Hi Folks, which websites would you consider to be in the top three for buying trains online?
If you are just talking locomotives…for me:
- eBay
- MB Kline (ModelTrainStuff)
- Yankee Dabbler
I’ve purchased most of my locomotives from eBay - even as far away as Australia. The key is to 1) only purchase from sellers with high ratings (for me that’s 99.5% or >) and 2) know the going price for a particular item. I’ve found some GREAT deals on new or NIB locomotives - both Buy It Now and bidding.
MB Klein is great because they have “live inventory” - i.e. you know if a particular item is in stock and what quantity they have of it. I’ve only purchased a couple of locomotives from Yankee Dabbler. Their prices were very good.
Tom
Lot’s of available choices, from eBay, walthers, toytrainheaven, trainworld, yankeedabbler, modeltrainstuff, lombardhobbies, tonystrains, and many, many others.
I buy stuff from anywhere on the planet if the price is right and the seller has a good rating. That being said, I have a big online retailer in my neck of the woods that I can pick up from so not having to pay shipping factors into the bottom line.
You should say where on the planet you live and someone may have a suggestion of a place close to home.
Generally I buy engines from Train World and e-bay, decoders from Yankee dabbler and rail cars from Kline and e-bay. Scenery could be from anywhere.
I’m in northwest New Jersey. I have two hobby shops nearby. One of them has a great selection but his prices are sky-high. I tried to politely haggle with the owner but he was having none of that.
The other hobby shop told me a few weeks ago that he is fazing out model trains due to lack of demand.
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eBay
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M.B. Klein
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Lombard Hobbies
Rich
How much time do you have?[;)]
Lombard hobbies
Hiawatha hobbies
Spring Creek Model Trains
Victory Models and Trains
eBay, if you are willing to research sellers a bit
Model train Market
Yankee Dabbler
Walthers, of course
And the list goes on, and on, and on, and… well, you get the idea!
My picks:
TrainLife.com (its a local store to me as well)
ModelTrainStuff (MBKlein, hard to beat their stock)
Hattons (for when I am looking for British outline stuff)
I often find when I’m looking to buy something online that TrainWorld generally has the best price for what I want. I’ve been buying from them for almost 50 years, it’s a family-owned business.
Yankee Dabbler and Tony’s Trains have great selection and prices when I’m looking for DCC stuff, like decoders, speakers etc.
I’m a “Trainmaster” at Walthers, and I do buy from them at least a couple times a year too. I check out their monthly sales brochures for deals, but sometimes it just works out that they have something in stock no one else does.