I have recently moved to England (just Southwest of London). Any tips on where to order trains from both here and those that will ship to UK.
Jim H
Hi Jim, welcome to Blighty. I'm sure Nick or John Baker will weigh in here. When I was overseas, I browsed the news stands for the absolute plethora of railroad modelling magazines. Here's one I can still find in the US: http://www.brmodelling.com/main/default.aspThey had advertisers that import Lionel and better yet, connections to clubs and displays and exhibitions. I know there's a Lionel Collector's Club in Britain - see http://www.fastnet.co.uk/lionelclubuk/
The TCS is another potential source - http://www.traincollectors.org.uk/ There are more links here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O_scale
1:48 trains in Britain are 2-rail but their modeling and supporting accesorries are wonderous. Of course you can get the Ace trains I've seen reviewed in CTT.
There's literally something going on related to model trains all the time in England - enjoy your time there.
Doug Murphy 'We few, we happy few, we band of brothers...' Henry V.
Hi Jim
to the UK, hope the following may be useful:
Lionel dealer over here is Tennents Trains, Shop 1, No.130 Hagley Road, Hayley Green, Halesowen, B63 1DY tel: 0121-550-1266 They are also a lionel service centre and sell some MTH and Weaver models. Unfortunately no web site - they advertise in the back of Railway Modeller every month.
Ace Trains produces some fantastic models in the "old school" style, I run an Ace A3 Flying Scotsman and an A4 Mallard together with several smaller engines - they look beautiful and are very reliable. Best place to buy is Modelfair in Manchester - check out the web site at http://www.modelfair.com/ They have also just started to sell Atlas Track.
We have a Lionel UK collectors club see http://www.fastnet.co.uk/lionelclubuk/
It's worth getting your subscription in for the mags you like - delivery, especially for CTT is excellent. You can buy Classic Trains, Garden Railways and Model Railroader in WH Smiths shops.
Ordering from the US - I have used Charles Ro - excellent - on several occassions and Grand Central together with Grzyboski's with no problems apart from some faulty Lionel engines! Be careful you will pay value added tax at 17.5% plus customs charges. As a rough guide for $1000 worth of trains you will pay £770 including import duty, tax and shipping. Thats about $1553. A bit scary this! Also if you buy an engine that has to go back to the US for repair that will cost about £45 to ship i.e. add another $90. However, with a strong pound the products still look like good value to me.
If you have any specific requirements please feel free to ask.
Clive
Yep, those taxes again.. Here on the mainland it's the same. A 150 dollar engine has $60 tax, $60 shipping, so all costs added you're paying $270 for it. (on the mainland there is 19% tax and a "fee" for the customservice of $20.. besides all this, the tax also must be paid on the shipping costs)
Nevertheless, it's still far cheaper then buying in Germany or Switserland, if you even might find something looking the same with the same features, it's often far more expensive.
But you'll eventually learn to live with it, and you have something very special moddeling 3 rail 0 gauge over here..
I recently met someone from England. He said the way to get around those wild import taxes is to have a buddy buy trains here and send them to you as a gift. I'm sure you could get away with that once or twice but if it became routine they'll nail you.
I've sold my products to folks from both England and Germany at York.. I can only imagine them being smuggled in like a load of illegal drugs.. In the words of Tony Soprano ( A&E sanitized version) "Freakin' Bloodsuckers!!"
A parcel arriving from the U.S at Christmas with a customs form declaring toy trains won't attract much interest from the tax man providing you are prepared to be economical with the truth about the value. What will attract him is the declared value even if sent as a gift. Tax at 17.5% Kicks in at about $36 USD and they also hit you with a £8 GBP handling charge. Keep the declared value beneath $34 USD and you should be OK.
Needless to say no retailer will ship on this basis so has already been said get a friend or relative to ship it for you
Bringing in Trains as a passenger from Canada I have never had any problems, just a few puzzled looks at the long lengths of tubular track packed in a cardboard tube which my son helpfully pointed out looked like a Bazooka.
Great tips all! Thanks for the suggestions. I will start by checking out the local action. I brought a ton of 3 rail with me, but I sure would like to get the Harry Potter set.
Be a wise man and order one in the usa.. It's 379 euro's in germany
Even with postage and everything else added it's still tremendously cheaper to import..
If you are here in the uk in the short term why waste money on shipping just buy the trains when you get home, or have a friend hold them for you until you get home. While you are here visit Alan Levy at Ace and see what they have to offer, a really nice guy with an excellent product.
Holy cow,
Know I dion't feel bad for paying a 6% tax over here. Almost makes it worth smuggling trains across borders. Give a whole new meaning to the "Underground Railroad".
Welcome Jim!, Just got back from holiday. I have been out of the country with no web access.
I think the other guys have shown you will not be alone running 3-rail here in the UK. I highly recomend joining the Lionel Collectors Club UK.
Clive, Saw your post on the other forum on power supplies I'll post the details of where I got the inverter etc. here when I get a chance. Catching up on loads of work emails at the moment. Had to have a break and coffee!
Nick
Jago,
I am here for about two years....so I do not think I can wait that long. Although...I get to go to US once per year. Still I hate to wate another two years for the Harry Potter set.
Clive, Heres a link to one of my past post that details where to get the Inverter and Power supply.
http://www.trains.com/trccs/forums/751034/ShowPost.aspx
I wrote a "How to guide" which appeared in "Shortline" the Lionel Collectors Club UK magazine. I can email a copy if you like. Or the back issue maybe available if you ask Chris if you are a club member.
Thanks Nick. I was glad to see that post about the inverter. I actually brought a big pure wave inverter with me (had to leave the battery behind though!).
Do I need an inverter if I want to just run old (ie no fancy electronics) trains?
jimhaleyscomet wrote: Thanks Nick. I was glad to see that post about the inverter. I actually brought a big pure wave inverter with me (had to leave the battery behind though!). Do I need an inverter if I want to just run old (ie no fancy electronics) trains?Jim H
Hi Jim, You should be fine running older stuff on 50Hz. However take care on what transformer/controller you use. i.e. the ZW runs warmer on 110/120V 50Hz than on 60Hz.
Just don't run a CW-80 on 50Hz! As these have major malfuntions of the DC offset electronics that will cause the locos whistle to blow constantly.
The Guys in the Lionel Collectors Club UK have noticed that vibrating accesories work better and quieter on 60Hz.
When you run a transformer on a lower frequency than it was designed for, you can keep it from overheating by reducing the voltage in proportion to the frequency. So a 120-volt 60-hertz transformer will be just as happy on 100 volts at 50 hertz. Smaller transformers tend to be more tolerant of high voltage or low frequency, while larger ones are designed closer to the limit of how much heat they can get rid of. For example, the 150-watt VW is rated at 110-125 volts, 50-60 hertz; but the otherwise similar 250-watt ZW is rated at 110-125 volts, 60 hertz only.
So, if you are planning to run a 60-hertz Lionel transformer on 50 hertz and can do so, it is a good idea to keep the 50-hertz voltage as low as possible. You'll probably have another transformer to get from the British 230 to 115 volts. If you can find one with adjustment taps, you may be able to push that 115 closer to 100.
This will reduce the train transformer's output voltage too; so it's probably not practical with a 1033. But a V, Z, VW, or ZW puts out a high enough voltage that you may not miss a few volts.
(There is a way to rewire a train transformer to get around the need for a lower voltage at 50 hertz; but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone who doesn't really know what he is doing.)
Bob Nelson
If you want that Potter set, you may want somebody in the US to buy it for you. I was at Planes and Trains (Houston) on Monday, and they said A LOT of non-train people are asking about it. Got mine on order prebuy. Odd you can't get a train based on a book in the UK...
Surrey...is that not the town Harry's "lovely" Aunt and Uncle lived?
Surrey is indeed a county here in England. There are reports that the filming took place here or there but I have yet to research them any further. I already have 2 sets on preorder. We will have to see how it turns out being here.
Al least you can ride the steam train used in the movie!
Maybe Miss H. Granger has a spell which creates trains....
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