My g/f is getting me the HO Hawthorne Village Nascar train this month (she actually supports my hobby!) has any one heard anything/read reviews on the set? What I have trouble finding out is how many cars are available for purchase. It gives information on additional tracks that are not listed (as the cars) but it does not say if it is all of the Nascar tracks or if it is just a 4 car train set. I couldn’t find any information online about any additional info. on the train.
http://www.collectiblestoday.com/ct/product/prdid-917070.jsp?_/_prod/_17+86/_/_/_/_&endeca=true&abbr=hw
From what this says, it’s a loco, 2 passenger cars, track and power pak. It doesn’t look like you get it all at one time either. Ships in 3 installments. Other cars cars sold “IF” they become available.
I’d be careful. From the looks of it the total price is actually $210. NOT $69. It looks like you have to make 9 total payments to get all 3 issues.
I ordered from them once. Got an engine and 3 cars, track and controller in installments. I thought that was the complete set, and then came the fourth car. And the fifth. then more bills. I called them and found out there were fourteen cars in all (Probably more than can fit on the oval of track), And told them to cancel any remaining items.
I hate to tell you this but does this picture look familiar?
It’s the same as the NASCAR set. It’s made by Bachmann. The whole set is on sale at Walthers for $89.95, which includes the track and power pack. The Bachmann F-9 is even junkier than the GP-40 that’s included in the Walther’s set. Unless you have your heart set on paying a minimum of $280 for a (at most) $90 train set because it has NASCAR logos, I’d tell your girlfriend to get you something like a BLI locomotive in your preferred road name with DCC and sound. The price will be about the same as the NASCAR train set.
The Hawthorne Village sets are Bachmann standard train set pieces very, very nicely decorated in appealing, if unrealistic, paint schemes. The track is Bachmann EZ track, and the power pack is normally the standard Bachmann DC power pack. IIRC, there may have been a Hawthorne Village set or two that used a Bachmann DCC locomotive and the easy DCC controller. But the advertising would indicate DCC in the copy.
My concern is that one appears to paying a very high premium (typically double what the same set would cost under the Bachmann name decorated in conventional schemes like Santa Fe) for the special paint job.
And I don’t see the collectability factor and investment potential - perhaps because few of the schemes, and certainly none of the set pieces, appeal to me.
To me, anybody buying the Hawthorne Village sets should do so only because they really like the theme and paint scheme, and intend to run it in circles or display it on a shelf. I would never expect to get my money out of it when/if it came time to sell - to me they are garage sale items when used.
I have been called names for saying these things on other forums, even though I came close to subscribing to a very attractive Hawthorne Village winter set myself. After my evaluation, I concluded that I didn’t need another display piece or train for a Christmas layout for the $$ involved; that I had other things I would rather spend my limited train $$ on.
loathar is essentially correct. The total price for the first three issues (the engine, two cars, and the “free” track and power pack) plus shipping is $236.82.
With all due respect to Hawthorne Village (none to speak of,) they are firm believers in P. T. Barnum’s famous dictum, “There’s one born every minute.”
For what you will pay Hawthorne Village, you can get twice as much value by paying full MSRP at your LHS for either twice as much product or a lot better quality product.
As for Hawthorne Village, Barnum had a famous sign posted in his tent - This way to the egress.
dale8chevyss, understand that we’re not being critical of your girlfriend – it’s awesome that she is supportive of your hobby, and especially so that she wants to participate with you.
If she hasn’t paid any money yet, I found some similar train sets online that might be of interest to you both. They are both entry level sets with NASCAR themes – similar to the Hawthorne one – but far cheaper in price for the same quality.
Rather than spend $240 on a single set, she could buy both of the following sets and still have $100 left over for some HO stock cars from Wal-Mart, some scenery, or even more trains.
Just tell her that you want to save you both some money, so you can take her out on a nice date to show your appreciation for her support
I believe these are the same sets that come out from hawthorne village with other themes. i.e. NFL teams, Baseball etc. They do get very expensive from hawthorne. Every 4-6 weeks, you will get another car to add, for $60 or so including shipping.
I agree with Varnet. I wasn’t trying to tell you to look a gift horse in the mouth. Hawthorns ads are just very misleading. I got burned on some Star Trek stuff once. They turned me over to collection agents when I cancelled my deal. The stuff I was getting was $12/month. Then it went up to $40/month and then I started getting bills for $200 when I cancelled.
I just recently purchased their NFL Express. This was my very first electric train set. I learned about model railroading very fast. I love the NFL Express Paint job for my team the GB Packers, however, they are very standard locomotives. Made by Bachmann. From the description of their ad, they used words like mighty engines, powerful. I truly expected to get a powered A and B Unit. A unit showed up, looked great, paid for it, 2 weeks later B Unit and track show up. B Unit looks great, hmmm heavy just like the A Unit, yep it must be powered too, this should pull the cars great, paid for it. 2 weeks later, dome car and power pac shows up. I hook everything up, all the track was laid already, just a big oval. Loco by itself runs around just great. Set the B Unit on the track to see how it runs, nothing, sits there. I couple it up with loco, loco pulls it, but its slower. Hook up dome car, any kind of incline, 1% incline, its working hard. I call Hawthorne, yes they say B Unit is an engine, it should be powered. They send me a new one, they paid all postage, they can afford to. Same thing, I called them again, send that one back, we send new one and will test it first to make sure it works. I said great! Before I sent the last one back, I took a chance and removed the shell of the B Unit, empty. Thick heavy metal frame to hold a motor, but no motor. So the third one comes, all pre tested. Same thing, no motor. I decided to keep the train because I like the look and color scheme, and I collect GB Packer stuff. We have the Hawthorne Village Lambeau Field Christmas town. Thats why we wanted the train. As far as value, its in the eye of the beholder. To run the train on my 4x8 layout, I take the shell off the NFL Express B Unit and slip it on an Athearn B Unit frame, it is much lighter, and it runs great. After I am gone, who gets what for it I don’t care. Using it decreases the collectability anyway. It just looks cool. So, I am not sad that I got slickered in value, its just I
Dude. I have the Dodger Train (It has the same stuff as the Nascar Set) and it happens to be really nice. The cars have a detailed interior & are lighted. I think you are completly wrong about the F9 being “junky”. It has painted figuers in the cab & is really strong.
Now, remember he can cancel the set ANYTIME he wants.
My ex-girlfriend wanted to buy me some of the individual passenger cars from a Hawthorn set (one Patriots, one Red Sox, one Celtics, one Bruins; though I don’t think they make the latter two) as a birthday gift. When she found out she couldn’t buy them seperate, she decided against it. After she told me about her plan to buy them for me, I warned her about places like Hawthorn Village being unscrupulous about billing. She said she’d buy them for me eventually, but we broke up before that happened.
I’m kind of with a lot of the other posters in thinking that what you’re getting is essentially a $90 Bachmann set for about a $150 additional custom painting price. I keep getting ads from Hawthorne Village for their ‘custom’ trains, and the last time I figured out the difference, it came to almost $200 between what they’re offering and what you might pick up at your LHS in authentic railroad schemes.
I think it’s really neat that your girlfriend wants to do this for you (wow, KEEP her!), but I think she’s in for a pretty eye-opening financial surprise when she keeps getting the additional cars, PLUS the additional billing.
