Visit to Eastside Trains

I only purchased one item from Eastside (MTH Imperial Railking Y6B Norfolk & Western steam coal train specialty set. Engine, tender, 4 cars and caboose). Johnny was a pleasure to deal with, went out of his way to meet my requests and gave me a VERY reasonable price on the whole deal. Highly recommended. 

Love Eastside trains.  I make sure to visit them every time I'm in Seattle.

Hi Harold,

I just sent you an e-mail to the address in your profile.  If you would like to see the NorthWest Trunk Lines while you're in town just let me know.

Dave

I purchased my Lionel Vision Line Coal burning UP Challenger from these guyz and was very pleased with their courtious service and fast shipping.  A big thank you goes out to RICK O for telling me about them having the Challenger at their store THANK YOU RICK!!!

See Eastside Trains at

http://www.eastsidetrains.com/

Isn't Eastside Trains on of the few brick and mortar train stores which also does a huge online business, like the West Coast version of Charles Ro?

I don't believe they do a huge online business.  Their web site is limited but they do tons of sales via phone.  But the train store is awesome to say the least, every gauge and large selection of O and G scale trains.  You could easily spend hours looking at their large display/sales area.  Located in the town of Kirkland, lots of places to eat, coffee shops and a couple of blocks from Lake Washington.  A destination in of itself.

TEX

Steve

Harold,

I am glad you enjoyed your visit to Eastside Trains as it is nice to see the store and staff get some on line recognition.  I have been a customer since I started collecting trains in 2003 and Steve Suskin who owns the store and his entire staff have always been fun to work with.

I was just up there yesterday picking up an H7 Legacy engine as I live in Portland which is about 3 hours from Kirkland as we are very limited in O Gauge train stores within the Portland area and as you experienced Eastside is an exceptional store.  Steve does a great job of displaying a large variety of trains and accessories and in such a manner that you can see everything right up front not to mention the store itself is spotless thanks to the efforts of Johnny, Bill, Amos, Buck, and of course Steve and his daughter Stacey.

Anyway, just wanted to take a few minutes to let you know a little more about one of the many NorthWest best kept secrets.

Larry Brown  

I have visited a lot of model train stores and hobby shops through North America on travels and Eastside is about the best I have seen for displays, and neat and tidy store inside and out and a good size and helpful staff. Also really great Service Dept very knowledgeable (pity they recently lost the best MTH tech)

They do regular ads in CTT and are good on price for pre order and regular customers.

They have an excellent Selection of O.

Always worth a visit when in Seattle

Have never had the pleasure of visiting what sounds to be a very nice "train store".  My only experience with them was when I found them through the MTH product locator in search of an MTH Premier Climax logging loco.  

MTH had just catalog'd the new PS3 models at $899 MSRP or so, but then they hit major factory problems.  (Now those locos still haven't been produced, but MTH Premier steam is now arriving in the US again... so perhaps we'll see those little gems soon.)

Anyway, this store still had one of the few remaining PS2 Climax locos from MTH's last production run.  The MSRP of the Climax locos was traditionally $1099, but this place wanted $1199.  When the guy mentioned he couldn't make a reasonable profit at MTH's MSRP's, it left a sour taste in my mouth that he might be more likely trying to grab a premium above MSRP 'cause he knew there were less than a handful of the PS2 Climax locos remaining on the market.  So I nicely explained that the new Climaxes were catalog'd at $899, so would he consider selling his Climax at the original MSRP of $1099?  He wouldn't budge off the $1199 price one penny, so that ended our phone call right there.

As luck would have it, I later called SideTrack Hobbies here on the East Coast, and they had a brand new PS2 Climax they'd sell me for $899!  And I didn't even need to mention that the new PS3 versions would MSRP at that price.  Result... I've made numerous repeat purchases from SideTrack hobbies ever since, and I've never even thought to call EastSide Trains again.  But I suppose if I were visiting the Seattle area, I'd be willing to stop in just to check out the store firsthand.  Sounds like folks out there are impressed with the inventory.  I just wonder if they ever sell much of it!!!  

As an aside... I guess I'm somewhat amazed that many -- but fortunately not all -- of the West Coast stores have more of a selling-at-MSRP (or higher) philosophy.  Very different approach than what we typically see east of the Mississippi.  The Public Delivery Track is a pleasant exception to the MSRP philosophy of the West Coast, but then they also have a heavy presence out here at East Coast shows too.  So they know their market very well and provide excellent service to boot!  

David

Got a chance to finally visit this store, in person, last spring. It's quite impressive to say the least. Well organized, great display of merchandise and great staff. Yes, they normally sell at MSRP but they have usually had the hard to find items that others did not.

Thanks again to Rick O (who probably regrets turning me on to East Side as I've blabbed to everyone about the place!).

Last year when looking for a Legacy Lionmaster BigBoy that no one had - they had it.

Looking for 5 Lionel Scale UP yellow stock cars for over a year - Eastside had them.

A friend was looking for a Black Vision Hudson a couple of months ago - Eastside had it.

I know Eastside gives good discounts on early order buys, and sometimes has other good internet deals.  Don't recall ever getting an in-store discount.  (What I should have said was I do a lot of ordering over the internet from them ... emails ...etc. and some from their webside, but most by email.)

I have purchased two MTH Premier Alaska diesels and two Alaska cabooses from Eastside Trains.  When I return I will be looking for more Northwest trains! They have a good supply!

I have purchased from Eastside Trains for over a decade now. I won an auction on Ebay and I liked their pre-ordered prices. They do a fantastic job, work with me when stuff comes in. I like to support my lhs...but the customer service Johnny and Steve give is first rate. I've purchased locomotives and freight cars from them. They are a real joy, and one of the best places I love to support. I'm hoping to travel there one day and visit it in person. 

My recommendation get on their pre-order mailing list....you won't be disappointed. 

Bob was the man to see in service, also their best salesman.  Bob is now retired and living near family in Arizona.  He is doing a lot of PS-2 upgrades for his club in Phoenix. 

Dustin, also in service, is a very knowledgeable and helpful person to work with.  Like Bob, he knows Lionel and MTH trains from the inside out.  Personally, I appreciate having someone with in depth mechanical and electronic knowledge of the products helping me make my purchasing decisions.

Eastside does pretty much charge MSRP on in store inventory, but I will say that Dustin in sevice has done some Excellent work for me on some MTH locomotives, and I was surprised at the Very reasonable bills on those repairs. Bob may have been an Excellent repairman, but I have sure been Happy with Dustin's work as well. The only trouble with Dustin, is that I usually end up being there longer than my half hour lunch break, he is very Friendly and enjoyable to chat with.

A BIG  for Eastside trains.

If visting Portland, OR Please don't miss Whistlestop Trains, They don't have near the inventory or square footage of Eastside, but are just as Enjoyable to visit. I have been dealing with Whistlestop for probably around 35 years now, and they have found some hard to find items for me, when they didn't have them in stock. I am a more familiar face around there, than is sometimes healthy for my budget.

Doug

They also have a good selection of Atlas O from what I understand also.... 

Here's a link to get a "virtual tour" of their shop, including their display layout, via Google Maps:

Eastside Trains virtual tour

Eastside is amazing. They've been super helpful as I've gotten back into toy trains after a 25+ year hiatus. I really like that their store is laid out like a professional retail store. Too often when you get into niche fields such as trains or bicycles the stores are run by people who have a passion for what they sell but not a lot of experience in how to actually merchandise and run a retail establishment. Putting it less politely, the stores often end up looking like a big garage sale. Not Eastside. Everything is neatly arranged and if you can't find it they'll know exactly where it is. My biggest problem is that I now work at a studio one block away which makes for some very expensive lunch visits!

Great thread guys!  I hope that Johnny will consider becoming one of our sponsors here on the forum!

Alan