How do you purchase your trains?

My LHS is about 6 miles down the road. Though he does carry some O gauge and will try to order what ever I want he is mostly focused on the smaller gauges.

I try to support him whenever I can not so much because of a sense my purchases will help him stay in business, but because of the sense that Cash is King and I like feeling like royalty once in a while. You don't get that feeling buying off the internet.

Seriously though, I like the going into the shop and being able to meet others with common interests. Building a personal relationship with the LHS helps in finding materials that otherwise hard to have shipped or cost prohibitive because of shipping costs.

I could say exactly the same, Bob.

There is an outstanding hobby shop in Hurst, TX (Ft Worth metroplex) that I visit when I am in that area.  I would be there every Saturday if it wasn't 400 miles from my place.

I have about 140 rolling stock, 120 locos, and 400 diecast vehicles. 

 

First, I have changed my method of purchase completely in the last two years:

Before my LHS closed: anything I pre-ordered, I pre-ordered through them.  

                                anything like shop supplies and bassword, styrene, etc., I bought at my LHS

                                anything they had in stock I wanted, I bought through them.

                                anything i wanted they did not have, I bought through M. B. Klein's website

                                anything my LHS and M.B. Klein did not have, shopped on the Internet

                                diecast cars and trucks I bought on Amazon, diecast direct, Mint Models, and Buffalo road

 

 

Now, after my LHS has closed and M. B. Klein takes three days longer to shop than in used to:

                                anything I pre-order, I pre-order from Patrick's trains

                                anything they have is stock I order from Patricks or M. B. Klein, looking on their sites

                                anything neither has in in stock, I shop on line

                                shop materials and all I buy from Model Expos's website or Micromark's site.  

                                diecast cars and trucks I bought on Amazon, diecast direct, Mint Models, and Buffalo road,

My purchases are 99% internet. There are a couple of hobby shops but I don't go to them.....................Paul

99% on line @ Mercer Junction but usually once a year I take a 2 hour trip to Charles Ro.

I'm a mixed bag. I do a lot of my pre-orders at my LHS. I'll also buy things there that I see that I like. The rest, I do online. 

My lhs is about 20 miles from home. 95% of all my purchases are made there. The other 5% are internet with some right here on buy sell forum.

In this order:

1. Internet via the OGR Forum & eBay;

2. Local train shows on Long Island;

3. Hobby shops on Long Island.

My LHS doesn't carry O gauge, so I  order online from M.B.Klein, Nicholas Smith, The Western Depot, Marios Trains, or Trainworld, pick up most of my vehicles and a few buildings off of eBay and the odd item at the local train show. I still go to the LHS for paint, paint brushes, balsa and other supplies.

Bob,

You post some of the most, "Super-Duper" threads. I must commend you, my friend.

 

Since nothing I own is newer than 1934. My only choice for shopping is the secondary market. I've not been able purchase anything for some time. (it's a long story)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

I've VERY lucky to have many shops within an hours drive that pretty much stock O Gauge and only O Gauge. Actually, outside of the "chain" stores and one other private shop, every store I can think of is pretty much an O Gauge focused store. 

 

The best one is closing March 31. They, Catoctin Mountain Trains, get pretty much all of my business. Not sure where I'll go once their gone but I'm lucky to have a lot of options. 

My purchases come from...

1. York - can inspect before buying, good prices, no shipping worries, huge selection. Usually find "new" items from a year or two ago at clearance prices.

2. local train shows - inspect before buying, no shipping worries

3. well-known online vendors - good prices

4. I am fortunate to live near a large display layout and train store that is run by folks who are passionate about trains.  When I need a high-end new production item, that's where I go.

5. For non-O gauge items, I try to patronize the local hobby shop whenever possible.

 

 

75% LHS

20% York and Allentown Train Shows

5% Internet

 

We loved our local hobby shop.  It was a place you could go just to hang out and talk.  I could not pass the place without stopping to at least say hello.  It was also a place were all of the price tags were marked wrong.  My son always walked out of there with a bargain.  He closed his doors in December and retired.

 

We have about a 7 others within a 45 mile radius... but because of their distance, you have to plan your visit.  No impromptu stops.  And their price tags seem to be correct.

 

I'm not sure how we are going to fill our 75% void now...

 

Ron

 

Being in northern NJ I have 3 LHS's within 20 minutes of my house and two more large NY dealers (and forum sponsors) an hour away. I like to touch and feel the merchandise so I'm partial to the traditional retail way of buying things, but if I can't get the deal I want from a store I will go on the internet and order but there is often a trade-off between sales tax and shipping costs that I'm always weighing.

Good morning, Bob I looked for you the other day but could not pick you out of the crowd at the Greenberg Show.

 

I like a brick and mortar train store.

I know sometimes the thought process is to "get the best deal"

 

But when I walk into a train store and the first thing you here is "come on how can we help you today", I will lay down the few extra dollars that I might have saved at a train show.

 

I will confess If I see something that maybe I missed in a catalog and think I want it or if it something that I know the Train Stores I deal with don't carry I will purchase it at a show.

At most shows I like to purchase the specialized small tools and scenic supplies.

 

I have only ever bought a few items of the internet and they were from OGR Sponsors.

 

My engines , all steam I want to buy from a Train Store and a store that it's main business is trains.

I realize once it goes out the door I assume the responsibility of returning it to the manufacture for warranty.

I have only had one issue with a new engine and the Train Shop I bought this engine from helped get the engine repaired in a timely manner.

 

I realize the brick and mortar stores are disappearing quickly likely the steam whistles back in the early 50's and eventually the only thing will be the internet for buying trains, but for now I will make 95% of my purchases from a brick and mortar store and someones voice saying "come on how can we help you today" sounds like an old steam whistle to me"

I guess I am just too old fashion !!!!!!!!

 

 

I pull mine off of the pallets as they arrive at my local shop. Lol. 

99% internet, and the other 1% is at a hobby shop or train show.

 

My LHS sucks. 

 

With the exception of a few items bought and train shows, all my trains have been purchased through the internet. 

I get mine on ebay, the OGR Sell/Trade Forum and other internet sellers, several of which are Forum Sponsors.

Being pretty much wheelchair bound, I am an internet buyer. I do have one that is my primary source and then depending on the merchandise I will use others.

I would prefer to walk into an LHS, build up a rapport with the owner and shoot the breeze with owner and fellow customers. Thankfully I have the Forum to fill in for me!

Online hobby shops and eBay.

Auctions, train shows, and hobby shops

Bob,

 

Interesting question these days.

 

I try to purchase all my items through my LHS's.

 

I am lucky to have several LHS's in the Chicagoland

area that are well stocked and cater to O fans,

2 and 3 rail.  So I really try to support them.

 

We also have a train flee market type show 11 months a year

in DuPage County which is easy drive for most of the suburbs.

5 buildings of vendors all competing and O scale/gauge everywhere.

 

I would say that 95% of my purchases are LHS and the monthly train show,

right now. The LHS's also have employees who have layouts and are great

source of help.

 

At a local NMRA meeting recently I guy handed out a copy of a list

of local Chicagoland hobby shops circa 1957, there were almost 200..

Yep 200  mom and pop's  There are now 5 independently owned shops

left for us O scale/gague folks, but well stocked.

 

Nothing beats the experience of walking into a hobby shop full

of goodies.

 

I am lucky to live in an area that still has hobby shops.

 

Tom

Always form a reputable dealer, usually one I have purchased form before (Nicholas Smith), occasionally from forum members but when I buy a used loco, it alwasy has to have the box. They do not travel well without the box

Internet via the OGR Forum & eBay

Online with dealers

Most come from my LHS. I also spend a bit of social time there talking trains and life.

 

Another large group of my trains come from visiting other train shops in my travels. You might call them targets of opportunities.

 

My third source is primarily Ebay. I only deal with 97% or better sellers, looks at pictures, and ask lost of questions.

 

My fourth source, excluding the occasional gift train from my wife and friends, is the OGR buy/sell threads. I have been very happy dealing there and meeting new people.

 

And I have purchased some items at YORK, ALLENTOWN, and other train meets/shows.

I believe that the answer to this question relates to where you are located. If you are located in the wilds of the mid-west, the internet would be the place to get the best buys. If you live in the train capital of the USA (the NY metropolitan area or NE) then the options are much wider.

My purchases have been at the larger trains shows, Greenberg, Allentown, from eBay and formerly at ED York. Looking back I could have easily been happy with 6 or 7 sets but like many of you, my early buying obsession was driven by memories of my childhood years where trains were few and little money was available to buy more.   

I beg to differ. I think the "train capital of the USA" has to be southeastern, Pennsylvania. There are MANY trains shops, railroads, museums, and of course the world's biggest and best train meet.

As I gave this question some serious thought, it occurred to me that there were two distinct time periods, with totally different purchasing habits.

 

Pre 2000:

• 50% LHS
• 35% train shows
• 15% Charlie Ro

Post 2000:

• 60% eBay
• 25% Charlie Ro
• 10% LHS (However, the one good one closed about 7 years ago)
• 5% train shows

 

 

I deal in cash only so:

Mostly from forum sponsors at the Big E 

The OGR Forum sale / trade board

LHS which is not so local

I'm curious Flash. It looks like the closest fully stocked O gauge shop to you is the Roundhouse South in Port Orange. It's about 65 miles from me traveling from the opposite direction as you would. But I would consider it the closest fully stocked O gauge shop to me. Though I don't consider it to be my LHS. Are you of the same frame of mind?

Do you ever shop there? I sometimes go there for Club Night the first Wednesday of the month.

Generally speaking, my rolling stock has been purchased either at shows, local train stores or Internet from Forum sponsors.  My engines have been purchased either from local stores or via Internet from Forum sponsors.

Since my nearest full service local store is Legacy Station, a good hour of freeway driving from my home, a few years ago I stopped driving to their location and began buying from them on the Internet too.  Although I have to pay somewhere in the neighborhood of $12-15 for the shipping, that's still cheaper than getting in the car and fighting traffic for two hours over and back.

Curt

When I first came back to the hobby in 1998, I purchased several starter sets and track from a LHS that has since been closed for probably 10 years or more.

 

When they closed, my purchases move to mostly the internet, although I did some mail order from a couple of OGR sponsors in the magazine (first thing I use to do when I received a new magazine was peruse the ads for sales.)  Most of these purchases have been for non-Lionel and non-MTH engines and cars, and Ross switches/Gargraves track, something that most of the LHS's didn't stock.

 

Fast forward to the last 5 - 7 years, and almost ALL of my purchases have been over the internet.  (the lone exception was at the auction for Ma & Pa Junction).  This has included eBay, sponsors of the forum and one LHS (M.B. Klein) .  My last three BIG purchases were direct purchases from 3rd Rail.

 

I'm pretty much at a point in the hobby where I have a bucket list.  I no longer do impulse buys nor buy items just because they are a great price.  The doesn't mean that I no longer add to the bucket list, the 3rd Rail Train of Tomorrow was such a change as I didn't know I needed it, until I saw it!

 

I plan to go to York someday, as I only live about 75 miles away.  Truth be told, however, York usually comes around right after I have made a major purchase and the old wallet is pretty thin.  Even though I have a few bucks saved and would really like to look for a Lionel Reading heritage engine, alas, I have a business trip during York week in April.

 

Jim

Another great topic, Bob......thought the axed one was a good one yesterday also.   In NJ there are a few hobby shops in the area but I find that they are usually overpriced and their customer service is lacking.......but all that has been discussed in a previous thread. In the past, I usually shopped for the cheapest price wherever I could find it. Over the past year, I have found that it was not really in my best interest especially when it came to customer service, preorders and hard to find items.  I have since settled in on a not so local hobby shop, Nicholas Smith Trains, for most of my needs.  Sometimes they are the cheapest, sometime not,  but one thing for sure, my phone calls and emails are always returned, my items are shipped fast and sometimes I get a rebate when the shipping is cheaper than their flat fee.  To me that is extremely important, and with the impersonal internet where you really do not have a 1:1 interaction with the seller, being able to call or email a vendor who bends over backwards to help you and offer advice regarding purchases is worth any extra money spent.....Just my two cents on a topic that I am sure many of you feel the same but only with different vendors.

 

-Pete

By a quick count, I have about sixteen locomotives.  Three or four of them came from the LHS, when there still was an LHS in this area.  The rest were from train shows and -- since the LHS closed -- NIB from the internet.

 

If you're lucky enough to have a good train store in your area, count your blessings.

 

How do I purchase trains?

 

With cash, typically but not always from a legal source.  ;-)

 

Where do I purchase trains?

 

Here where I live, good hobby shops are over an hour a way.  So that means we pick up stuff in York and I use Pat's as well -- nice guy, good service, he answers the phone when I call.

 

 

Interesting topic Bob. Have enjoyed reading what others have to say.

 

Like many here, I have more than I need but enjoy it and have the hope (probably useless) that some of the grandkids will enjoy trains enough to want to continue.

 

My LHS closed 25+ years ago and Charles Ro then got most of my business. I took some time off for 15 years and when I got back in after offshore fishing became ridiculously expensive and the kids got older, I found nothing close that was satisfactory. Where the heck does everyone in Virginia shop?

 

Charles Ro has been a mainstay along with others, primarily OGR sponsors. Before we purchase something, I try hard to find it with a sponsor as I feel that they are doing something extra, especially the ones who post information here. When we purchase, we always mention OGR and say thanks For supporting.

 

We are going to York for the first time in April and look forward to meeting some of the folks that we have met here online. I would really like to have a "LHS online."

 

Have tried the Bay one time for trains but after seeing the number of people here who do so, may try again. To be honest, we prefer someone that we know and can work with over time even if it is an online source that we see once a year or talk to on the phone.

 

 

 

 

 

 

My LHS does not carry any significant amount of 0 gauge (I do buy scenery and paint there). So, my sources are:

Online auctions (eBay and Trainz)

The OGR Buy/Sell board

Online dealers (Mainly Justrains and JD's for preorders; M.B. Klein for Arttista and other scenery that is hard to find elsewhere; and occasionally others when they have something I want on sale)

Local train shows