Hi Folks, I’m really trying to get into model railroading. I’m leaning towards N scale right now due to available space.
Here’s my frustration. When I go to retail websites looking for locomotives (especially) almost everything says SOLD OUT, especially the really cool stuff I want to buy. It is very frustrating. Is this part of the hobby? Or a great demand for trains? Will these retailers re-stock or when something is sold out it’s gone for good?
Getting into a new hobby should not be this frustrating. Even local hobby dealers have limited stock on hand.
Right now everthing is in short supply from time to time, shipping costs are way up and so is the backlog. I saw this coming so I bought all my electronic needs a while back.
Frankly, the model train market is usualy all preorder and manufacturers only produce what is ordered. Add to that the pandemic, and well, you’ve got yourself a little situation. I check, I kid you not, daily, even hourly on eBay for certain items, waiting for something to pop up.
The reality of model railroading today is that almost everything is made in China, and must be shipped across the Pacific in shipping containers. With the pandemic and oil price increases etc. supplies have been at best hit-and-miss.
If you find something you really want at a good price online, but it’s “out of stock” or “sold out”, it won’t hurt to e-mail the online seller to find out if they expect to get more in the future. Perhaps you could get in on a pre-order for the next batch. I know some seller’s websites allow you to set it up so a notice will be e-mailed to you when an item comes back into stock, and then you can decide whether or not to buy it.
BTW now that train shows / railroad flea markets are starting up again, don’t overlook them as a possible source.
There was also a bit of a surge in interest in model railroading seemingly driven by the housebound lockdowns.
I rejoined the hobby in December 2019 and went a little nuts acquiring used stuff. My LHS is now pretty bare of used stock and has next to no new stock. Sold out. I contributed to this situation but mine was not driven by any lockdown. I am apparently an essential service so never got locked down. I have a mask tanline though.
But, if you try and buy a new or used car at the moment you’ll run into the same issue only worse. Only junk out there pretty much at the moment.
Supply chains and manufacturing got seriously dislocated.
Unfortunately, between “Pre-Orders” being the new normal, shipping issues from overseas, supply issues for certain components, factory issues overseas, and the pandemic, it created this “perfect storm” of “out of stock” that you are seeing.
Even “Pre-Orders” were impacted, as a locomotive “scheduled” for release March 2021 I had pre-ordered way back before COVID is still “Pending”, and a different one I had pre-ordered simply got cancelled altogether, both due to “factory issues” that have occurred, some issues from the pandemic, some of “other” sources.
Try looking a little farther afield. When the great Atlas track shortage was on some years back, the hobby stores up here in the great white North were still awash in the stuff. Also, when people were trying to hunt down the Walthers barge and/or apron kits that were no longer available, a couple of friends found some in Germany and promptly ordered them.
It never hurts to put the ID number of what you’re looking for (the manufacturers number, or just find it’s number in the Walthers online catalogue) and do a Google search. Sometimes you find some retailer somewhere has it in stock as Brent alludes to above.
Plus a reality of the pandemic is many ‘brick and mortar’ stores now have websites and now do online orders, even if they didn’t do it before. With things the way they are, if you find someplace that has something you’re willing to buy, they’ll find a way to get it to you!
Thanks for all the help, folks! It took a couple of days for a mod to post this topic since I’m a new member, I guess.
On Sunday I ordered from Amazon the Kato N scale Silver Streak Zephyr set. Comes with 6 cars, M1 oval, power pack, etc. I really wanted the Amtrak set but that is woefully sold out all over. After watching great reviews on YouTube about the Silver Streak set, and reading about the history of the real train, I was sold.
The set comes tomorrow and I’m really looking forward to it. I’m partial to passenger trains, but will eventually buy a Conrail locomotive in N scale.
I’m not looking to set up a permanent layout, or build a replica of a city, but will take advantage of floor space in a spare room to expand from the M1 oval very soon.
However, if you just look on Ebay one can easily find most locomotives made any time recently.
I just bought a brand new HO ScaleTrains BNSF ET44C4 off Ebay, by simply watching for when one got listed and jumping on it when it appeared at a buy it now price that was reasonable. On arrival it was absolutely perfect in every way, and brand new as described. These are “rare” but several are on Ebay right now at prices that would make a nice profit for the owner. I just simply waited for a better price to come along.
Stuff that is “sold out” everywhere else often appears on Ebay. It just takes a little diligent searching to find it.
Over the past couple months I found and bought two of the sold out everywhere Bowser CP Multimark SD40-2’s off Ebay (these were earlier versions and not the version just delivered that is common).
It is best to search late Friday night for just listed items, or early Saturday morning. If it is buy it now, you can then grab it before others even see it.
Not directly related to your question, but just an observation that it can be tempting to purchase a lot of equipment early in our model railroading “careers” that might not be a great fit later on as we learn more about our preferences and interests. So the urgency that one might feel when just starting out is understandable, but can be inefficient. Starting with a small number of locomotives and pieces of rolling stock can allow one to get their feet wet while learning about the hobby. And eventually most equipment is available again, often improved over the last time it was offered.
For example, as my own personal interests evolved, much of the roster I acquired in a rush early-on is now surplus to my current layout theme and design and is being sold. If I had started more modestly, it would have saved a lot of time and money.
If the Original Poster would share their ideas for their layout (era, locale, theme, etc.), folks might be able to suggest some equipment to get started.
For all its quirks and faults, eBay is hard to beat for finding specific out-of-production rolling stock, in my experience.
Pre Ordering is not as essential as being aware of what is being produced and the expected arrival dates. It good to have a year ahead cycle of knowledge.
There is usually a short window of a few weeks or months to buy stuff that’s in stock. And of course, some of the less popular stuff lingers longer.
I preordered an SP&S RS-3 on Bowser’s website back in 2018, supposed to be shipped Spring of 2019. It still wasn’t ready when the pandemic hit in early 2020, and since then I had decided I didn’t like SP&S’ “broadstripe” yellow livery as much as I liked the “as delivered” red oxide and black with tiger striping, and when a custom-painted Atlas Yellow Box RS-3 in that scheme showed up on eBay with DCC and sound added, I was on it like white on rice. I don’t even want the Bowser model now, if it ever comes to market, though I’m sorry that they’ve had such trouble getting their products out.
[Incidentally, though I still appreciate the lovely curves of the Alco RS-3, I gradually came to like the RS-1’s no-nonsense lines even more. I love the fact that it looks like such a workbench on wheels, like they just bent a spare slab of sheet metal over the cab for a roof. My next DCC diesel will be an RS-1, but first I’ll be lurking on eBay for a Great Northern 2-8-0 Consolidated. My city (Seattle) was short-sighted enough to auction off the one we had over at the zoo during the late '70s to Fred Kepner, who had planned to restore it and use it in a future museum, but in whose care (nay, say rather neglect) it has fallen to rusty ruin on a siding in Oregon. /endrant]
Speaking from my own experience I can support the go slow approach particularly because I didn’t.
While I got lucky mainly because I settled on a theme and used a resource book to corral my buying impulses a little I still bought a lot. Even a minor real railroad generally ran a lot more equipment than you ought to try and buy for your model.
My best advice for newcomers is to just buy DCC locomotives with sound and limit your acquisitions that way. They cost the most but in reality that’s likely where you’ll be getting to anyway.
If you must have older DC only locomotives in your collection try to buy relatively modern models that were designed and built with DCC conversion in mind.
I also have a bunch of older DC only locomotives that were pretty much the best of their type when new 40 or so years ago. These are for kids to run when they are small. Also, some were kits which I found satisfying to build and paint.
But truly, DCC is just so good now and so easy to wire the layout for you really have to have a hankering for old time model railroading to go that way.
DCC with sound. It really is as good as it seems to be.
It does depend what you want to do as part of this hobby. When I got back into the hobby (HO scale) about 15 years ago, I had and bought older locomotives and installed DCC in most of them. I also built quite a few locomotive kits. It was fun and I learned a great deal from that. From there, I bought some brass locos and I was not affraid to crack them open, paint them, and do that with confidence.
Would I do that again? Yes for sure. I still resist buying RTR engines with nothing to do on them. I got to have something to do on them, otherwise I don’t feel I’m getting a lot of fun out of the purchase… And learning is a big part of this hobby, for me anyways.
If there are train shows or model flea markets in your area, they can be a great way to get stuff, if it doesn’t have to be the latest and greatest. Stuff that’s five years old or so is fairly common. Last train show I got a Stewart HO F unit for $40, and even in this day and age the Stewarts have nothing to apologize for.
Consider the delay in your purchases a curse and a blessing…
John Allen the “Wizzard Of Monterey" on planning:
“A model railroad should probably start with a concept. Why? Because much knowledge about railroading, experience in model railroading, and thought are required before a proper concept for a model railroad can be formed. These requirements are seldom possible on a first pike. Mine was no exception.” - -John Allen; Gorre & Daphetid Railroad.
Take this time to refine the concept of your railroad; Prototypical or Freelance and, the track plan given your budget and available space.
I recently switched my DCC control from the Bachmann Dynamis to NCE.
Looking at the NCE website most, if not all items were listed as, “Out of Stock”.
Nowadays, if you want a certain locomotive, building or rolling stock, you must pre-order with your dealer, Otherwise you’ll be left out. While older releases do show up on the secondary market throught the year, certain items can be very rare and hard to get.
If you can find an engine at your local LHS before someone else claims it, consider yourself very lucky.