Large Scale Central

Trainworld getting out of G?

General Discussion
#41

Hi John:

Sorry, I can never forgive Hans for this. Just cannot. Tried, but cannot. Been taken advantage of and abused by too many people in my lifetime. Just not going to get financially abused again on my trains. It is not the money. It is the victimisation that pisses me off.

As to the wisdom of life, near death provides great insight not otherwise acquired. Two years ago, almost died in hospital. Then mostly recovered.

Now again, just spent three months in hospital and now recovering in a nursing home. The great upside is I met this absolutely incredible lady in hospital which I would not otherwise have met. A fantastic human being. She dropped by yesterday. Norm is a happy dude.

Joyeux Noel John,

Norman

#42

Robby Dascotte said:

The problem is the market is flooded with used items for sale. it is killing the new market. the manufacturers are getting gun shy. they are afraid of making a large investment into a new product that might sell well or worse yet sit on the shelf for a long period of time. it’s tough time right now. young people are more interested in electronics than trains. I mainly sell G-Scale 98% of my inventory is G. so if TrainWorld isn’t selling G-Scale, RLD Hobbies is.

Sounds like a darn good reason to buy new when I can afford it.

#43

Norman Bourgault said:

Hi Vic:

10 cents on the dollar:

I traded in 9 Disneyland LGB coaches to Hans of Gold Coast Station. All mint cars, unopened boxes. These are the limited edition LGB Disneyland coaches. Four yellow, three cream and two blue coaches. Hans paid me 40.00 each for these coaches ( and I paid the shipping to him! ). I later viewed LGB Disneyland coaches on ebay at 400.00 each. That is the open market value of these coaches. I was really pissed off having been taken advantage of. That is why my train collection eventually goes directly to the land fill. No one will ever do that to me again. I never bought anything from Hans after that experience.

Norman

Norman,

Well with that story I can see your point. I really do. But your telling me that one experience (or 2 or 10 or 100) with a dealer or an unscrupulous fellow collector (? I don’t know who Hans is or his motives) will sour your opinion of fellow hobbyist like . . . well quite frankly like me. . . who are just now getting into large scale and live with a family and a middle income? You don’t know me and I wouldn’t expect anything from you. . . but lets say we were in the same community and shared the hobby through the local club. . . you wouldn’t cut me some slack and help me to enjoy the hobby you enjoy by selling or outright giving me your unwanted discarded stuff? You would rather be happy with the idea of knowing you “stuck it to me” by never letting me take advantage of you? You would be comfortable knowing that instead I had to pay my dues on the open market? That’s certainly your prerogative, after all its your stuff and you money. I am just glad that there are those out there that do not share your sentiment.

Since my short time in this I am glad I have met either in real life or on here that have not shared that feeling. I have bought a used GP-9 for a fraction of new from a friend who wanted to see me get enjoyment out of his surplus. That same person horse traded with me and gave up and Aristo flat car and a section of track I needed for the price of some venison sausage and jerky. Another friend won a box car at the Christmas gift exchange and promptly gave it to me because he wanted me to have some rolling stock. On here have bout a B-mann 10 wheeler for way less than half new because it was surplus to him and I need it. From a guy I don’t even know I was sold some car parts I need because . . .well I needed them and the price was mere pennies. Then there was the friend on here that gave (yes free) a whole bunch of wheels destine for the trash bin because they were useless to him and will build me an empire until I can afford the better metal ones. . . Oh and that friend refused to even let me pay shipping.

Now why do I mention all this; because what was surplus/excess/unwanted by them is super appreciated by me because it advanced my position greatly in the hobby. I am getting enjoyment from it and I like to believe that’s why they did it. . . they wanted to see the new guy get enjoyment.

I in no way am trying to belittle or berate you. I just want to maybe hopefully give you another perspective. Might I suggest this? When you get ready to haul it to the trash because your done, instead take it to a train show, find a father/grand father and son who seem wide eyed at the splendor and give them (with no expectation of return) a locomotive and enough track to make a small loop. See the look on their face. . . enjoy knowing you gave back to the hobby that has given you enjoyment.

I do sincerely apologize ahead of time if this is inflammatory, to the wrong person it will be. But consider those in the hobby that are not in your fortunate position. Consider helping them out with your cast offs. Let them “take advantage” not of your pocket book but of your generosity.

#44

Hi Devon:

No offence taken.

When the OVAR train show was at Algonquin College, I did drop off a bunch of G Scale at a layout of a young lad who had an operating display. The Father was overwhelmed and insisted on giving me some money for the items. That was a good experience. No one took advantage of anyone and my intention was simply to give the trains to the young lad.

This was totally different from dealing with a train re-seller.

Norman

#45

Devon Sinsley said:

Norman Bourgault said:

Hi Vic:

10 cents on the dollar:

I traded in 9 Disneyland LGB coaches to Hans of Gold Coast Station. All mint cars, unopened boxes. These are the limited edition LGB Disneyland coaches. Four yellow, three cream and two blue coaches. Hans paid me 40.00 each for these coaches ( and I paid the shipping to him! ). I later viewed LGB Disneyland coaches on ebay at 400.00 each. That is the open market value of these coaches. I was really pissed off having been taken advantage of. That is why my train collection eventually goes directly to the land fill. No one will ever do that to me again. I never bought anything from Hans after that experience.

Norman

Norman,

Well with that story I can see your point. I really do. But your telling me that one experience (or 2 or 10 or 100) with a dealer or an unscrupulous fellow collector (? I don’t know who Hans is or his motives) will sour your opinion of fellow hobbyist like . . . well quite frankly like me. . . who are just now getting into large scale and live with a family and a middle income? You don’t know me and I wouldn’t expect anything from you. . . but lets say we were in the same community and shared the hobby through the local club. . . you wouldn’t cut me some slack and help me to enjoy the hobby you enjoy by selling or outright giving me your unwanted discarded stuff? I am just glad that there are those out there that do not share your sentiment.

Since my short time in this I am glad I have met either in real life or on here that have not shared that feeling. I have bought a used GP-9 for a fraction of new from a friend who wanted to see me get enjoyment out of his surplus. That same person horse traded with me and gave up and Aristo flat car and a section of track I needed for the price of some venison sausage and jerky. Another friend won a box car at the Christmas gift exchange and promptly gave it to me because he wanted me to have some rolling stock. On here have bout a B-mann 10 wheeler for way less than half new because it was surplus to him and I need it. From a guy I don’t even know I was sold some car parts I need because . . .well I needed them and the price was mere pennies. Then there was the friend on here that gave (yes free) a whole bunch of wheels destine for the trash bin because they were useless to him and will build me an empire until I can afford the better metal ones. . . Oh and that friend refused to even let me pay shipping.

Now why do I mention all this; because what was surplus/excess/unwanted by them is super appreciated by me because it advanced my position greatly in the hobby. I am getting enjoyment from it and I like to believe that’s why they did it. . . they wanted to see the new guy get enjoyment.

I in no way am trying to belittle or berate you. I just want to maybe hopefully give you another perspective. Might I suggest this? When you get ready to haul it to the trash because your done, instead take it to a train show, find a father/grand father and son who seem wide eyed at the splendor and give them (with no expectation of return) a locomotive and enough track to make a small loop. See the look on their face. . . enjoy knowing you gave back to the hobby that has given you enjoyment.

I do sincerely apologize ahead of time if this is inflammatory, to the wrong person it will be. But consider those in the hobby that are not in your fortunate position. Consider helping them out with your cast offs. Let them “take advantage” not of your pocket book but of your generosity.

Devon,

Just to give you another side to Norman’s “experience” with Hans of Gold Coast Station. I have been a friend of Hans’ for over twenty years and made numerous purchases and trades with him. So have many others here in Southern California. Hans has treated us all with respect, trust and has not “screwed” any of us. Has ALWAYS been fair. Before making a judgement regarding Hans, I would “suggest” you hear BOTH sides of the “story”. Just a comment from a very satisfied customer for over twenty years. Take it for whatever it’s worth. :slight_smile:

#46

The only time I felt like I had a fortune in trains was when my storage was broken into and 900 feet of boxed track, 15 pieces of motive power and over 50 pieces of rolling stock (all boxed/new) were stolen. I tell you what it felt like a fortune looking at the replacement cost in 2007! Today, it looks like a lost fortune-so many people selling used stuff for 2x what the new sold for a year ago?!? Of course, a year ago the new was 2x that replacement cost in 2007, which was 2x what I had into the stuff when bought 2000-2003.

#47

Norman Bourgault said:

I later viewed LGB Disneyland coaches on ebay at 400.00 each. That is the open market value of these coaches.

Not really: this is the asking price. To see what things are worth you have to check the little box on the left that says “Sold listings”.

Regards,

Peter.

#48

I thought that too Peter, but we don’t know the year this happened, prices could have been different. Recent closed auctions have ended around $325 each…

You are right though, an ebay listing means nothing until it is closed and someone actually paid $$.

Greg

#49

Norman Bourgault said:

Hi Devon:

No offence taken.

When the OVAR train show was at Algonquin College, I did drop off a bunch of G Scale at a layout of a young lad who had an operating display. The Father was overwhelmed and insisted on giving me some money for the items. That was a good experience. No one took advantage of anyone and my intention was simply to give the trains to the young lad.

This was totally different from dealing with a train re-seller.

Norman

That makes me feel a lot better. I sure can understand not wanting to get taken and when a dealer or fellow collector or any other individual obviously is taking advantage of you well I can see where it would sour someone. I am glad to hear the other side of Norman. Thans for sharing both stories because it does put perspective on it.

#50

Gary Armitstead said:

Devon,

Just to give you another side to Norman’s “experience” with Hans of Gold Coast Station. I have been a friend of Hans’ for over twenty years and made numerous purchases and trades with him. So have many others here in Southern California. Hans has treated us all with respect, trust and has not “screwed” any of us. Has ALWAYS been fair. Before making a judgement regarding Hans, I would “suggest” you hear BOTH sides of the “story”. Just a comment from a very satisfied customer for over twenty years. Take it for whatever it’s worth. :slight_smile:

Thanks for that Gary. As I stated I have no idea who Hans is or his intentions and have not judged him one way or other. I was simply mentioning that IF someone gets taken by someone then I can understand the position Norman has taken. I can’t, haven’t, and won’t judge Hans because of one story by one individual. It may serve as input; just as your comment about him does, to base judement on any dealing I might have with him.

But thanks for clarifying. If i did sound as if I was getting down on him it was not my intention. It was an example offered by Norman and one I continued with to make a point.

#51

Hi Greg:

A few months later, I wished to re-purchase 3 of the cream Disneyland coaches from Hans for which I had received a trade in allowance of 30.00 for each car with free postage to Hans. Never should have paid for the shipping to Hans myself is another point. Hans’s resale price to me was 300.00 for each cream car. Have it your way. I paid full retail on an Accucraft item so there was no discount on the item purchased on which I had traded in the 9 LGB Disneyland cars at 30.00 each with free shipping to Hans.

The point of the thread is TW apparently will no longer be selling G Scale trains which is a great loss as their pricing was always the retail industry leader although I have also bought items from Gold Coast, Reindeer Pass, RLD and the large dealer on the East Coast which no longer exists whose name I cannot now remember. I bought from these other dealers for the HLW , Accucraft and Bachmann products when their pricing was competitive with TW. Now that apparently TW will no longer be selling G Scale trains, which dealer will keep a limit on the retail pricing and become the next price leader?

Norman

#52

Norman, I wonder. Well, like so many of us, I have plenty to keep me busy, running, bashing and detailing, so I don’t “need” anymore stuff st this time. But…

#53

Hi David:

Yes, there is always something to tempt us which we do not need. That is what makes life fun.

Norman

#54

Hey Norman instead of sending it to a landfill, send it to me, I promise to bury it in my garage. What the heck, my layout is currently buried under a landfill of stuff so what harm’s a little more going to do? :wink:

#55

Wow, what mixed options. Some nice and helpful, others down right mean, Yes I would very much appreciate someone giving a box full stuff. Please don’t send to the landfill. What happen to promoting the world and hobby of trains, how many times have we took advance from others only to find out it cost more, I know that there are some out there who just write a check and there it is. Come guys lets keep fun enjoyable, educational, and if you can’t. Than all I can write. Beep beep beep on you

#56

I’m rather disturbed about the comments that Norman made. It sounds like he was taken by a greedy dealer and as a result now has plans to toss his trains into the trash. I think that is Ridiculous. How many of us have been able to expand and grow our hobby using preowned equipment? I’d say 90% of my RR is a combo of used and home built stuff. If I had to buy everything new I wouldn’t have been able to afford the trains much beyond my first starter set.

This past Summer a fellow realtor put me on to a client of his that had a decent sized G layout in his basement. He was moving out of state into a condo and couldn’t take the layout with him. He contacted the local club and 4 of us went over to disassemble the layout. The guy kept some of his favorite engines and cars but the rest was FREE !! We loaded it all into our vehicles and split it up later. We all got some really nice stuff even though most of it needed a bit of TLC. I kept some and sold some and added the funds to my train budget. The guy seemed happy that his trains were going to good homes where they would be appreciated. The last thing he wanted was for his trains to end up in the trash.

Our trains are worth more than 10 cents on the dollar but of course some are worth more than others. A Bachmann bobber caboose is not worth much while a rarer bachmann Heisler is worth more now than you could buy one from trainworld about 7-8 years ago. Used Track still has good value while new keeps going up.

It will be sad to see Train World get out of G but when you think about the price of new equipment then look at other sources such as Al Kramer on Ebay the consumer really has to shop around. Case in point. Kramer is selling new 3 truck shays for under $300 TW has them for $100 more for the same thing. It is a no brainer despite the urge to support a brick and mortar store. Money talks.

TW also has LGB commemorative cars for hundreds of dollars each. How many people buy them and put them on a shelf? Collecting is not what it used to be. I think most of us would rather play with our trains than just look at a box.

large scale trains is a niche hobby within a niche hobby and if anyone has trains that they are thinking about tossing in the trash there are many people to there willing to pay a fair price for them or even better would be to donate them to the younger generation which in turn would help to grow the hobby.

#57

Todd, I would agree with you. I haven’t payed full retail for any of my large scale trains. I buy them on sale, close out (http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-smile.gif)or used. I did an thread on here about fixing up a run out LGB boxcar. I did that to show that even the well used equipment can be given a second life.

If I were to the point where I was confider trashing my trains, or donating them, I would donate them. I think we, as hobbyists, should try and help each other out. Tossing one’s trains in the trash helps no one. If you are that upset at an individual, then don’t deal with that person. I have had several folks that I have avoided for various reasons. There were, and are, businesses that I will not deal with. If someone is playing people like that, they will eventually suffer. If it was a simple misunderstanding (for whatever reason), then by avoiding that person, you avoid the bad feelings that could surface. But to “get back” at someone by what Norman suggests is, well, it doesn’t sound right. That person wont suffer one iota from you trashing your trains when you are done with them.

#58

To Todd: Like I commented on my previous post to Devon regarding Hans at Gold Coast Station in Ventura, CA and Tehachapi, CA…Norman made an accusation about Hans taking advantage of him. I have known Hans for over twenty years and dealt with him extensively over that time period with many purchases and trades. So have many others from the Southern California area. He has ALWAYS been fair, trustworthy and an all around great guy to deal with. Norman makes an accusation of how he was treated and apparently he didn’t do his homework as to exactly what his items were worth. So he blames Hans for his ignorance as to their value. How nuts is that!

Chris Walas (I believe many of the “old timers” on this site and MLS know of him), introduced me to Hans years ago when I started to buy some stuff. Chris was always “bashing” the LGB Porters into his great whimsical locomotives with his custom sculpy figures. Everyone of his figures had their own individual character and all one of a kind. Anyway, Hans would take a brand new Porter out of an LGB starter set and sell it to Chris at a discount. Hans said he could always sell the cars and track to somebody else. Wasn’t a problem for Hans. Does this sound like a greedy dealer to anybody here?

I just had to say something in Hans defense because there still seems to be this undercurrent about Hans’ veracity.

#59

I think several of you are cluing in on Norman…

#60

Would this be the wrong time to ask for the pony I always wanted?