February.
March 7 (Friday): Rail Tales will demonstrate a small N scale layout at the library for First Fridays from 5 pm to 7 pm.
March 16 (Sunday): Jefferson Railroad Club meeting at 1 pm at the store.
March 18 (Tuesday): Rail Tales will demonstrate a small N scale layout at the library from 10 am to 11 am.
March 19: (Wednesday): Charlottesville Model Club meeting at 6pm at the store.
FEBRUARY 2014
Rail Tales will hold a pre-release event for the upcoming Magic the Gathering set “Born of the Gods” on Sunday, February 2nd. The store will otherwise be closed to the public for this event. Registration starts at 10:30 am and the event itself starts at 11:30 am and runs 5 rounds until 5:30 pm. This gives everyone a chance to make it home for the Superbowl.
Rail Tales will hold a second pre-release sealed deck event for Born of the Gods on Friday, February 7 at 6:30. This will replace our usual Friday Night Draft event.
Jefferson Railroad Club will meet Sunday, February 16th at 1 pm. We will be doing some DCC compatible wiring for the layout.
The Charlottesville Model Club will meet Wednesday, February 19th at 6 pm.
JANUARY 2014
Rail Tales is open as of January 24th in its new location!
Cville Hobbies and Rail Tales separated at the end of 2013 and Rail Tales relocated to 705C Dale Avenue in Charlottesville. Rail Tales is now open in the new location.
Our new hours of operation are:
Tuesday thru Saturday: 11 am – 7 pm
Sunday: 12 pm – 6 pm
Monday: closed
The Charlottesville Model Club meeting scheduled for January 15 will be moved to Wednesday, January 29.
There will be no meeting of the Jefferson Railroad Club in January but we will resume meeting in February (Feb 14).
DECEMBER 2013
Reminder on Returns:
Products still in original packaging will generally be accepted up to 7 business days after Christmas with a receipt (longer if the customer makes arrangements within 7 days). Products that are no longer in original packaging or in damaged packaging will not be accepted for return. All electronics products will generally not be accepted for return but may be accepted for exchange with the approval of Rail Tales management. Products which show signs of use may not be exchanged or returned except in warranty serviced cases where Rail Tales is an authorized dealer. We appreciate your understanding and cooperation.
Saturday December 14
This is the absolute deadline for getting Christmas trains serviced.
Sunday December 15
The Jefferson Railroad Club will meet at the store at 1 pm. Last month we laid some track on a module. This month we will lay track on the other module and discuss wiring and scenery ideas.
Wednesday December 18
The Charlottesville Model Club will meet at the store at 6 pm. Special this month, we will have vacuum and pressure equipment on hand to do castings so bring your molds and resin! Also, as always, bring show and tell.
Tuesday December 24
Rail Tales will close early on Christmas Eve, probably at 5 pm, to give us a chance to be with our families that evening. Please come in by 4 pm to be sure of getting service.
Wednesday December 25
Rail Tales will be closed for Christmas
Thursday December 26
Rail Tales personnel will be on vacation on December 26 so all returns must be delayed until December 27.
NOVEMBER 2013
All Month
Thank you veterans. All current or former veterans who mention that they saw this announcement on the website will receive a 10% discount on their entire purchase from Rail Tales on Veteran’s Day (Monday November 11). This is for Rail Tales merchandise only (train, model, paint, tool, and scenery items) and does not include Cville Hobbies product (RC items, games, and toys).
We will be continuing to work on the Chesapeake and Western N scale module layout.
We will be wrapping up the Ten Bridges layout in O scale and S scale and posting the results.
Sunday, November 17
The Jefferson Railroad Club will be meeting at 1 pm at the store. We will be laying roadbed and track and installing basic wiring. We will also be discussing DCC wiring basics.
Wednesday, November 20
The Charlottesville Model Club will meet at our usual 6 pm start time. In addition to our usual show and tell, we will have a participation demonstration of mold making techniques. If you want to cast stuff in resin, this is your chance to have help making the mold. Some supplies will have to be purchased from the store.
OCTOBER 2013
All of October
Rail Tales will be constructing another module for the Chesapeake and Western N scale layout.
Saturday October 5
Bret will be leaving the store early, approximately 4 pm, to meet with a client on site.
Wednesday, October 16
Charlottesville Model Club meeting at 6 pm. If all goes well, there will a demonstration of resin casting techniques.
Sunday, October 20
Jefferson Railroad Club meeting at 1 pm. We will be doing the basic framing constructing for some sample modules.
SEPTEMBER 2013
All of September
Rail Tales is constructing an N scale modular layout in the store Monday through Thursday and will be continuing this process into November. We are not working on it all day every day but you can see a work in progress and get free demonstrations of techniques if we happen to be working on it during your visit.
Wednesday Sept 18
The next meeting of the Charlottesville Model Club will be Wednesday, Sept 18 at 6 pm. The meetings are held at the store retail location. Anyone who cannot make it by 7pm needs to contract Cville Hobbies (434-984-1040) to let us know you will be coming in after hours so we can watch for you.
Sunday Sept 29
The first meeting of the Jefferson Railroad Club will be Sunday, Sept 29 at 1 pm. The meeting will be held at the store retail location. This is an organizational meeting for purposes of determining our standards for our module construction and is open to all interested parties.
Update: The turnout for the first meeting was six. Thank you everyone for taking time out of your day to make this happen!