Best Hobby Shops on the Web


I found for detail parts I'm buying directly from those that manufacture the parts since I find so many don't have the parts or the extra time it takes to get them. I know you can get a lot from Walthers on-line but not all.
Dave
 
Best Hobby Shops

Jack from Star, Idaho. Give Hogs Trainz a look, I have purchased a lot over the past few years and I have found out that his prices are tough to beat. He has a standard shipping charge ($7.95) for HO no matter what the size of the order. Paul will work with you and answers his e-mails promply. He will negotiate on quantity orders. Here is the ::eek: web address...www.hogtrainz.com
 
I have been getting great service from 2 ebay stores. The Favorite Spot has great deals on Bachman stuff. I have been buying a lot of On30 items and also some HO scale locomotives to convert into 0n30 locos. Prices were 25 to 30% of retail. Their shipping is a bit pricey, but not outrageous. They always ship the next day and I usually get the parcel within 7 days to Canada.
The other store is Dan's Train Depot.I have started buying quite a few items from them. They ship super fast. If I win an item in the evening, I will usually get an email my item is shipped by the first thing next morning. I have gotten their parcels in less than 5 days.
They have very resonable shipping as well. I just bought 6 Labelle wooden passenger coach kits from them. The listings said shipping would be $5.01 per car which is very resonable. When the invoice came it had $30.00 to ship the 6 cars. That is a bit pricey but I got the cars at a very resonable price so it didn't matter to much to me. The next morning I got an email saying my Paypal account had been credited $17.00 for shipping overpayment. I was very impressed with this. Their service is among the best I have ever recieved.
Someone in an earlier post mentioned Empire Northern Trains. They are very resonable for DCC items and have excellent service and communication. Buying the system from them cost me half of what it cost to buy here.
 
online hobby shops

i agree the favorite spot is great. i also have been buying on30 and ho from them for a long while. wish ythe were not on vaction right now tring to get on30 going.:)
 
Hog Trainz

Jack from Star, Idaho. I have been buying from Paul at Hog Trainz for several years and not a problem. His prices are hard to beat and his standard $7.95 shipping for HO is great. He will work with you on quantity orders and is very prompt returning e-mails. Five star dealer!:D
 
I like dealing with www.modeltrain stuff. Even with shipping their sale prices makes it really hard to shop my LHS.. Diesels over the net, rolling stock at the LHS.. New Guy, 2 cents.... High Five.. (inside joke):eek:
 
Well, My last order from Toy Train Heaven. After the last hassle w/them I thought I would give them 1 more chance. Should have bought from someone else & learned my lesson. I ordered about $80.00 worth of stuff from them about 2 &1/2 weeks ago. The 2nd week after the order was made I called them to see if the order had been shipped. They said it would go out in about 3 days. they lied. I just got it today & they made a big goof on 3 items & probably thought I wouldn't notice. I had ordered 3 of the Scenic Express 64oz. O scale flocking. They told me when I called the 1st time they had it in stock. They shipped me the 32oz. bottles & left the 64oz. price. they also left out 2 other items that they said they had in stock. On the invoice it said they no longer carried those items. DUH. I called them about the mistake on the order. he told me to ship the whole order back. I asked him to just ship me 3 more 32 oz. flocks. he told me they didn't have any of the 64oz. in stock & it would be about 6 to 8 weeks before they could order it. I said, then, could you just credit my card for the difference. He said, NO, he needed the whole order shipped back to him, which I did today.
These people are IDIOTS. they advertise it in stock on their website, but, don't have it in their store & can't order it for months.
These people need to go back to school & learn customer service.:mad::(:eek:
 
Nah, school doesn't work. They'll learn the hard way when they get so much bad publicity that they won't have enough sales to stay in business.
 
Nah, school doesn't work. They'll learn the hard way when they get so much bad publicity that they won't have enough sales to stay in business.

When I was in outside sales from 1981 till 2001 I didn't have any competition to speak of because I knew how to take care of my customers. I think in all those years I had 2 complaints & those were unfounded after the customer found out his employees were stealing the product. I sold an item that was almost impossible to sell; First Aid & safety equipment. I was always the top salesman because I gave service. I looked after the customer 100%. I worked some saturdays to deliver spray suits & respirators way away from my house. I didn't get paid xtra, but, my customers came 1st. I always won all the trips. The Bahamas, Wash. DC Smithsonean, Disney World(17 times), Epcot(15 times) & many other trips & merchandise.
These mailorder hobby shops should get out & beat the bushes & try to sell their stuff & learn how to treat a customer to keep them coming back year after year. Even in the bad times.
 
Well, My last order from Toy Train Heaven. After the last hassle w/them I thought I would give them 1 more chance. Should have bought from someone else & learned my lesson. I ordered about $80.00 worth of stuff from them about 2 &1/2 weeks ago. The 2nd week after the order was made I called them to see if the order had been shipped. They said it would go out in about 3 days. they lied. I just got it today & they made a big goof on 3 items & probably thought I wouldn't notice. I had ordered 3 of the Scenic Express 64oz. O scale flocking. They told me when I called the 1st time they had it in stock. They shipped me the 32oz. bottles & left the 64oz. price. they also left out 2 other items that they said they had in stock. On the invoice it said they no longer carried those items. DUH. I called them about the mistake on the order. he told me to ship the whole order back. I asked him to just ship me 3 more 32 oz. flocks. he told me they didn't have any of the 64oz. in stock & it would be about 6 to 8 weeks before they could order it. I said, then, could you just credit my card for the difference. He said, NO, he needed the whole order shipped back to him, which I did today.
These people are IDIOTS. they advertise it in stock on their website, but, don't have it in their store & can't order it for months.
These people need to go back to school & learn customer service.:mad::(:eek:

Sounds like he was hoping you would just throw in the towel and keep the order and just drop the mistake entirely and he would get your money. Guess we can chock up another store not to do business with. Toy Train Heaven.
 
Digital Train Works

Try Digital Train Works if you need DCC items. I have bought from them at shows and also online. They are great to deal with and have awesome customer support. I bought a train from them and after I opened the box, realized the train was broken. I shot them an email with a scanned copy of my receipt. I was replied to a couple hours later with instructions on shipping the train back for a full refund or a brand new train like the one I purchased. I received my new train in new condition a few days later. I have also installed tsunami decoders from them and they will step you through the install over the phone or via email. I highly recommend these guys. Ask for Michael Businger.

P.S.
Michael actually guided me through installation of the decoder and the speakers after store hours!

http://www.digitaltrainworks.com/servlet/StoreFront
 
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http://www.discounttrainsonline.com/
When I was buying model trains from 2001-2005 I used these guys. I don't know if they've changed, but they were pretty reliable.
I like caboose hobbies, too.

What's wrong with Internettrains.com? I ordered once from them years ago, I thought they were ok, I still get their emails. Just curious.

Does any one remember A Hobby Circle? Did anyone ever win that "Free Vacation" contest that ran for years on their site? Their internet service was a nightmare.
 
Out West there really aren't that many really great hobby stores, unless you live in a major city, like in California, Portland, Seatle. But where I live there isn't a good place to buy specialty products. its all internet.
 
I'll throw in a complaint with Trainworld...

As many of you know, I own a Hobby Shop. But i still do business with other shops and support then as well if they have something that I cant get for myself.

I recently placed an order with Trainworld for 4 GP60M's part of Athearn's RTR line. They have them listed on their website, so one would assume that they are in stock right? No mention of them being out of stock on the product pages or anything. So I ordered them and I get an email back from them a day or 2 later saying this and this only:

Sorry these items are not available. Order cancelled. Please reorder thank you

Whoever sent the email didnt even state their name or anything, just a blank email that they typed up in literally 3 seconds, pushed send, and then forgot about it.

I was pretty disappointed, and what really got me was the part that says "please reorder". As if I order them again they will be in stock this time around? phst yeah right. And one more thing, they didnt take the GP60M's that they had just told me were not in stock off their website. You would think that they would at least take them down after trying to fill an order and finding out that they are not in stock and not available anymore, but no, they will wait for someone else to order to give them the disappointing news that they are not available anymore and try to get a new sale out of it. They have since taken one of them down, the BNSF Warbonnet unit, but they have the other 2 up on the website (BNSF Heritage II & SF Warbonnet), and I highly doubt they have any of the others that are listed on the page in stock, one of which is an SW1500 and has nothing to do with GP60's:

http://www.trainworldonline.com/catalog/category/index.php?section_id=833
 
I recently bought from http://www.internettrains.com. Ordered on a Monday morning and got the package of 5 n scale rolling stock items 5 days later on Saturday.

I was kind of worried after reading the bad reviews until the ownership changed earlier this year. Looks like they've turned things around, (?) at least in my case.
 



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