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Post by riogrande on Jan 31, 2024 8:41:36 GMT -8
I don't trust Hogztrains either after I got shorted an order order a few years ago. That was when I got the spiel about having to order before the order deadline. But even then there is no guarantee so struck Hogztrains off my vendor list. He must be doing ok because he always has spinning icons saying sold out for many items.
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Post by cemr5396 on Jan 31, 2024 11:03:38 GMT -8
the fact that some places do not have guaranteed pre orders blows my mind.
I do all my online shopping with Otter Valley. If after the pre order deadline from the manufacturer passes they have 10 extra models available for preorder, that's how many orders they take. After that it's 'out of stock'.
None of this "only 5 available but we took 10 preorders" crap.
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Post by drsvelte on Jan 31, 2024 11:43:31 GMT -8
I must be one of the few not yet ready to throw Hogtrainz under the bus. I've pre-ordered from him a number of times with ne'er an issue. Same with Lombard.
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Post by unittrain on Jan 31, 2024 11:52:54 GMT -8
I did a late preorder on the Rapido U25bs with Overland and got all of them this included an early demonstrator unit and those sold fast.
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Post by riogrande on Jan 31, 2024 11:53:06 GMT -8
the fact that some places do not have guaranteed pre orders blows my mind. I do all my online shopping with Otter Valley. If after the pre order deadline from the manufacturer passes they have 10 extra models available for preorder, that's how many orders they take. After that it's 'out of stock'. None of this "only 5 available but we took 10 preorders" crap. Isn't Otter Valley in Canada? And isn't shipping significantly higher from Canada to the US? As for Hogz, I'm not throwing them under the bus, but I've already got a short list of vendors to order from. I tried them. I didn't get the warm fuzzies with my limited experience. My main vendors are Spring Creek, and I've used Overland a few times and will be using them more in the future. Lombards is good but I only order from them when I can have a big enough order to justify their flat rate $13.99 shipping, assuming that hasn't gone up since the last time I ordered. I did order from Otter Valley once, and that is when I was hunting down the last of the Peco Electrofrog #6 turnouts when they were discontinued and replaced with the shorting prone (at the time) unifrog. They did cost a bit more but I need to find enough when they were getting scarce. |
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Post by 690 on Jan 31, 2024 11:54:38 GMT -8
Otter Valley is in Canada, and yes, the shipping is generally more expensive, but factoring in CAD to USD I’ve still usually paid less ordering from them than some of the other American retailers. The last order I got (three of the Rapido chlorate hoppers) was $20 shipping, which isn’t significantly more than many places in the US, and I got the cars themselves for about $5-7 cheaper apiece than most places in the US were selling them for.
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Post by riogrande on Jan 31, 2024 12:25:59 GMT -8
Otter Valley is in Canada, and yes, the shipping is generally more expensive, but factoring in CAD to USD I’ve still usually paid less ordering from them than some of the other American retailers. The last order I got (three of the Rapido chlorate hoppers) was $20 shipping, which isn’t significantly more than many places in the US, and I got the cars themselves for about $5-7 cheaper apiece than most places in the US were selling them for. Your choice but I'm used to shipping close to half that. I was getting free shipping from MBK under their rewards program but sadly they are gone. Another vendor is in the $10-12 range so I use them more now. |
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Post by prr 4467 on Jan 31, 2024 12:33:43 GMT -8
I have ordered very recently from both Credit Valley Railway and Otter Valley (I am told they are NOT related) to get things that were sold out in the US that I wanted, however, even with the exchange rate, all in, my total cost including shipping and taxes would always be better from Lombard Hobby and Spring Creek Model Trains and Hiawatha Hobbies if they have the item that I want in stock, so I try all of them first (in my limited experience Toy Train Heaven just does not always have what I want available, and/or their website is quite honestly much more difficult to navigate and find what you want than any of the other places).
It is true that the reputable distributors will check and get back to the dealer typically within hours or within one business day to let the dealer know that a certain engine is still available. Sometimes the pace of new product coming in and immediately going out gets so frenzied that the distributor has to stop for a few hours just to find out where they are on quantities, but generally that does not happen. (Did factually happen with Rapido PA-1's in the first run, but even so my dealer was able to get me one within a couple hours and it was a definite guaranteed late order--as in so late they were in the country and shipping and selling out at the distributor within a couple days, and I was still able to get one).
My dealer also goes out of the way not to hassle the distributors ie if someone cancels a pre-order it most typically still gets delivered and sold in the store...eventually it all sells. When a dealer takes good care of the distributors and pays promptly, then the distributors reciprocate and the dealer gets what he wants when he wants it (well, ok, unless its Lionel, then sometimes people do get shorted). On most HO stuff there are few hassles, and one of the distributors usually has what the locals around here desire still in stock.
Obviously, with ScaleTrains products my dealer cannot get them and will tell you the best thing is to order direct from ScaleTrains, because the shipping is free from them if over $100 order (and won't be from others) and nobody is underselling ScaleTrains on price.
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Post by cpr4200 on Feb 21, 2024 14:32:02 GMT -8
It's been almost two months since the U30C's were "in transit." Must be getting close?
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Post by lvrr325 on Feb 21, 2024 14:57:32 GMT -8
At the risk of repeating myself, Atlas shows when the container left right on their website, and average time from that date to the distributor is 60 days. The container left Dec. 29th, so in theory they show up in about a week.
I will caveat that Atlas sent out an insider email saying they expected Trainmasters and a couple of other things that went out well after the U30Cs, but those mails are frequently wrong.
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Post by cera2254 on Feb 21, 2024 16:32:03 GMT -8
According to the Atlas live stream these are in at Atlas and should be shipped out shortly.
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Post by cpr4200 on Feb 21, 2024 17:21:12 GMT -8
Great! The 60-day theory seems pretty accurate.
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Post by lvrr325 on Feb 22, 2024 3:36:19 GMT -8
Great! The 60-day theory seems pretty accurate. It's not a theory; about 75% of the time it's correct. Very rarely things show up 1-3 weeks sooner, somewhat less rarely they take 1-4 weeks additional. |
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Post by ChessieFan1978 on Mar 5, 2024 5:38:07 GMT -8
Has anyone got theirs yet?
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Post by cpr4200 on Mar 5, 2024 7:59:31 GMT -8
Has anyone got theirs yet? Atlas has apparently not shipped them yet; no update on the website. Toy Train Heaven still shows RDG's in stock. |
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Post by lvrr325 on Mar 5, 2024 8:05:40 GMT -8
Not sure what's going on, they've been expected any day for like two weeks. About ready to call or email them and ask politely "WTF?" would be nice to have them here this week for three March train shows.
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Post by middledivision on Mar 5, 2024 8:08:28 GMT -8
Two weeks ago on YT they said they were in NJ and ready to ship. Since then, nothing. The silence is deafening.
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Post by JohnJ on Mar 5, 2024 8:42:59 GMT -8
A quick check of the major online retailers shows "Pre Order" status.
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Post by cpr4200 on Mar 5, 2024 10:15:49 GMT -8
I figured after that "they're here!" video they'd start shipping the U30C's within a few days. Guess not.
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lhr
New Member
Posts: 20 
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Post by lhr on Mar 5, 2024 13:46:41 GMT -8
According to my LHS, they had 2 containers show up at their dock. So he figures that they will unload both, unpack and sort, then fill orders to distributors and dealers and ship as time permits. I got 9 U30's coming, so hopefully he'll get them by the end of the week.
Greg
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Post by gevohogger on Mar 5, 2024 14:33:51 GMT -8
Let's look on the bright side. If this were an Athearn or Scale Train product we'd already have a dedicated thread about how awful it is that they're late and how much in disarray those companies are.
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Post by ChessieFan1978 on Mar 5, 2024 15:03:35 GMT -8
Spoke with Atlas today and this is the reply I received.
We have a ton of product/orders that have to go out. They'll ship out soon.
Steve Millenbach
Customer Service Manager
Atlas Model Railroad Co
908-687-0880 Ext 7147
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Post by lvrr325 on Mar 5, 2024 19:07:53 GMT -8
"soon" could be this week or this month. Something must be up, this isn't like them.
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Post by middledivision on Mar 6, 2024 8:05:59 GMT -8
"Soon" in Atlas speak, could mean by the end of the year.
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Post by JohnJ on Mar 6, 2024 9:29:34 GMT -8
I just got invoiced for my PRR unit from TrainWorld. EDIT: and shipped.
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Post by cpr4200 on Mar 6, 2024 11:20:11 GMT -8
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Post by typhoon on Mar 6, 2024 14:30:21 GMT -8
No pics, just a rendering. Can't tell if the PRR unit has sunshade mounting holes like the U28C did. |
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Post by ChessieFan1978 on Mar 6, 2024 17:47:22 GMT -8
LOMBARD HOBBIES just sent me my invoice!
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Post by locochris on Mar 7, 2024 6:50:04 GMT -8
A friend told me he got his Trainworld shipping notice yesterday.
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Post by middledivision on Mar 7, 2024 8:30:43 GMT -8
No pics, just a rendering. Can't tell if the PRR unit has sunshade mounting holes like the U28C did. I'm hoping they don't repeat the black handrails on the PRR units. |
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