Model Railroading > Model Trains Stuff

Looks like what was formerly MB Klein/ Model train stuff is indeed back up.  Looks like the old web page but I dont see a mention of MB Klien and when I looked further I saw a NC address which as mentioned earlier is the same as Facotry Direct.  Never used Factory Driect before and I know there was some bitterness as to the way MB Klien closed.  Wonder if they will be successful?  

I never dealt with Factory Direct from memory.  I'm not really in a hurry to start now, even if they've tacked on the name modeltrainstuff.   I've already got a lot of orders coming or pending that has spoken for the lions share of my hobby budget into early next year.  So not much available hobby money to explore what seem to be a new vendor.

Cheers,
Jim

I ordered from Factory Direct several years ago and had no problem. They are located close to Ashville, NC. I think they have a brick and motar store. Rumor had that they have a family connection to BLI.

Paul B
Canton, GA

Yes, I noticed the website went live yesterday.  My old login even works and they restored my Rewards points balance.  Not as much inventory as before but I imagine they're in the process of restocking.

I just placed an order for 4 items, all in stock (could be luck).  Checkout was smooth. Interesting note: I live in Maryland, no MD sales tax was tacked on as in previous years. Maybe because Corp HQ is no longer in Maryland?

 

Yeah, placed an order for a few "in stock" items as well, (couple hundred bucks worth). Still got the free shipping option, discounted prices don't appear as prominent as before, but whatever. I'm game to give them a shot for now.

~ Mr. MRL

I logged in and my wish lists are still there. Prices seem a bit higher than what I recall at the old mbk.

Posted from Android

Hmmm, discounting for Walthers freight cars is $1 to $2 off.

From https://www.modeltrainstuff.com/about-us:
"The development of the Internet in the late 1990s brought with it a great opportunity. Our dedicated and knowledgeable staff began building a now-established website to offer our store's products to a worldwide community. Factory Direct Hobbies, having acquired M.B. Klein, Inc. from its previous owners, Hattons, in 2024, continues to serve the Model Railroad Community with passion and commitment."

I had originally said that I would never use kliens again BUT considering the piss poor service I am suddenly getting from the 2 places I have been using I will take a look at what they are offering. 

Jon Fink
Schenectady, NY

For what it's worth, I've bought several items from FDT over the past few years and have had no problems whatsoever. I'm happy to see someone stepping up to fill a potential void with intentions of maintaining what was good and improving where necessary.

In fact, I got a personal call from FDT about a minor stock outage very recently that was a pleasant surprise, actually talking to a fellow human rather than an electronic communication.

The look of the website is about the same that I had when it used to be a regular site I ordered from.  However two differences I've noted so far mean there is less incentive for me to shop at MTS than before. 1) higher prices or less discount, and 2) rewards not as good.  I didn't see if the minimum $200 for free shipping is for the top tier rewards club, or just in general.  The previous reward of free ship for $99+ orders as top tier reward member made it very easy for to make frequent orders.  Now, not so much.  Maybe it was just too good to last.

Another thing that was a real negative in the past with MBK has always been a buy it quick or it's gone place; there was no pre-order option.  That meant you have to watch them like a hawk or miss out.  I hated that.

Now that I've seen more how the land lies, MTS isn't as nice as it was but probably decent. 

 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/18/24 09:33 by SPDRGWfan.

They are currently blowing out 8 roadnumbers for the Walthers Mainline VTTX 60' PS flatcars that were in such high demand a couple years back - only $12.80 each with about 100 pcs of each number in stock.  They must have made a deal to get some of Walthers' excess inventory to start things up.

https://www.modeltrainstuff.com/search?search_query_adv=VTTX%2060%27#/filter:categories_hierarchy:Sale

Yes, we've heard about Model Train Stuff several times now, I have moved on and I'm not going back.  We get it, many of you can't live without it despite their many major issues but I can and I have moved on.  Tired of hearing about them on here every few days or weeks.  My train club friend says the discounts aren't good at all anyways so no loss to me.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/19/24 07:10 by CO1309.

CO1309 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Yes, we've heard about Model Train Stuff several
> times now, I have moved on and I'm not going
> back.  We get it, many of you can't live without
> it despite their many major issues but I can and I
> have moved on.  Tired of hearing about them on
> here every few days or weeks.  My train club
> friend says the discounts aren't good at all
> anyways so no loss to me.

Really?  There are those who cna't live without modeltrainstuff?  I'm thinking rather it was the perks that were good enough to be a major draw.

With some short glances at products, some still in my old wish list, I can see the prices are substantially higher. The former MBK with the better prices, free shipping and rewards, was incentive enough to make me a frequent flyer.  But my patonage was based on the perks and generally good service and customer friendly policies.  Since they shut down and the perks are not the same since they came back, that has made modeltrainstuff more "average" as a vendor and less of a draw.  As I mentioned similarly with Caboose Hobbies, new owner means new way of doing tihngs.  The secret sauce is/was with the owner.  Owner change, secret sauce is gone, or tastes different now.  If you came for the secret sauce, well....

SPDRGWfan Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> CO1309 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Yes, we've heard about Model Train Stuff
> several
> > times now, I have moved on and I'm not going
> > back.  We get it, many of you can't live
> without
> > it despite their many major issues but I can and
> I
> > have moved on.  Tired of hearing about them on
> > here every few days or weeks.  My train club
> > friend says the discounts aren't good at all
> > anyways so no loss to me.
>
> Really?  There are those who cna't live without
> modeltrainstuff?  I'm thinking rather it was the
> perks that were good enough to be a major draw.
>
> With some short glances at products, some still in
> my old wish list, I can see the prices are
> substantially higher. The former MBK with the
> better prices, free shipping and rewards, was
> incentive enough to make me a frequent flyer. 
> But my patonage was based on the perks and
> generally good service and customer friendly
> policies.  Since they shut down and the perks are
> not the same since they came back, that has made
> modeltrainstuff more "average" as a vendor and
> less of a draw.  As I mentioned similarly with
> Caboose Hobbies, new owner means new way of doing
> tihngs.  The secret sauce is/was with the
> owner.  Owner change, secret sauce is gone, or
> tastes different now.  If you came for the secret
> sauce, well....

It seems there are on this forum who can't live without it and are die hard fans.  The perks they reniged on were when I said I would never be back.  There are still some modelers with store credit and money gone and no product.  Just as there are some modelers with money gone and no product from  Arrowhead Models website.  If that happened to most modelers they would be in an outrage calling for the ban of those companies but here we have modelers ready to support the insanity again on both accounts.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/19/24 09:14 by CO1309.

Ordered a set of VTTX flats yesterday at very good prices.  Shipping was reasonable and offers several USPS or UPS options. Buyers would be wise to concentrate on deals and not be so concerned with vanished come-ons and features.  It's a whole new ballgame and really, just a new retailer.

CO1309 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> It seems there are on this forum who can't live
> without it and are die hard fans.  The perks they
> reniged on were when I said I would never be
> back.  There are still some modelers with store
> credit and money gone and no product.  Just as
> there are some modelers with money gone and no
> product from  Arrowhead Models website.  If that
> happened to most modelers they would be in an
> outrage calling for the ban of those companies but
> here we have modelers ready to support the
> insanity again on both accounts.

I haven't noticed who is die hards.  I was somewhat die hard but yeah, that was based on the perks and service.  The website has always been pretty easy to search and that was also good.  But with perks significantly reduced, that changed things of course.  I'd expect it would have the same thing for others too.

As far as points and store credit, when I got the emails that I had until Dec 14 to use my points, assumed that was it, so I burned them.  I'm kinda surprised others all didn't do the same.  As far as modeler insantity, I can't relate to that.  

Regarding Arrowhead, there seems to be only crickets on that.  Someone commented that Blaine was in a bad car accident.  But some have pointed out that a family member could have at least put up something on the website - something to notify customers that the business is down due to an emergency and plans are to be back when that has been overcome, etc.

 

grahamline Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Ordered a set of VTTX flats yesterday at very good
> prices.  Shipping was reasonable and offers
> several USPS or UPS options. Buyers would be wise
> to concentrate on deals and not be so concerned
> with vanished come-ons and features.  It's a
> whole new ballgame and really, just a new
> retailer.

I definitely don't have anything against Factory Direct, but as you say it's a new retailer doing things his way but using the existing etailer/website service. 

I remember the VTTX flats were popular when they came out but as I recall, they were a bit to new for me.  Of course deals are what we often look want to take advantage of. 
Re: the vanished come-ons, if you mean perks helped reduce cost so that wasn't a bad thing and something I leveraged regularly.

But as I mentioned, the secret sauce is in the owner, how they run the show.  When Caboose Hobbies closed, the secret sauce was gone. 
It was missing from the Caboose store that claimed to be the same hobby shop but relocated.  It was not, and wilted quckly.  I was a customer of Caboose Hobbies and when Caboose started up, it was not Caboose Hobbies. 
​The prices were near MSRP, they didn't have much I was interested in.  It was really gone gone.  Time will tell but also the business model and products, pricing, shipping et. al. is going to set any shop apart or just make it average.