American Hobby Shops - Where to buy?

[bc6]

As much as I like Japanese shops I hate the time waiting for packages. Im looking for a hobby in the US for mainly Kato Unitrack would someone recommended one or two to me.

[cteno4]

Two that i have used a lot for unitrak are

 

http://www.toytrainheaven.com/ - about the best prices around and i think still has a flat fee of $9.95 for shipping so if you grab a pile its good, but not so good for a pack or two

 

http://www.modeltrainstuff.com/ - this is the large train store MB Klein's in baltimore md. they are a distributor for kato unitrak (to other dealers) so tend to have a good stock and great web site with inventories and such.

 

there are also some ebay stores that sell unitrak and a few i think have some good shipping prices for single packs.

 

cheers,

 

jeff

[Bernard]

bc6 - Here are 2 NY area Hobby shops, TrainWorld and TrainLand, they are owned by the same family. TrainWorld is in Queens and TrainLand is in Lynnbrook, Long Island. Both have a huge inventory and have a big ad in Model RR mag. If you og there bring the ad from Model RR, the prices are a little less in the mag. (They do a big online business, too)

 

The good thing is you are a New Yawker .....because they want to get you in there and out of there as quickly as possible in order to get to the next customer. They sometimes have Japanese Bullet trains in their cases or ask if they have them in the stock room. (They love you for that request.)

The prices are good and they do have sales.

Here is their link:

http://www.trainworld.com/

[bc6]

Guys thanks for your suggestions, Ive checked them all out. I have to say modeltrainstuff.com has a mind boggling amount of N-Scale stuff to choose from. Im going to throw some business there way and see how it goes.

[Bernard]

There are excellent, MB Klein (modeltrainstuff) They're fast w/shipping and good customer service.

[cteno4]

I would also suggest Lees Trains (http://www.leestrains.com). he stocks lots of the greenmax, tomix and kato buildings usually and will order unitrak at a ok discount if you have a pile you need. he also gets kato and tomix catalogs in. he knows mokei well who is the main importer of tomix and greenmax for the us out of st louis. lee is a great guy and runs a good business.

 

cheers

 

jeff

[Guest ___]

There are excellent, MB Klein (modeltrainstuff) They're fast w/shipping and good customer service.

 

I like MB Klein, they're close, they're cheaper than my local stores and I can go light rail spotting afterword.

[Bernard]

Here is another one, Wig-Wag trains. George is the owner with his wife, they are very friendly plus they have good prices on some items.

http://www.wig-wag-trains.com/KatoPages/Kato-Product-Page.htm

[Guest ___]

 

Impressive, those are pretty hard to find these days.

[bc6]

Just got my first order from MB Klein and I have to say Im happier than a pig in slop. I will be ordering from MB Klein asap, their service was fast, accurate and well packed.

[cteno4]

MB Klein is a real quality operation, been around a long time. great stock and a go to source. plus you can place a web order then pick it up at the store so you know you will get what you are looking for if you do a trip over there. unfortunately they moved from the old downtown location across from the train terminal. was easy access for when i had other things to do in downtown baltimore. now its a bit out in the sticks for me to justify getting to or schedule the right time as if you hit traffic on the beltway its death...

 

wig wag is also great for the odd stuff like the kato/lemke plasser unit, they brought that over for me. they recently took over Rio Grande hobbies orders when the owner got out of the biz. they were a tad swamped with this earlier this year.

 

lee is nice guy with small operation with his wife. they are setup near near jrm at the timonium train shows and usually have the best stock (and prices) at the shows on japanese type buildings and he is always on the lookout for interesting stuff for us japanese modelers! also gets us kato and tomix catalogs thru mokei (take a few months after they come out to make it over in the container). for about the cover price all said and done with shipping a pile of them to us.

 

cheers

 

jeff

[Bernard]

Has anybody ever ordered from Brooklyn Locomotive works? Every time I look at their Japanese Passenger trains, they're always sold out.

http://www.blwnscale.com/Kato%20Foreign%20Passenger%20Sets.htm

[cteno4]

Yes, have gotten a number of japanese trains from him in the early days. he is a good solid n scale shop with a good track record (some have complained it can be hard to get him on the phone, but thats usually the case with a little biz like that. I'm not aware of folks problems with his service at all and all my orders came in great. Actually got my m250 and kato n700 for the same price that it cost to buy and ship it from japan so i ordered it from him to support some us dealers bringing over japanese trains at reasonable prices.

 

Pete goes hot and cold on having japanese trains and once i started ordering directly from japan i stopped visiting the site yet. this may be due to kato being hot and cold with bringing japanese stuff to the usa via katousa.

 

he usually has some of the best prices around in n scale and good at announcements of new releases.

 

cheers

 

jeff

[Bernard]

Jeff - His prices are not bad at all but I wonder if he ever re-stocks his Japanese trains?

[cteno4]

Jeff - His prices are not bad at all but I wonder if he ever re-stocks his Japanese trains?

 

usually the stuff he has listed to buy is in stock. when i last bought stock japanese trains probably 5 years back they all came right away. later couple of things i got from him later (m250 and kato n700) were pre-orders and came within a month of when they hit the streets in japan so i was rather surprised. both those units were things katousa was bringing over so they probably got it out in a container as soon as it came in from production.

 

i suspect the things he lists but has out of stock on will never come back in stock for him as they were probably more one shot orders that came in at a specific time. although he did get E2s back in for a while after being out of stock for a long time.

 

just have not followed blw much in the last 2-3 years myself. keeps coming up as a used and well liked dealer when folks ask on the n scale list. i suspect he gets his tomix stuff through mokei who brings over a smattering of tomix trains now and then (lees trains sometimes gets a list of items mokei has laying around in japanese trains).

 

cheers,

 

jeff