I live a long, long way from the nearest hobby shop, so I’m having to depend on online businesses for just about everything. I know Walthers (here in the states) carrys the most and usually at full retail. I need to place an order for a few items such as the #628-103 bridge w/ piers, Squadron putty, Evergreen styrene sheets, Woodland Senics paints and stains, etc. Not a locomotive in the list!
Do you have a favorite online shop that carrys it all, usually has it in stock and gives at least a small discount? Or am I asking too much and should go ahead, give the order to Walthers and pay the price? I like Walthers, I think they’re a great company, but dang I hate paying full retail for everything.
There are three that I like, only two I have ordered from. Toy Train Heaven (http://www.toytrainheaven.com) has the best discounts I’ve seen, but I haven’t ordered from them because their shipping to Canada ended up eating up the extra savings I would have received. I’ve ordered from 1st Place Hobbies (http://www.1stplacehobbies.com) a few times and I had no problems. My latest order, however, went to Online Trains (http://www.onlinetrains.com). The discounts for what I bought were almost as good as Toy Train Heaven, but the shipping was cheaper in the end, and they had one item in stock that TTH didn’t have. I’m still waiting for the order, but the response for shipping was very quick. I ordered it at 11:00pm and had an email early the next morning saying it was packed and ready to go but they wanted my approval for the shipping charges to Canada before they would send it. They only charged me the actual rate (I looked it up on USPS) without a handling fee. Assuming all goes well, this will be my new online hobby shop. I do have an LHS near me, but I ordered three small items last summer and as far as I can tell, they never did get them ordered and of course, I pay full retail. The time before that when I ordered something, it took two full months to get it in. By that time I scratch built something in place of it. Anyway, good luck to you. You definitely do not need to pay full retail.
The problem you are up against, which many seem not to realize is most places don’t monkey with stuff like styrene. I use Kliens, Toy Train, and others, but they do not monkey with very small cheap items like styrene. I always end up with Walthers because they handle all this stuff, their online inventory is very accurate, and if your order is $100 (in the US) shipping is free. I use Walthers Accurail, Trainline modest price cars to pad the order to $100,
Try internethobbies.com. They have most of your stuff that you need, and whatever they don’t have they’ll order it with overnight shipping. I visit their realworld store lots too!
I purchase all of my MRR stuff from online stores because the nearest store is 50 miles away and they don’t carry everything I need.
The place I’ve found to have the best luck with is http://www.discounttrainsonline.com/ They are not the cheapest but are much less expensive than Walthers. The following are the online stores that I have had good results from:
First Hobby http://www.firsthobby.com/store1/default.asp They are also a discount online store that I have had good results with. They usually get my stuff to me within a week.
Wholesale Trains http://www.wholesaletrains.com/Default.htm They are another discount store. They seem to have really good prices but I have had instances where I got 3 out of 10 items I ordered and sometimes they cancel the rest of the order and other times I have gotten the remainder at a later date.
Train Sets Only http://www.trainsetsonly.com/ Another discount store. I found they are one of few that sell the Atlas layouts complete. They have good prices on track.
Model Train Stuff (MB Kline) http://www.modeltrainstuff.com/ They are located in Baltimore, MD about 130 miles from me. They have discount prices and you can find some clearance stuff really cheap. They are good people to work with also if you have problems with your purchase. Because they are close to where I live I usually get shippments within a couple of days. There order process is a little behind co
1st place is the one I’ve dealt with the most and, like I said, I had no problems with them. I would order from them again, no question, its just that I found Toy Train Heaven and Online Trains have (or would have) saved me a good chunk more on the particular items I was buying.
Terminal Hobby Shop ( www.walthers.com ) has always been good to me. Their customer service is awesome. The only “problem” is that you are going to pay full MSRP (as you pointed out), but they do have some great sales.
Yes, Walthers Terminal Hobby is kind of like traditional Sears — they always have some stuff on sale, so of you are careful of your timing you don’t pay list.
I also recommend Standard Hobby Supply in New Jersey (who also recently began taking orders on line). They advertise heavily in Model Railroader, and have a downloadable catalog. They ship promptly and pretty much always discount. I have ordered many things from them and have not been disappointed.
Thanks for the extensive list of places. I’ll check them out and see if I can find the things I need. Like someone said, it’s hard to find a place that has it all! Well, time to go diggin’.
Lately, I’ve been ordering through my LHS. But since your LHS isn’t sufficiently L…
www.discounttrainsonline.com is a good general-purpose site. Their prices are pretty good, significantly below MSRP in most cases. I like their web site, because they have pictures of almost everything, and their search engine works pretty well, too. My only knock on them is that they are slow to ship, typically waiting a week or more on my orders.
www.modeltrainstuff.com is the site for M.B. Klein. They have “blowout” prices on discontinued stuff. I’ve bought some Old Milwaukee engines there that were not available anywhere else, and at terrific prices. The also carry lots of other things, like DPM kits, that I usually throw into the order.
www.modelrailwaypo.com has good prices on Peco, better than most other places. This is a call-in rather than a sophisticated web “shopping experience,” so you get to talk to the owner and he’ll tell you exactly what’s in stock.
www.trainworld.com is in New York. Again, you’re better off calling in. They have lots of great prices on closeouts, too. Some people don’t like their “rushed” phone attitude, but I’ve found them great to deal with. (Oh, and I ordered something at dinner time on Wednesday and had it delivered Friday, NYC to the Boston Burbs, standard brown shipping. They get stuff out the door right away.)
Wow, Slime Alert! By mistake, I omitted one of the t’s in discounttrainsonline, and it went to another site entirely! I don’t know about you, but I think that’s pretty unethical. They are essentially hijacking a different retailer’s business. The bad guys here appear to be called Internet Model Trains.
I have to say all the above listed sites are good choices. Also, I forgot that internet hobbies has a low price gurantee. If you find something cheaper online, they’ll match that price for you!
I don’t buy much of the mainstream stuff - I model 1900-era in HO and HOn3 - and don’t have a full service hobby shop readily available. All too often, the things I am looking for are out of production, so finding it is more important than the the biggest discount. Or, like your example, it’s not the RTR lomotives and cars that are featured in mail order and online ads. I usually order either online or via phone and mail order from some of the better hobby shops because they have what I want in stock and often make great suggestions. And they are not just limited to the lines Walters distributes. The hobby shops that have catered to my needs and get my business are:
Flying Scotsman Hobbies (online shop, good discounts)
Caboose Hobbies - Denver (known for their depth and variety of stock, can order online and via phone)
Grandad’s Hobby Shop - Springfield, VA
Reed’s Hobby Shop - San Diego, CA (charges MSRP, but ships for free)
Jay Cohen Trains - Pompano Beach, Florida (online and via phone)
