Here is a few web stores reviews for peoples who are searching for good web stores!!! http://animek69.bravehost.com/ Sorry for my bad grammar! P.S. some comments may look rude for some stores but this is how it all append! Feel free to post comments, good or bad! [ January 26, 2006, 07:37 PM: Message edited by: animek ]
Good info! I have a hobby shop, like those bad ones described, near me. The owner and his wife are nice, but they are very old now, so the son, Dennis, runs the show now. He is a real class act for sure! When ever I ask a clerk for help, Dennis will come rushing out, and stop the cleark from talking trains, and make him go unpack boxes, or put something on the shelf. I avoid going to that shop just because of Dennis. He is always there, peeping through a little mezanine window from the back room, to decide who to jerk around. There are 3 or 4 clerks at all times, always sweating that Dennis is watching them. He is like a tyrant slavedriver, and he is rude to customers. I think he hates trains, hates people, and hates the fact that his mother and father are nice to customers. The store has very good prices though! If you live in the San Jose area, you know what shop I am talking about. -Robert
Before I go into my Local Hobby Store (LHS) let me tell you about some good ones Animek (and Robert-but he knows most of them 1. ZScaleMonster.com totally agree 2. TrainNut88 on Ebay-a collector and great friend of MTL Z (and N). Highly recommended 3. EisenTrains.com is a GREAT source of Marklin. I strongly recommend calling Gunther(?) or Jan once you find what you like on the site to make sure it is in stock and also make sure the shipping is fair. His online PayPal automatically calculates shipping and it is percentage based. He will do right by you. His prices are the BEST of an authorized Marklin dealer. 4. K1200 on Ebay is good for Marklin but it takes a while to get stuff from Germany. 5. ddTrain (Ebay) out of Holland are great and shipping is reasonable; lots of Marklin 6. iaste16 (Ebay) is good but his prices can be high 7. GeorgeLeague (Ebay) excellent and really nice guy 8. 1shay (Ebay) excellent as well 9. LadyLight (Ebay) only bought once and was okay but heard bad things from time to time from others. 10. Manhattan Trains & Hobby Great Z Selection and very knowledgable. Prices as expected in New York City. There are others and I'll post more as I can. Now to the LHS: My boss collects and runs Marklin HO. We went to the store closest to the two of us here on Long Island. He purchased an HO Loco for about $600. Meanwhile I told him to try EisenTrains.com (see above) and saw his loco for some $150 less or so. I got my Marklin GG1 from Jan Eisen for $199 before the prices rocketed up; He still has them for $252 while the LHS has it for $299. I saw another set online for $99-119; they had it for $155. As such, I won't buy there at full price so they won't have me as a customer. Their loss for all I spend. Anyway...enough rambling...
Thanks guys for your info's, I thought I was the only one with bad hobby shop experience; it is so terrible when you think about it, Hobby store should be a place to meet friends and talk about your passion, but when the owner or owners are all real anti-social jerks, it just want to make you run out of the store and never come back again! But on a more positive side, I think the best place are shows, last autumn I brought my little 3 year old girl with me, and one stand owner was playing around with is train in front of her, he was starting the whistle and smoke non stop, just for her, She was so impress about the loco, you should have seen her expression on her face, now she is pushing me to finish my layout so she can see the train go around, all thanks to one passionate person. (This was a great moment). And since then, she watch Thomas and friend almost non stop, (finally a Break from Dora) [ January 26, 2006, 10:07 PM: Message edited by: animek ]
Animek, you are absolutely right. I always thought that owner of a hobby shop are in a “fun” business and yet why are they so unfriendly or miserable to their customer!!! My local train store is the same. I always wonder how can he manage to stay in business, and guess what I went there last week, he store is closed. Tsa
don't forget to check out www.blwnscale.com Brooklyn locomotive works has specialized in n scale for 20 years, but does handle all the new MTL stuff (including Z). what you may have to do to find everything is go to "what's new at BLW" and scroll through the releases (Z at bottom). Below that are the "update logs" for the previous three months. that's where the undec. GP35 is listed. click on it and you'll get price/shopping cart/etc. to order. i think he's been slow to update his stuff, but if you look there is more there than is obvious by clicking on the main links. all that is to say, he hasn't updated the GP-35s in Z to show ALL that he actually has to sell -- so going to the month updates is required. i've bought all my geeps there ($121/ea). he's fast, reliable, and i've never had a problem. he doesn't carry the (new) undecorated stuff, only new monthly releases, but if you see what you want his prices are excellent. fyi. dave f. [ January 27, 2006, 11:30 AM: Message edited by: david f. ]
1. ZScaleMonster.com totally agree 2. TrainNut88 on Ebay totally agree About Tex n' Rails: Last April I've spend my vacation on the Florida Keys (Hawks-Key). I was looking in the Internet for a Hobby Shop near the Ressort but just find Tex n' Rails up in Miami. So I was driving 2 Hours up to Miami to spend some Money in this Store. On his Website was written that he opens his Store on Saturday at 10 AM. I was there at 9.30 (early as usual for a swiss guy ). There was a sign behind the door with a remark that he opens the Store at 12 so the best thing to do was to visiting the Miami Railroad Museum and came back later. When I came back at 12.30 there was a sign at the door with the remark: We will open at 2 PM!!!! Because I've wanted some Items I was waiting in the heat until 2 and what a luck, the Guy (Owner) opens his Store without being in hurry. He also doesent say Hello to me. I've spend 500$ in this Shop but most of the Items that was available on his Website wasn't available in his Store. Funny! with best Regards Juerg P.S. Sorry for my bad grammar too.
Hi Juerg, Unless the items were rare or unobtainable elsewhere, I would have headed to South Beach in Miami and skipped his store. I forgot to mention that I went to the only place in Austin, Texas last weekend that carries Z Scale. Basically he had 1 full set from Marklin at about list (fair enough price); 1 SP Marklin F7 with 6 Passenger cars and about 6 Micro-Trains pieces of rolling stock. That was it for Z. I bought 2 of the 6 MTL pieces at full list on the sticker, which is fair since he does have rent and I wanted both and even buying from the above places would incur shipping of $5 to basically wash the discounts. But I wanted to support an LHS-but damn if I didn't make sure to tell the owner, a nice enough guy, that he really should carry more Z (he barely had N; mainly HO and G Scale-which in Hill Country of Texas makes sense) as Z is going to start growing at a high rate. Z right now is where N was some 25-30 years ago. It is just starting to be taken seriously by the greater Model RR population and more manufacturers are coming on board. MTL, in spite of Marklin, is actually the driving force behind Z. I laugh when I see that 1 showcase in a LHS that carries maybe 20 HO Locomotives could be filled with Z scale products if marketed right. Now maybe Austin is not a great location for Z, but considering that Micron Art is located there and produces so much for Z, that alone might help the scale grow in store... No apologies necessary from non-Native English speakers. When we Americans speak French, German, Italian, etc. 1/2 as well as you all speak English, then you can apologize. Until then, no apologies necessary! Michael
Hi guys, I've been lurking here for a while and finally felt compelled to join due to this topic. Just wanted to share my experience with the Ebay seller K 1200s. I would caution anyone from dealing with this seller, you need only look at his negative feedback rating and see how he responds, not very professional. The most recent feedback could have been mine, in that my dealings with K 1200s were identical. Sent money, sent emails, got nothing in return. The few emails I got back were rude. I hate giving negative feedback, and was willing to give him the benefit of a doubt, and maybe it wasn't his fault, but he was unsympathetic and much less than helpful of my situatuion, not even a tracking number. On my last attempt to contact him, he threatened ME with negative feedback! At that point and a couple hundred bux later, it just wasn't worth it. Lesson learned. It seems the majority of feedback is good, but due to a complicated payment/shipping scheme (send a check to a US address to one individual, item is shipped from Germany from another individual) there seems to be too large a crack for things to fall into. It's a roll of the dice that may be worth it for less expensive items, but it's not worth saving a few bucks to lose hundreds. Always check the sellers feedback! Sorry to enter the forum with a negative rant, just wanted to save others some grief and possibly some dough. ~Jimmy
Thanks for the welcome! BTW, I just saw the Stourbridge Lion at the B&O Museum when I was home for X-Mas, what a cool loc! ~Jimmy
Jimmy, Welcome! BUT you didn't call me when you were home for the holidays. ;-( I love the reviews and agree with most that I know about. I too wish someone had done this when I started in Z scale. Do you mid if I send folks to this link (ie. include in literature we pass out at trains shows for new Z scalers)? I do most of my mail order with Anthony at Z Scale Monster and can say nothing but good things. Not only great service, but he is a nice guy. I agree with Jimmy about reading feedback for E-bay. I haven't been burned yet, but unless I see a really good deal I can't get from somewhere else, I try to stick with sellers I recognize. (I recognize lot's of names from the yahoo Z_Scale list). I have two local hobby shops that carry some Z scale (not just say they do, but don't actually stock anything). One, Granddad's in Springfield, VA doesn't have a huge selection, but has a handful of MTL. They have one grumpy old man HO scale type who I won't even try to talk to anymore. The other clerk that does most of the model railroad stuff is an Nn3er and I have had great experience dealing with him. He knows what I'm talking about and doesn't need to have me pull out the Walthers catalog to show him that, yes, PECO does make Z scale flex track. Other than the one jerk (to me at least) most of the clerks are pretty cool, if not Z conversant, and they all know my 2 1/2 year old son's name (and even put up with him last Saturday when he was having fits because I wouldn't let him buy a $45 HO loco that we don't even have track to run it on). Trains, Etc. in Lorton, VA is my other dealer. Mostly Marklin stuff at normal retail pricing, but he gets good lot's of used stuff that he will give good deals on (once he knows who you are). He is recently starting to get more MTL stuff and even became an AZL dealer. I would also add Stoneleigh in Baltimore. Normal retail pricing, but good quarterly sales. Last time I mail ordered from them I got a hand drwn crayon picture included with the order (owners kids or grandkids I guess). That was a nice touch. They have a website and do mailorder too. My brother-in-law who does Marklin HO had some bad experiences with Reynauld's. They advertised as in stock stuff thtat they did not actually have in stock and then substituted without his permission. They also included a Marklin catalog that he did not ask for (and already had at home), chanrged him for it and it just about doubled his shipping as well. I've heard both good and bad about Reynauld's so try them if you like. Randy
Hi Jimmy! Welcome to Trainboard! I did not see you at the Cow Palace last weekend. You should have seen all the modules we had setup. We had a blast! -Robert
I buy stuff from e-pray because its fun, and you can get stuff that are not avairlable from online stores. But my first experience was a bad one. The engine that I got did not run at all. I took it apart and found out that it was missing a brush, needless to say, I give him a negative feedback. I have two stores that I frequent. One is Warrick hobbies in Plantation. They stock most recent releases from Marklin and MTL at just below retail price, so its not so bad. They are usually very friendly. This is the store I buy most of my stuff, even though I can buy stuff online. I do this because I am a impulsive buyer, and I want him to stock Z stuff. The other store is Discount Trains in Oakland Park. They have a lot of stock of Z stuff at retail price, of course, but I was able to pick up a ribside boxcar for ten bucks couple of months ago. Now they are going for $70. I also buy from online sellers like Zmonster and Loren.
Hey Randy and Robert Yeah, sorry for being absent on both counts, X-mas was just, well X-Mas, but I totally spaced on calling you up. You would have enjoyed the crazy loco talk with me and my friend Vince. Rob, missing the show at the CP personally pained me. I'm down with your idea of signing up for agreed on slots to man the tables. Even though my module is still a no-show, I'm willing to do rugrat patrol at shows. And to save this post from being totally off topic, let me recommend our good friend Chuck at Feather River Trains. He is doing some great online biz. Previously just an "N" store, he's now a Marklin certified dealer stocking lots of Z. Fabulous service is his hallmark, and he's just such a nice guy to do business with. ~J
Anther recommended dealer is teds trains in Ohio. Extremely nice individual and very helpful. http://www.tedstrains.com Jim
I'm finaly back from Ottawa (business travel ) Wow, those are great stories, thanks everyone, for your comments! Randy, no problem send the link reviews to whoever you want, that's why I've put it on a lynk. I realy liked the Tex n' Rails! review from Juerg, I knew it, i knew it , I was afraid to have been the only one with bad problems with them, thanks Juerg!
You know, I had an experience with Tex N' Rails that I had forgotten about. I ordered some N scale Atlas undertable switch mechanisms but got the side mount ones instead. That was about a year ago now and I completely forgot to even ask them about them (I used something else for the project). Now it's probably too late to do anything. I do have to say that they may have made it right if I pursued it further. Randy
