Who has the best mail order prices? When I start building again 95% of what I get will be mail order. and I’m looking for the best deals[?][?][?]
Go to Page 2, “returning to hobby” and see the recommendations about mail order.
i found TOY TRAIN HEAVEN to be the best for prices and quickness. if you mail in an order on friday, it normally arrives the following thursday. TOY TRAIN HEAVEN also runs a multi-page ad every month in RMC.
My sources are:
ebay (modeltrainstuff is M.B.Klein in Baltimore MD, used.ho.trains is Dan’s Train Depot in Ocala FL, bzorncvn is Trackside Emporium in Chama NM)
Trainworld
Standard Hobby Supply
Toy Train Heaven
Tony’s Toy Exchange (aka Tony’s and TTX)
I like 4 N scale.com (just N scale, though), internet hobbies.com, and Walthers (www.walthers.com)
I use the two following websites for everything I purchase in HO scale as they offer fast shipping and the lowest prices:
www.toytrainheaven.com (primarily for locomotives and occasionally freight cars)
www.1stplacehobbies.com (for everything except locomotives)
If at all possible I purchase from a local hobby shop. I lived in rural areas for years and I appreciate the availability of a real live hobby shop nearby. So I patronize them so they can make a profit and stay in business. I occassionally mail order something like Atlas track products. I have used Hobby Circle and Standard Hobby Supply for that.
Since I prefer Faller and Vollmer for city structures and Walthers for Industry, I mostly use the Walthers catalog to order from. For locomotives and rolling stock, I use my local hobby shop.
Toy Train Heaven has very good prices and good service.
I just got my first order from 4nscale.com, I’m very happy, great proces, well packed. It did take them a couple days to get the package out the door, but with 50% off a loco I wanted I’m happy!
I use a number of on-line mail order sites wit no problems. 1st place Hobies, Discount Model Train Online, ternet Model Trains, etc. If price is my priority, I will find the product I want, say when i bought a dozen Atlas Relays. I do a search for the relays on Yahoo or whatever. The results usually list the prices in the summaries. Saves some time
Try lst Place Hobbies on the internet. They have as much stuff as Walther’s at much lower prices. Cheers…Ed L.
I recently visited the Florida area Ocala to be exact and went to Dan’s train depot and was very happy with the service selection and the freindlyness of the staff, The manager Bob took me into the backroom even to show me the stuff that wasn’t on display. The prices were more than reasonable and they were willing to help in any way… I wish I had an actual store like it in the chicago area I’d be there all the time…