Yesterday I was looking over the general postings, which I’ve not done for some weeks now and came accross a item of interest, to me.
Seem to recall the title item, was by a teenager wanting to get into the hobby, but was limited by finances to do so.
He is a thought, that some readers may be interested in providing information.
Legitimate Dealers, that have a physical place of business, which undertake retail sales to the customer, in store, mail order and or combination.
This excludes all E-Bay “Bidding” and other bidding web-sites.
Let’s hear from readers that are interested in providing names of these dealers, which have a ample supply of Athearn and MDC Roundhouse "Blue Box Kits’, locomotives and roller stock on their respective shelves, to sale to general public.
The last Brick and Mortar hobby store I was in that had old Athearn and MDC kits thought they were valuable collectors items and priced accordingly.
I think a better list would be dealers with the economy lines like Accurail and Bowser. The best I know of is Model Train Stuff (formerly MB Klein) who has lots of these. They are Internet and B&M (north of Baltimore in Cockeysville, MD). And they discount.
I doubt you will find BB kits at most hobby shops unless the owner bought them in a collection.
This past weekend I went to a show in Edison, NJ and there were thousands of BB kits. There was a dealer that had about 300 locomotives from AHM,LL,TYCO and others for $10 ea. Or 3 for $25. I bought a AHM BN GP18 to pull my track cleaning car.
it looked like it was never run but after a lube put it on the track and it runs smooth and quiet. Not detailed as is today’s locomotives but for $10 it makes a great work horse For my needs.
Train shows are a good source for unbuilt Athearn Blue Box and MDC kits, and also for previously-owned built-up versions of the same stuff. Prices, though, can vary widely, but many dealers are open to a little bargaining.
My LHS, Just Train Crazy, in Beamsville, Ontario, often gets various used equipment, either from those leaving the hobby or as estate lots, and there are often bargains to be had. I’d guess that at least half of my freight rolling stock was pre-owned and probably 90% of my passenger equipment. Also, don’t overlook some of the so-called “trainset” stuff, such as the old LifeLike (Proto-no-thousand), Tyco, Concor and Model Power. With a little work, many can be made into very respectable looking cars.
I also recommend Accurail and Bowser freight car kits: both offer a good selection at reasonable prices. They’re easy to build and better detailed than the older cars.
I agree, that Ebay is a great source for older kits, and locos. Many BB locos, in various degrees of condition, that can be had at a decent price.
You also have to search what ever metro area you live close to, and find all of the 2nd hand shops, as alot of them occassionaly have some stuff they may have picked up at estate sales. Some hobby shop owners do this, as well.
There is one shop in the metro-Milwaukee, WI area that does this, that I know of, and sells all of their finds from estate sales, as used, and for decent prices. Actually, about 1/2 of their shelf space is used HO and O scale locos, cars, track and structures.
I’ve gathered 4-5 hundred of the BB kits over the years, many sourced from Ebay. I’ve also sold many via Ebay as well. Right now I have about 150 built up and another 50 or so still in kit form. Sooner or later they will all end up on Ebay.
Fair enough concern. As most of us are aware, brick and mortar hobby shops are getting fewer and fewer so in many places, you are lucky to have an LHS, and generally they don’t carry the Athearn bb, MDC and older Accurail kits of yor. However all is not lost. The younger generation is comfortable with online buying, in many cases more so than the older generation. That said, mail order is certainly a way to get BB kits and the like.
But the best option I have seen are train shows. As others have mentioned, train show venders, such as Timonium in Maryland, have hundreds of kits available to buy. Year after year I notice the same thing, kits remain available for sale and at attractive prices. That said, I have not memorized the names of the vendors but maybe next Timonium someone can not those for the original poster.
I have to respectfully take serious issue with the comments above, their tone, and the damage they do to the reputation of those “legitimate” sellers who happen to make use of Ebay to sell their products, or to liquidate their collections.
Comments like the above have contributed to the erosion of trust in those of us who sell on auction and/or buy-it-now websites by strongly implying that those of us who make use of those websites are illegitimate dealers or somehow dishonest, which is absolutely not true. It might be true of some, but is not true of 99% of us.
I have about 400 unbuilt kits. Virtually all of them came from eBay. In all those transactions, I have only had one that was outright fraud (we fought, I won) and a couple that were slightly less than optimal. Most were $10 or less delivered.
To those interested: Friends Olde Fashioned Hobby shop in Kenosha Wisconsin had some last I checked. That was a few months ago. There seemed to be an ample supply of kits there too.
I have a few Athearn Blue Boc Engines. the first 2 I got from a Hobby shop about an hour away. He had 6 or 7 of them. 4 in ho and 2 or 4 in n scale. I yook the 2 I like in ho scale which just happened to be the roadnames I like and preffered. The dealer also had alot of cars put out by athern in the blue box. All were consignment. There are alot of blue box items on ebay. Some are a great price and a few is a bit price and most are abot what the should. There is also some good dealers who use ebay to help move some of the older engines and cars so that way they can keep up with the newer items.
River City Railroad on ebay still sells MDC shake the box kits. Buy now or bid.
The 34’ Overton are back. They use to sell them as Project cars at one time. Unpainted.
Project car kits also. Unpainted rolling stock.
Some years ago I use to buy 36’ rolling stock from them. I use to model 1870 to about 1900.
Back around 2000 I believe word was they bought up old MDC stock but still selling in 2016. Sometimes wonder if they have a company in China producing the kits.
I have seen large numbers of Blue Box and MDC kits at various train shows and swap meets. BUT it needs to be noted that by logical necessity what I was seeing was picked over stuff. It wasn’t like the entire line is still available by any means. Back in the day when you’d see a hobby shop with shelves that held a complete or at least very nearly complete selection of the Blue Box line, it made for an impressive sight.
I agree with the other posters - the best place to find Athearn and MDC kits are train shows. There is a hobby shop that carries Athearn and MDC: Hobby Recycling in Wyoming, Michigan. This shop is awesome! It is like walking into a train show - the stock is constantly changing and is both new and used. I highly recommend you check it out if you are in the area.
Being that Athearn blue box kits are long out of production, it goes without saying that you aren’t going to find an entire line of the kits anywhere. Honestly, even “back in the day” it would have been unusual to find most of the line in one place, at least in my experience and I visited a lot of shops in a lot of states because of work travel.
That said, there is a lot of Athearn blue box kits at train shows so if you go, and look, you will find quite a bit. And the old saying is still true, beggars can’t be choosers. You do have to hunt the best you can but you’ll find usable kits is my suspicion.