After a VERY DISAPPOINTING "Small Business Saturday" shopping trip, I decided to give Cyber-Monday a try.
.
Kadee has 15% off and free shipping, so I took advantage of that one.
Model Train Stuff has an addtional 5% off plus free shipping, but they are out of almost everything I want. I could not get my cart up the the free shipping minimum.
Anybody find any great deals out there?
-Kevin
Living the dream.
Lombards Hobby had the Arrowhead H39 Hopper, buy one get one free for a set of six cars, from what I heard they are all gone. I did manage to get a set of six.
Rick Jesionowski
Rule 1: This is my railroad.
Rule 2: I make the rules.
Rule 3: Illuminating discussion of prototype history, equipment and operating practices is always welcome, but in the event of visitor-perceived anacronisms, detail descrepancies or operating errors, consult RULE 1!
I generally don't shop for trains online, but I got a great deal on an Atlas Classic RS-11 yesterday at the Albany Train Show. $70 brand new. I'll post some photos soon.
Harrison
Homeschooler living In upstate NY a.k.a Northern NY.
Modeling the D&H in 1978.
Route of the famous "Montreal Limited"
My YouTube
I recently bought an Atlas N Scale 50' PC boxcar PCA #166653 on eBay. I been looking for it around 3 years at a good price. $24 with shipping.
This was on 11/24. I try not to buy anything around the Christmas season.
Amtrak America, 1971-Present.
Well, it looks like Kadee will be the only company getting any of my Cyber-Monday money this year.
dti406 Lombards Hobby had the Arrowhead H39 Hopper, buy one get one free for a set of six cars, from what I heard they are all gone. I did manage to get a set of six. Rick Jesionowski
That was a killer deal - half price! Pfft 5% - don't get me wrong. I like MBK but Lombards Arrowhead deal was best for Black Friday and Cyber Monday combined. I also ordered a set of six. There were at least ten six-packs of Rio Grande, Sou and PRR all gone by 12:30 EST
ExactRail also had very good deals. The 4427 hoppers normally $36 were $29 and some names deep discounted to $18.xx. I also ordered a bridge for $13.95 normally $25.95.
Trainlife is connected to ExactRail so I actually ordered from them. They have a nifty building kit that is a welding repair shop priced at $50 but for BF is was reduced to 34. Had my eye on it for some time but with sale price ...
TL had a nice much of other stuff on sale too at attractive prices HO and N.
Rio Grande. The Action Road - Focus 1977-1983
For once I did, if it ships, you never know. Got a bachmann 2-6-0 dcc and sound $99 and a 0-6-0 porter for 39.99 DCC, last a 70 ton dcc for 49.99.
Anyone interested can save some money at Tichy.
Regards, Ed
Thanks for that information Ed, that is worth looking into.
I use a lot of Tichy items.
I am so sick of hearing "this thing" "day", I can't wait for this to be over. But of course I still am getting things like "black friday extended" and "cyber monday - extra 24 hours!"
It's all a scam. There are never any really better deals than you can get at various times of the year. But boy have the sheeple bought in to it. When I need something, I'll buy it. If it's on sale - great. If I don;t need it immediately, I'll wait for a sale. If something I've had my eye on goes on sale, especially a significant one, I'll buy it. Doesn't have to be "cyber monday" or any other 'special' day.
I realize I am a mostly lone voice whistling in the wind here, it's hard to overcome years of marketing brainwashing. Same for the stores that open Thanksgiving afternoon. They aren't heartlessly making thei employees leave behind families to come to work. The heartless ones are the sheeple who go out in droves to shop Thanksgiving afternoon. If no one showed up, the stores wouldn't open.
/ end rant
So no, I got no model train things for "cyber monday". I did buy a few household necessities like soap and toilet paper though - does that count? I take my car for inspection tomorrow, I guess that makes it "car repair wednesday".
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
We've all been brainwashed by years of marketing yes and commercials ad-nauseum. That's why I no longer watch TV with commercials and when they come on the radio, I turn it off. But you're sounding unhinged.
So are you saying we aren't getting something for our money, something that would otherwise cost more at other times?
For whatever reason, we can indeed find some bargains by "playing the game". There is no reason to pay regular (however you define it) prices when you can do your best to find the best deals. Perhaps you'd like to have a talk with my wife - she wlil set things straight I guarantee it.
Time for you to join the grumpy old man club!
It depends upon what you're looking for I guess.
I could use more corn syrup cars with conspicuity stripes or any freight car with conspicuity stripes for that matter, but they are never available for very long to hang around until sale day.
And on ebay, they usually go for a premium, so getting them at full price from the retailers when they are available is actually a good deal, comparatively.
- Douglas
DoughlessIt depends upon what you're looking for I guess.
For sure. Folks with more escoteric affinities may not find the BF or CM sales all that helpful as they are more "main stream" if thats the right term. They are selling trains that are primarily 50's through modern, mostly diesel era and other stuff.
TrainLife and ExactRail are running specials every day this week it appears. Scam? *shrugs* maybe if you feel hypmotized to buy stuff you don't really want?
I've been a grumpy old man for years. Off the deep end? Well, just don't look at the shelves full of Pug stuff.... Yes, everything from figures to Lego model to tape measure (really - pull out the tongue, that's the tape).
I don't watch TV at all any more, something interesting comes up it's usually on Amazon so I can stream on my computer.
Couple of quite true things - those black friday doorbusters, they usually have ONE of the item at that price, which is why people trample each other getting into the store. And Best Buy has done it, if not others, where the special deal model that they DO have plenty in stock of is NOT the exact same model, at least in TVs. So to say it's regularly $999 but for black friday it's $499, it's not really an apples to apples comparison. In the model train world, it would be liek saying there is a special deal on Walthers Proto but what they give you (for a hugely reduced price) is actually a Trainline, not Proto. Except such a thing would be very obvious to most of us, with these TVs, there's an exta 'a' in the model number and from the outside it looks IDENTICAL, it's just when you really dig in and see it has only 2 HDMI ports instead of the original model's 4, and it's missing Amazon or something in the smart TV features. SO maybe more like you DO get a Proto loco, all the detail is there, but the motor was replaced with an old Athearn gold motor, and the ESU sound decoder was replaced with an old 8 bit Digitrax one. Looks great on the outside - all the same detail is there. But it doesn;t run or sound as good as the regular priced version.
Doesnt help that I just deleted an email that said "Cyber Monday? How about Cyber Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday?" I think that was Lowes or Home Depot.
I'll be giving these places plenty of my money real soon now, as soon as my basement remodel is done. No sense in grabbing one or two sheets of plywood at a time, I'll be spending all my time driving back and forth. More parking outside, but I'm not going to do the major cutting in my nice new basement.
Tis the season to jack up the ebay price, too - good time to sell off old stuff you don't want. Not trains, but $100 MSRP Lego sets, currently out of stock directly from Lego, are hitting $200 on ebay. Sorry, not that desperate. Don't need it for CHristmas, so I'll wait. Good time to be a seller though. Me, I'm done, except for cards. I bought gifts a month ago.
The Kadee deal worked out great for me.
I stocked up on some of the unusual (non-bettendorf) truck styles that hobby shops rarely carry in numbers, got a good discount, and no shipping.
They will not go unused, this was a win.
riogrande5761 Doughless It depends upon what you're looking for I guess. For sure. Folks with more escoteric affinities may not find the BF or CM sales all that helpful as they are more "main stream" if thats the right term. They are selling trains that are primarily 50's through modern, mostly diesel era and other stuff. TrainLife and ExactRail are running specials every day this week it appears. Scam? *shrugs* maybe if you feel hypmotized to buy stuff you don't really want?
Doughless It depends upon what you're looking for I guess.
I certainly didn't call anything a scam. I think its great that people find what they want on sale at the time they want it.
I'll just buy conspicuity stripe decals, or mask off and paint them myself, and patch out a previous era's outdated logo with paint if the bidders bid up the new RTR stuff too high. Most of the cars I want have run the rails for a long time, just not in original logo or ownership. Older original paint versions can be found on ebay. The RTR runs of second or third ownership or patch outs seem to go quickly. Lots of Molten Sulphur and Acid tank cars left, instead of Corn Syrup, the latter of which I assume would be more the main stream and why they're not available.
rrinker Couple of quite true things - those black friday doorbusters, they usually have ONE of the item at that price, which is why people trample each other getting into the store.
Couple of quite true things - those black friday doorbusters, they usually have ONE of the item at that price, which is why people trample each other getting into the store.
Yeah, I can't be bothered to do the door buster thing - storeshave been using 1 or a few of the hot items to lure people in with for years - no thanks. Never did that gig and jhave stayed away from the stores for many years on BL. Maybe one exception, my wife and I got a 58" flat screen at Target for $430 (non 4k which is fine) and got a $50 gift card, which effectively brought the final price to $380 - about the cheapest we saw at that time sans the door buster camp the door nutty stuff. Target was very quiet when we went.
My wife and I do most of our shopping online anymore and it's pretty easy to tell what is a good deal. She does lots of research online so she pretty much knows what and where the best deals are.
Heck, Home Depot and Lowes (mostly) have been getting lots of money from me during the past year WHILE my wife and I were remodeling the basement. We couldn't really afford to hire contractors except for plumbing and electrical so we did all the drywall, suspended ceiling, floor and bathroom tile ourselves. We figure we finished the entire basement (700 sq ft) with a full bathroom for under $5000.
Before start (was framed in at purchase)
Drywall DIY going in
Wife tiled the bathroom shower and floor
Drop ceiling and floor in.
Passed code inspection early Nov and we finished the baseboard last weekend.
Tis the season to jack up the ebay price, too - good time to sell off old stuff you don't want. Not trains, but $100 MSRP Lego sets, currently out of stock directly from Lego, are hitting $200 on ebay. Sorry, not that desperate. Don't need it for CHristmas, so I'll wait. Good time to be a seller though. Me, I'm done, except for cards. I bought gifts a month ago. --Randy
I haven't sold on Ebay for years, but avoid the crazy jacked up stuff. My wife has done most of the shopping bless her. Almost done.
DoughlessI certainly didn't call anything a scam.
You didn't.
Might cost me about double for my basement, paying someone to do most of it. And that's with ripping down a bunch of walls (I had already pulled all the old ceilign tiles out of the drop ceiling). But no fancy bathroom with shower for me, I have 2 of those upstairs, all I need down there is a toilet and small sink (there's a laundry sink for washing paint brushes, so I am increasing the basement space slightly by decreasing the bathroom size by installing a smaller sink in there and moving the door). ANd no fancy floor, it's all train room. Going to use that epoxy paint on the cement, and then get those cheap carpet tiles for walking/standing areas so I don;t have to stand on bare cement (not comfortable).
I haven't sold on ebay for years either, mostly because I already sold off all the stuff I didn't want or need, and I only buy things that go with what I'm building, so I really have no surplus to sell right now. Buy plenty though - but only after checking prices, especially if it's somethign still available. Most of the time, a currently stocked item is cheaper for me to get from Modeltrainstuff. I take every advantage of the crazy buyers though - saw two people bidding up a P2K loco, back and forth, while another sat with a very low Buy It Now price (from a seller with 100% positive feedback, too, so it wasn;t a case of avoiding a questionable seller). So I got mine for $29.95 and oen of the other two got theirs for something north of $100, everything identical (new in box, etc). The one I snagged did not have any misspellings in the title so it was showing up in the same searches, for manufacturer, road name, and loco type. I'v given up trying to understand the mental function of most people, I'm far too logical and analytical to be swayed by the "ooh shiny!". Probably somewhere on the spectrum, had they ever bothered to test for that 40+ years ago when I was a kid. Also explains why my trains always run smoothly, no derailments, no strange wiring problems - through a plain plywood or pink prairie with no scenery since I can never figure that part out.
rrinkerno fancy bathroom with shower for me, I have 2 of those upstairs, all I need down there is a toilet and small sink (there's a laundry sink for washing paint brushes, so I am increasing the basement space slightly by decreasing the bathroom size by installing a smaller sink in there and moving the door). ANd no fancy floor, it's all train room.
Since the basement bathroom had rough-in for sink, toilet and shower, and it was already framed in, it only made sense to finish the basement bathroom completely. I wouldn't call it "fancy", at least for this area and for when the homes were built full baths are the norm for finished basements and probably it would be considered a deficiency by perspective buyers if the shower or bathtub was omitted when almost all other comparables would have that feature. In addition to being the norm here, we also looked at it as an investment which adds value.
My wife did all the tile work using a tile saw she bought at a garage sale for 8 bucks and we got the tile for low cost at Home Depot, so adding the shower didn't cost much. The hardest part for me was chipping the cement from around the 2 inch PVC rough-in drain pipe with a hammer drill down about 3 inches so the drain would be at the right height for the shower pan. The cement was friggin hard!
As far as space goes, if I would have gone to the extra work to re-frame to move the wall in by 3 feet to omit the shower and floor over the rough-in drain pipe, it wouldn't have benefited the trainroom area anyway due to the way the basement is configured - it would have added 3 feet to one corner of my wifes den area. But for you, it may be a way to squeeze a bit more layout space.
The "fancy floor" isn't fancy; it's low cost vinyl planking we got for under a dollar / sq ft using coupons at Lowes. If we would have actually gone "fancy" we would have done laminate flooring or real tile, but hey, it's a basement/rec room, that might be overkill and cost more. Anyway, my wife would have forbidden leaving the floor bare cement and also said no to carpet tiles - something I mentioned; she wanted the basement to be fully finished. She's usually right.
The utility sink we installed back when we had plumbing run to the bathroom area was great to have while doing the basement finishing work. It should be handy while building a layout too.
It got installed just inside the unfinished utility room to the right of the sump.
There already was a half bath in the basement, so I'm just repalcing the big cabinet vanity with a smaller one so I can put the door on the end instead of the side, and replacing the old toilet with one that works. The only real benefit is more unobstructed space to get from the garage to the stairs. Laundry is on the other side of the bathroom wall, at least until the next big project, which will take the small 'master' bathroom and make it a real bathroom, and moving the laundry upstairs (always a plus). All the will do though because of the basement shape is allow me to extend the staging another 6-7 feet.
Makes sense. Where you put the door can make a difference.
In hind sight, I'd have preferred the door on the side wall just to allow the option to allow a basement appartment to use it while keeping the main area and utility room separate if the back part were ever walled off.
Sounds like you are re-arranging things to make overall improvements to the home; a master bath improvement should be a good priority to upgrade most would agree. Upstairs laundry is nice. Newer homes seem to have it either on the ground floor near the kitchen like our house, or on the 2nd floor for good sized newer homes.
Extending staging by 6-7 feet is no small thing and you are getting other benefits as you do it, which is great.
That would reduce the house from 4 bedroom to 3, but I think that's the way it was riginally built anyway - 3 bedroom with one full bath. The bedrooms are all about the same size, and while the 'master' has its own full bath, it just has a shower stall. I need to draw it all out (3rd PlanIt will come in handy - useful for so much more than just layout design) but I think there is enough space to turn that small bathroom plus 2 of the bedrooms into a larger bedroom with large closet space plus a nice size bathroom with a soaking tub plus shower, and still have room left over to fit the laundry. That's as far as it goes - my house is a raised ranch with basement, no second floor.
Extreme version which has already been shot down is to do a Tony Koester on the garage - unlike Tony's house, my garage is 2+ cars wide, so if I chopped it off like he did, I'd gain a LOT of railroad space and still have room for 2 cars to park inside. But as of now, that's right behind the location of the washer and dryer, so it's definitely out until the laundry gets moved upstairs. I'm figuring it would net some 200+ sq feet to the basement space. Lot of work though.
If you are going to be there for many more years, it's probably worth it to do all the mods.
I do not plan to move again. Of course, everyone says that... It's a plenty large enough place, well under what the bank said I could afford, but what would I do with 5 more rooms, sleep in a different one every night? Being way under budget, I can pay extra so I can easily get this all paid off before I retire, last thing I want after retirement is to still be paying a mortgage.
Might end up with some of that flooring after all. Seems the original owners put some linoleum on the concrete, from the front door that goes into the basement up to the garage door. It was hidden under the hideously ugly, dirty, and worn out carpeting they installed at some later time. And it is VERY well glued down and not coming up. Since that's a fairly high traffic area, that wood-look vinyl may be just the thing to cover it up. I need to stop by my local Ollie's, they have the nice 4mm padded stuff for the same price the cheap 2mm stuff is at Lowes and HD.
Some sort of decent looking flooring will be a plus.
And you know, even though we installed that inexpensive vinyl planking, which is essentially stick-on square tiles that are instead long and look like wood, I still plan on putting down carpet squares and/or those interlocking rubber mats for the tootsies.
Yeah, I wouldn't do the whole basement in that, just the walkway area. Around the layout aisles it will be carpet tile. That way when you come in with wet dirty shoes it will be on the vinyl which is easier to clean up than the carpet squares - they'd get pretty ratty after a year and I'd be forever replacing them. Around the layout, they will only need replacement if something spills on them.
I also recommend the vinyl planking. A uniform and tidy looking floor is worth the investment, IMO. It seems like durable stuff in the short time we've had it in our basement remodel.
Wife and chose vinyl planking for the same reason, besides looking pretty good, it appears to be fairly easy for clean up. During the installation of baseboard, I've gotten paint and other stuff on it and it cleans up pretty easy. Plus for layout construction, plaster or other messy stuff, same thing. Carpet or carpet tiles, if used, would probably be good to wait until the messy stuff is done.
riogrande5761 Wife and chose vinyl planking for the same reason, besides looking pretty good, it appears to be fairly easy for clean up. During the installation of baseboard, I've gotten paint and other stuff on it and it cleans up pretty easy. Plus for layout construction, plaster or other messy stuff, same thing. Carpet or carpet tiles, if used, would probably be good to wait until the messy stuff is done.
Yes, a great flooring choice for that environment.
You basement looks great.
Sheldon