What is your guys favorite online retailer to get stuff for model trains. Who has the best prices and service. I know internettrains.com is the worst, one time I ordered from the and it took 2 months to get my stuff and they sent me the wrong items. thanks for your help[:D]
I’ve had good luck with Wholsale Trains, Caboose Hobbies, Tony’s and M.B. Kein. For me, it seems like all the online sites I’ve used have been excellent. My choice in “hobby shop” really depends more on what items are available at that particular store. There’s an exception. I tried Internet Trains maybe 5-6 years ago. Never again. I think my order took 3 months to arrive.
There’s a lot of stuff that goes into “best.” It’s not clear that any one e-tailer has all the properties.
www.trainworld.com gets my vote for price and speed of shipping. Some people don’t like dealing with their “efficient” staff over the phone, and their web site is not cart-oriented. It’s just a display of what they’ve got, and you have to call them to check availability and to order. On the other hand, they actually have everything they sell in stock. Watch out for the places that say “available.” That means they can order it from someone else, wait to get it, and then ship it to you. Weeks of delay. When I order from Trainworld, it’s on the UPS truck that day.
www.modeltrainstuff.com is M.B. Klein. They have a great inventory, and their prices on “blowout” items rival Trainworld. (Both of these places, by the way, offer a lot of discountinued items you may not find anywhere else, at good to great prices.) M.B. Klein also ships promptly, in my experience.
I’ve also ordered from www.modelrailwaypo.com for Peco track. They had the best prices around at one time. It’s a brick-and-mortar shop in New Jersey, and you talk with someone who’s right there and can check the inventory.
Don’t forget the Walthers/LHS connection. I signed up for the Walthers flyer every month, and I go through it wide-eyed and amazed when it arrives, just like I used to when I got the Lionel catalog as a kid. (At least I don’t crawl under the covers with a flashlight anymore.) If your LHS participates in the Walthers promotions, they can order stuff and give you the sale price, with no shipping charges. Turnaround is about a week when I do this. I also support my LHS, which is important to
MB Klein is where I do alot of my online ordering. As of right now, I am looking at there website for track and stuff. They pack there stuff great, and there shipping is very cheap. It takes about 2-3 days for me to get there stuff, since I am so close to Maryland.
I’ve had really good luck with NHS Hobbies, Trainworld, and some others. I try and make every effort to support my LHS when I can.
For HO scale only, Cherry Creek Hobbies in Torrington, Wyoming. Their Peco track prices are hard to beat.
Ditto on NHS Hobbies. I get my track and Walthers special order items from them.
MB Klein for locos and rolling stock.
Walthers for detail parts, on sale structures and paints. I like Walthers and Klein because they show what’s in stock.
Loather,
Its hard to beat the prices from NHS on their track and other items, isn’t it?
Hi!
Well, for good prices, fast delivery, integrity and reliability, Toy Train Heaven has been terrific! Obviously there are others out there that are in the same category, but TTH is one I have used for many years and spent LOTS of money with them. Once they made a mistake and shipped the wrong BLI loco, but after one phone call they picked up all the postage and made the situation right.
Mobilman44
mine is fdt ,tony’s and litchfield’s they know what they are talking about .when it comes to decoder’s litchfield and tony’s are great and not afraid help out .
Thanks for the fast replies. Right now my favorite is MB Klein because they have such a nice website and large stock. Also can I order directly from Walthers website? thanks for such fast responses.
I got two favourites. Both treat me great and help me with any questions.
The two are FDT(factory direct trains) and Dallas model works. Both have very nice owners who treats you great. I’ve never had any problems with either.
I would like to ad a warning about caboose hobbies in Colorado. Several fellow Europeans that I know have had problems with them. They are OK as long as nothing goes wrong. Then they leave you without any help. They have me treated me bad several times so now I do NOT order from them anymore. When they sent me the wrong items I had to pay for shipping back, the new shipping on the correct items plus customs twice since they refused to write “replacement” on the new order. An other time they estimated my shipping to be something around 50 bucks, when they shipped they charged me 145$ in shipping. They have also charge my card with a huge amount once. When I called them and told them they changed the authorization to actually drafting the amount. Then paying it back. This ended up costing me a lot of money in fees which they simple told me was my problem not theirs. Despite it being them who charged me wrong!
Needless to say. Unless they where the only firm in the world who had something I would never order from them again.
Magnus
For someone like me not living in the US I’d say that M.B Klein is one of the best! I shopped at a lot of Online Retailers and while the price is important, shipping and service is as important to me.
With M.B Klein I’ve found a Dealer who not only has great prices, they also have an “in-stock” inventory and their shipping prices are very good and most of all the packages arrive within 7 to 9 days which is very good from US to Switzerland.
They also pack the stuff really good which is also something important.
Caboose Hobbies has a great selection but Intl. Shipping is with DHL/Courier only and they are a bit messy with shipping stuff.
FDT is also good but sometimes a little on the slow side…
M.B. KLEIN
I have yet to order off the net however, I LOVE Caboose Hobbies.If you ever have a reason to go to Denver drop in and check them out. I loved their store and the people there are THE best! I plan on ordering some stuff from them in the future.
Thanks for some tips guys and dont mind my shameless plug.
Onlinetrains! I have never had any trouble with online trains!