Hello rail community. I am sort of new to the rail road community. I can say that over the last year I have learned so much about this hobby. I have also acquired a lot of very nice locomotives, and freight. I am still building my layout. What are some of the best websites for finding great deals on new and used HO train stuff? I have found the Ulrich Models is a great place, but would like to particularly find more used stuff BESIDES EBAY, LOL Thanks Rail Phans Matt
For used stuff, e-Bay. Just remember their motto, Buyer Beware!
Hi Matt, I have belong to a Yahoo group called HOYARDSALE for a few years. No fee to join, buy or list stuff for sale or to post a Want To Buy…WBT. No bidding or fees to pay. Of course, it is no where near as large as ebay, but it’s all HO trains. Try it you have nothing to lose. Joe
Thank you so much, the yahoo group sounds awesome!
GE, I got a lot of good deals off E-Bay. One tip I will give you is a lot of people that sell trains on E-Bay know nothing about them. They think of them as toys, so if the shell looks like new, it must be New or Like New! I bought a few items that where Like New and found them to be well worn. Bought 2 PK 2000 BL 2’s that had crack gears and heavily ran listed as New In Box. In both cases I ask the seller before I bought if they would pay for parts if the engines where not running when I received them. Both sellers agreed and sent me $5.00 back.
Cuda Ken
Or if they don’t know what it is, it must be “SUPER RARE! HARD TO FIND! BID BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE!” I honestly see those all the time, and they’re usually for some of the most common model railroad products in existence.
That’s really sneaky, going back and editing your post and subject line to add, “BESIDES EBAY” after my post.
[:-^]
Many of the hobby shops have used or consignment HO plastic models. Caboose Hobbies has one of those type listing on their web site for used plastic models. The other place to visit is the local train shows that usually bring out many used items on tables. Some can be a bargain and others are not.
What in general are you looking for. More locomotives, freight cars or what?
CZ
Trainworld (www.trainworld.com) and M.B. Klein (www.modeltrainstuff.com) have very good prices and very good reputations as well. Both of these on-line shops are also brick-and-mortar shops, incidentally. They frequently buy closeout inventories and discontinued lots, and then pass the savings on to their customers. They sell new stuff only, to my knowledge. As far as I know, their web sites show actual inventory. That’s important, because there are a lot of online places that show “available” items, which means they think they can get them from their suppliers if you order them. Sometimes that’s OK, but sometimes they can’t really get the item, and, in any case, it means that the supplier has to ship to the dealer before he can ship to you, slowing the arrival of your trains.