Where do you buy hobby items?

[Rene Schweitzer]

Think I ran this question a couple of years ago, but perhaps (especially online) things have changed.

[bman36]

Hi Rene,
Being the bargain hunter I am, it all depends on who has the best deals. It's fun to sift through Closeouts / Clearance tables to see what I can find. For that reason I voted "A combination of the above". There's always the instance where the item I need only a hobby shop can supply...then that's where I go. For the most part it's seek and find. Gotta' stretch those hobby dollars! Later eh...Brian.

[Anonymous]

I did't see that one. I need to change mine to combination also. Alot of my stuff comes from mail order or swap meets, but general supplies comes from train store. Sorry I goofed up the results.

[cacole]

I check my only "local" hobby shop, 100+ miles away, about every-other month to see what they have in stock. If they don't have what I'm looking for, then I resort to mail order.

[Anonymous]

Hi Rene
I buy at train shows and from garden rail road magazine dealers, local dealers don't have much., some times i drive 80 miles to a bigger dealer , if i need the item right away . ben

[Anonymous]

I had to say a combo because of where I live.
I have one dealer that does not like to special order but only carries one product (that I see) on the floorin G Scale.
So, that makes me turn to on-line shops and cool people like on this forum that will help you.
Another place I find stuff is hardware and in my home.
I needed a paint shaker (old one bought it) so I looed around and found a paint can and a motor 12v from a old drill that did not work. Next I knew I had a poor mans paint shaker.
Like Brian said "Gotta' stretch those hobby dollars!"

[Marty Cozad]

I voted all of the above, simply cause i do try to get some from the local guys. My main arguement with them is, If I order from you can't you even come close to the magizine prices? Because it will be in and out the door the same day and you won't be sitting on it for months.
I don't know the answer, the small guys seem to be sit in their ways.

[vsmith]

LHS 75%

BTS at the Rusty Bucket 20%

On-line mail order 5%

Got a few LHS withing 30 miles so i get most stuff thru them, Bargian hunt at the BTS and get those one of a kind things on line as needed.

[grandpopswalt]

I'm lucky. I live less than 100 miles from Trainworld on Long Island, NY. My local hobby shops carry very little in the way of "G" scale stuff and as Marty said, the prices are way out of line. They must be missing out on the big volume purchase discounts offered to the big boys. The rest I buy on-line.

Walt

[Quadiaska]

Hi Guys, I live in the Boston vacinity and live within 15 miles of a large scale trains manufacturer and visit his shop every two or three weeks. But, I still buy almost EVERYTHING, via email, from a shop in Ohio as that individual treats me fine, ships promptly and is still FAR less expensive (including the shipping) than buying locally.
Tom

[Marty Cozad]

This is kinda along the lines, but when buying track figure it by the foot. Not piece. Example:
I just bought 3 cases of 4.6" Aristo track from a dealer that has free shipping offer over $250. Now i looked into the 5ft sections but it was about 20 cents per ft higher. Also i usually wait for Aristo's winter buy 4 get one free offer, but you pay shipping.. And i was within about 10cents a foot difference in the winter sale. So i bought now cause i only needed 3 cases. So even if $250 is more than you want to spend , call a friend and buy together. Thus saving. Or if your a die hard long term modeler, buy more , cause you will always need it later.
REMEMBER, track is like gold, you never have enough of it and you can't run without it.
PS Here is my first revenue run on the newly installed track.

[Anonymous]

How many feet come in a case of Aristocraft track?

[Marty Cozad]

Dear,,dear Matt
I really didn't think you would be the one to ask this.
See Aristo track list on their forum.
usually straight track is 12 to a case X the length of track in the case. curves you buy more based on size you need rather than feet.
OH , I think my track was about $2.40 per ft, not the $3.50 to $4 as some places say.

[Anonymous]

Marty, I was sitting there reading your post and couldn't remember how much track was in a case while mentally trying to figure approximately how many cases it would take to do the layout in my mind. [%-)][D)] Thanks!

[jtrost]

Unfortunately, few hobby shops in my area have more than one or two G Scale things. The one that does have G Scale quite often doesn't have what I need. [sigh] (A whole rack of Kadee couplers but rarely the specific one I need.) I have become very disenchanted with the local hobby shops. So, it's mostly online for me. Besides, prices are generally much better than the hobby shops.

And to think. At one time I wanted to open a hobby shop.

[Anonymous]

Well I buy my rail from our club by phone and I have recently successfully taken my LGB supplier to court so i guess i wont be buying much more from him, so I have found another LGB dealer nearby and i buy what i want from him as far as rail components go ie Points (switches), MTS modules, isolation track etc.

But I still cannot understand why you people go so much to hobby shops. I spend most of my time in garden supply places, landscape supplies, nurseries and hardware stores.

If you are not going a lot to these places i must ask what sort of Garden railway are you into ?

Rgds ian

[Anonymous]

Hi guys,

I buy in combination of mail order and local shop. The mail order is good for price but because of the size of the parcels I have to go into town to collect - typically the post office is in parking hell! The question of model shops is a little different over here because of the distances you guys travel. I support our local shop whenever I can because if he goes I will be the first to complain, I can park around the corner as well. I tend to buy twice as much from the shop as I get by mail, I think that keeps it fair-ish.

Just a thought on Ians comment about garden suppliers etc. My railway is part of the garden and wherever I can I blend it into it's surroundings, sometimes at considerable expense. It's all down to what you do, as stated mine is a garden with a railroad in, others have railroads with a bit of scale garden etc etc.

Cheers,
Kim
[tup]

[Anonymous]

I mainly check out every thing online and then see what is available locally.Then I go back online and buy 'cause there is nothing local.
I am a firm convert to Aristocraft track.If in England I can get it fairly cheap then there is no reason for someone in the USA not to use it and build.Let's face it .If you want to build a railway,then build it.I started with a small loop for 2 years,learning and waiting to go further.
Ian,I'm glad your court case was successfull.A great weight off your mind I'm sure.
As an aside,I would really like to know how far you have taken the MTS system with regard to points,train detection ect.
Troy

[DannyS]

Being a Garden Railroader in Australia, is not easy, not many Hobby Retailers carry much in the way of Large Scale, so I do purchase a fair amount of my needs from USA internet dealers, where possible I do prefer to purchase locally.
Danny S.

[Anonymous]

As a beginner in G scale, I pretty much buy online, mostly for the economics. The two train hobby shops in my immediate area list their G scale prices at roughly twice the price of most online dealers. They say the high cost of inventory, shipping and the need to stock too many road names/engine types prevent their having much (if anything) in stock. I live in Texas; and I can purchase from an online dealer in another state and not have to pay the 8 1/4% sales tax. . .and some online dealers ship free freight or less than $8.00 regardless of order size!

[Anonymous]

hobby shops around louisville kentucky is a thing of the past. in these parts everything has to be done mail order/online. it's sad to live in such a big city and have trouble finding hobby supplys.

[Anonymous]

In Denver, you can take your pick of hobby stores. Outside of the train and track, I'm going to build every thing myself. It is much cheeper. For me cheeper is better. Construction continues.

[ibikeil]

They need to add another option -- "Hobby shops that discount their prices"

[081440]

I've only ever bought mail order and from hobby shops. However I think I might try online ordering this holiday season. [tup]

[Anonymous]

i am disabled and home bound. and my local hobby shop is hard to get too. he can't match or come close to the internet prices. you have too shop around and get what you like and feel its a fair price. do your research check for prices! so i do buy internet my local guy wanted 129.95 for my internet 89.55 delivered to my door.
good luck to the local HS he's got to do what he's got to do.
AND I ALLWAYS CHECK GRM FOR THE GOING PRICES.

[Anonymous]

I am "toying" with the idea of installing a 5" gauge line in my back garden and have more or less decided on a supplier. However, there appears to be a dearth of hobby shops around Nottingham dealing in this type of set-up. I also have an LGB gauge 1 which I may use as a "filler" layout after I have installed the 5" line. What I really want tyo ask you guys and gals out there is for any info you may have on suppliers dealing in this gauge.

Regards for now.

John Hellen
Hucknall
Nottingham UK

[Anonymous]

Hi John,
Welcome from us all [#welcome].
It's a fairly hard job finding a model shop in the UK that sells anything but 'OO' these days. There is a company advertising in the mag but they are in Canada! As a matter of interest, what size garden have you got? or should I say farm!
Cheers,
Kim
[tup]

[bman36]

Hi John,
Welcome! The company Kim mentioned is called Riding Railkits. Check their website at www.ridingrailkits.com. Looks like some really neat stuff. Check it out. Enjoy the forum! Later eh...Brian.

[Anonymous]

I started collecting locos, cars and track towards my future LGB layout three years ago in 2001 and at that stage I was purchasing from the only authorised LGB dealer in Africa. Yes, folks, read that again ... In the entire continent of Africa (not just the Republic of South Africa) there is only one LGB dealer.

I was paying very high prices there because he imports directly from LGB Germany and pays in Euros. When converted into our local currency the Rand, which means multiplying by 10 and adding 14% VAT this resulted in prices like R5000 for a small 0-6-0 LGB tank engine, R1200 for your average freight car and R160 for a 2ft length of track.

I couldn't afford to continue and was not able to build my model railway at those prices. I contemplated giving up. I considered scratchbuilding. I tried to find a local engineering company that could machine brass rail which I could hand lay on sleepers I cut myself on a bandsaw. I tried all avenues and was on the point of despair. I was unable to buy anything for 2 years due to the astronomical prices. I nearly lost it.

And then, in January this year, while surfing randomly on the internet, I accidentally stumbled across [:D] TRAINWORLD [:D] You must imagine that this announcement was done with a fanfare of trumpets.

Now let's run that calculation again. Their discounted prices in Dollars when converted into our local currency the Rand, which means multiplying by 7 (not 10 as in Euros) and adding 14% VAT resulted in prices like R2500 for a small 0-6-0 LGB tank engine, R600 for your average freight car and R60 for a 2ft length of track. The bottom line is that on the average, locos and cars are half what I was originally paying and track was one third.

So I bought the entire remainder of what I need for my model railway from Trainworld in 10 consignments at one month intervals and paid less than half of what I would have paid the local dealer. In Dollar terms, I saved $6,000 overall.

I read with sympathy all the posts about how the poor LHS is struggling and needs our support, etc. but -- money talks, baby. I now buy exclusively online. [:P][:P]

[Anonymous]

Hey Ronnie I have been trying to owrkout the relationship of the distances from the equator for South Africa I live at about 25 deg 30" south do you have any idea what latitude you are on. In the other direction we are 10 hours ahead of GMT.

Rgds ian