Hello All,
I havent been on the site in awhile and much has changed that sparked this question. First of all we are moving and building a house this summer, which will come with a larger train room of 15' by 18' . With the new house we plan to stay in this one longer approx 10 years. With this change and looking at the new space i have decided to switch from HO to N to run longer trains and have enough room for aisles.
The decision comes on finding that Kato is releasing Alaska SD70MAC in N scale. Since i model alaska and my collection is small (only 3 locos) now i feel is the time.
To get to my question who has dealt with any of the three dealers below? They all have similar prices for the loco installed with TCS decoder, i just do not know which i should go with.
Nscalesupply.com
Hogtrainz.com
Tophobbytrains.com
Never heard of any of them.
If you havn't, check out Trainworld. They buy up overstocks and closeouts and resell them at reduced price. DO a search for Alaska RR and see what turns up, it might be a good place to start.https://www.trainworld.com/
Also check out MB Klein / Modeltrainstuff. They are a well known dealer, are reliable and have good prices. If I was planning a pre-order, I would go with them.https://www.modeltrainstuff.com/
George In Midcoast Maine, 'bout halfway up the Rockland branch
I have used TrainWorld and they have been very reliable. They call when the item comes in and ask if you still want to buy it before they ship.
If the item is something that I really don't want to miss out on I contact Brian Marsh at Overland Hobbies.
http://www.overlandhobbies.com/
He is very reliable and good to work with.
I wasn't aware that MB Klein even did preorders? Maybe they do but I wasn't aware of it. I bought from Hogtrainz and have no complaints but I have never preordered with them so have no say in that arena.
"Generally" when Kato produces an item there are plenty to go around, unlike, say Rapido that become very scarce right after delivery. But preorder is the best way to go if you really want the item.
Good Luck, Ed
MB Klein / Modeltrainstuff doesn't do pre-orders the way others do, based on what I've heard and read on their website. They put your name on a list that gets emailed when the item arrives. It's up to the customer to read the email, order the item, and checkout before the stock is exhausted. This avoids keeping track of who gets what for the vendor, but doesn't guarantee you'll get what you need if there's a delay. They do a good job of estimating demand from what I've heard, but not always for everybody.
Now, those are good recs if he just needed to buy the loco. But he wants a specifc decoder installed and the vendors he named do custom decder installs in N. I'm in HO so no experience with any of them. I'd look for customer reviews and feedback in the absence of other guidance.
Mike Lehman
Urbana, IL
To make it easier I use these on line shops when I was in N. I made a mistake back in 2012 and sold my N instead of my HO.
buynscale.com
modeltrainstuff.com
Larry
Conductor.
Summerset Ry.
"Stay Alert, Don't get hurt Safety First!"
No online shop can ship your locomotive before the manufacturer gets it to them, and then it will likely be in the same box it came from China in, in the same condition.
I have only pre-ordered one item, and based on that experience I would not do it again. I got it from my LHS, at a surprisingly good price (better than Trainworld, even) but the shipment was delayed several times. What was to have been a couple of months ended up being over a year. When I got it, there were parts broken off, and the headlights only worked intermittently.
I am done with pre-orders.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
Hogtrainz was just recently went into N scale several months ago. I preordered two May Micro-Trains freight cars. They want the money now. I also preordered some Atlas freight cars and GP38. With a $0.01 guarantee.
I also did N Scale Supply that were good. You don't have to pay for pre-orders. Just like BLW unfortunately they're closing within this year.
I had great success with them. I had a few problems with broken jewel cases because they place them in bubble bags but freight cars are unharmed.
Amtrak America, 1971-Present.
angelob6660They want the money now.
No thanks — just too risky.
Factory Direct Trains is also a place where I've made preorders. They only require a deposit of 1¢.
https://www.factorydirecttrains.com/nscale.aspx
Regards, Ed
I have preordered Bowser HO engines from Hogtrainz. They did not bill my credit card until they had the engines in hand and ready to ship. I was satisfied with their prices and service.