Model Railroading > The Best Retailer?

During my time at the SP in Denver, we would often stop off at Caboose Hobbies for a book or a little something to add to the layout. Caboose Hobbies is gone with the Super Chief.  In terms of overall value to you on selection, service and price what is the best model railroad retailer selling over the Internet?

Bob Wilcox
Charlottesville, VA
My Flickr Shots

Spring Creek is my new go-to. A 30 second call takes care of all my needs.   I did a substantial amount of impule buying at MB Klein over the years, but thats dropped off to nothing since the new website.    

Yeah, I gotta say Spring Creek Model Trains (shameless plug). I've known Deb and Dave Zucker since the early 90s when they started.  They literally are the great American Small Business. Built the place from nothing and their store makes the old Caboose Hobbies in Denver look like an old Hardware store that sold model trains from the back. Great Stuff. Great People. If you can't work with them, it's not their fault.     ×   

My go to is Makin tracks in Va. he is online but I know the owner and he is a great guy. He has found me stuff on My wish list that is out of stock.


Gary

Posted from iPhone

For those of you in Large Scale I've always had good service from RLD Hobbies in Albion Illinois.

Well, I tend to wander over to ChoChooAreUs. They are handy for me being two blocks away. And they do online sales.

Bob Krieger
Cheyenne, WY

Back in the day M.B. Klein was great, don't know about now because I don't do any buying at my age!

Bill Deaver
Tehachapi, CA

Mbk is pretty good. They now have a rewards program that can earn you free shipping for all orders over $100 and money off order by redeeming points. Pretty good for budget minded. You do have to be Johnny on the spot as some items sell out fast.

I'm also a long time customer of Spring Creek. Deb has provided me great service and very helpful as I live in Virginia so order via phone or email. They often have items that I am looking for that or sold out elsewhere. Great stock.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/21/20 17:05 by SPDRGWfan.

I've never been to Spring Creek Model Trains, but the photos of their store, on their website, are VERY impressive!  If their stock looks like this most of the time, that's my kind of model railroad shop!

Hope you are al, well,

Allen Drucker

In the past few months I've dealt with a number of walk-in LHS storefronts and a number of Hobby websites, a couple of Amazon, EBay set ups and even a specialty kit maker. So far Lombard Hobbies and Tony's Train Exchange have worked out really well with good prices and very responsive to Web based orders and phone calls, which means they do what they said they would do. Trainworld has had to shut down for the duration, so no action on a hard to get backorder, hope it works out.

In that distant past I had a lot of web orders with Caboose Hobbies, Lombard has taken that over for me. Also visited Caboose Hobbies a couple of times on the way from the Airport to the work site, impressive inventory, very casual place, just a nice visit.

I'll nominate "The Train Stop" in Santa Clara, CA.  As a walk in store, it has one of the best/broadest selections in California.  Prices are competitive, staff is friendly, very knowledgable and I trust them with my phoned-in pre-orders.  Ask for Dennis, he is manager and most probably the owner.
Tim Costello

The Train Stop
1829 Pruneridge Ave, 
Santa Clara, CA 95050
(408) 296-1050

If we can include the dealers who concentrate on train shows, at least here in the Midwest many people including myself really like Corryville Station. Becky and John are always really nice people. They have an incredible selection of N scale stuff and sell below MSRP and deep discount stuff that is old or isn't moving. Lots of good hard to find stuff. Often times you go through an entire train show then go blow your wad at their booth.

I also really like the guy from Whistles and Growls but he has morphed into HO only stock.

I still enjoy buying at train shows and enjoy selling at them even more!

Jim

Spring Creek is great. Lombard is also great, I use them regularly. 

Large scale, you mean "G" or "O" gauge?  Thx

I use Lombards as well, they tend to have a lot of stock.  The only down side is the shipping is $13.95 whether you order a pack of Kadee fiber washers or a couple of engines.  So I only order from them when I can put together enough items to justify the shipping, which is once in a while.
 

Agree about Shipping costs, that is a big deal for me. I will drive to one of the LHS for minor stuff, but of course they want the big purchases too. The price of gas, the California Sales Tax and Shipping costs all make a big dent so I have to balance them with getting projects completed. I do have a stash of wheels and couplers, but all that adds up too.

Shipping costs seem to not bother some, but to me it is always part of the overall cost of buying items online.  Due to this, distance can be a factor in the shipping equations.  Interestingly, Spring Creek is geographically much further away from me than Lombards, but their shipping is lower consistantly.  The result is I order from Spring Creek much more often than Lombards.

I happen to be only 2 hours away from MB Klein (modeltrainstuff) and their shipping for a few freight cars or most orders I make is typically in the 7 to 8 dollar range, assuming it's not a big heavy parcel.  But the really cool thing abut MBK now is they have a rewards program.  I already do a lot of regular purchasing from MBK and with the rewards program, especially if you are buying engines etc, it really doesn't take long to reach the top tier (Yardmaster) and all orders over $100 are free shipping.  Many others require orders of $200 or even $400 before they offer free shipping.  Plus the points you earn can be redeemed for discount coupons you can apply to orders.  Since last fall, I've redeemed a $15 coupon, two $25 coupons and a $20 coupon.  Pretty good in my book!  The only thing about MBK is they can sell out of some items I need so I have to be johnny on the spot to order when fast selling items I want come in stock.

Dennis is the owner and Karen is great as well. 

tgcostello Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I'll nominate "The Train Stop" in Santa Clara,
> CA.  As a walk in store, it has one of the
> best/broadest selections in California.  Prices
> are competitive, staff is friendly, very
> knowledgable and I trust them with my phoned-in
> pre-orders.  Ask for Dennis, he is manager and
> most probably the owner.
> Tim Costello
>
> The Train Stop
> 1829 Pruneridge Ave, 
> Santa Clara, CA 95050
> (408) 296-1050

Nicholas Smith in Broomall PA is very good too. Always enjoy going there. Great stock.  Also used to the love the Train Room in Point Pleasant NJ, they closed though :(   For history, I also loved D&S Hobbies in Bound Brook. That place was awesome.