Hogtrainz

[CRL]

I’m still using Hogtrainz for what little pre-ordered items in deference to being a customer of Pete at BLW for so many years. I am satisfied with their service except for one minor annoyance. When BLW would ship an order, he’d send an invoice telling what was being shipped. Hogtrainz doesn’t do that. They just send a USPS tracking so it’s a guessing game especially since the 2 locomotives that just arrived were preordered prior to October 2019.

[ljudice]

I noticed that. It seems like its a switch to send the extra email that's not turned on...

[haasmarc]

A minor annoyance considering they beat MBKlein prices usually.  On all the latest BLI locos they are up to $30 cheaper.

[CBQ Fan]

I haven’t always gotten the ship notice at all so that is better than nothing. If I preorder I get the notice, if I order something in stock it isn’t as predictable.

[JMaurer1]

I never gave Pete enough credit for his BLW website...compared to Hogtrainz, he was a GOD. Broken links, lots of stupid animations that are unnecessary, obvious preference to HO, broken links, redundant information, stuff being displayed on top of other things, broken links...where can I find the MT page?

Really, the website has made it so I go to other sites first and don't even bothering to see what his price on something is.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

I never gave Pete enough credit for his BLW website...compared to Hogtrainz, he was a GOD. Broken links, lots of stupid animations that are unnecessary, obvious preference to HO, broken links, redundant information, stuff being displayed on top of other things, broken links...where can I find the MT page?

Really, the website has made it so I go to other sites first and don't even bothering to see what his price on something is.

I suspect it's all hand coded, and there's a point at which that really starts to become untenable.

Pete deserves a lot of respect for the fact that he was able to keep up with it as long as he did.

But there's a reason why most shops go with something like Shopify these days. It's just so much easier.

[peteski]

I never gave Pete enough credit for his BLW website...compared to Hogtrainz, he was a GOD. Broken links, lots of stupid animations that are unnecessary, obvious preference to HO, broken links, redundant information, stuff being displayed on top of other things, broken links...where can I find the MT page?

Really, the website has made it so I go to other sites first and don't even bothering to see what his price on something is.

Yes, that is probably the worst N scale store page I have ever dealt with.
N scale seems like an afterthought (all N scale stuff seems to be listed under the continuously running reservations page).  Reminds of Facebook -- a continuous stream of updates without any good organization or way to find things easily.  And the shopping cart is not easily accessible on the main page.

[John]

Yes, that is probably the worst N scale store page I have ever dealt with.

Well -- there is http://wig-wag-trains.com/

[Englewood]

Well -- there is http://wig-wag-trains.com/

Oof. Agree 100%.

[up1950s]

I have always gotten anything I ordered that was advertised , or pre advertised on the Hogtrainz site .

[mecgp7]

Well -- there is http://wig-wag-trains.com/

Hogtrainz lost 99% of what I bought from BLW. The website sucks. However Wig Wag has never gotten my business. I have tried. If anyone knows how to get things done with them, I'd love to know.

[Wolf N Works]

To get anything done with WigWag you have to call them.

[CBQ Fan]

Since I rarely preorder anymore MBK I almost exclusively use MBK. I wish they would preorder. My preorders in years past need a spreadsheet to track. Not anymore. I keep a small list of have to have items and that is less than 10 items.

[muktown128]

I miss the BLW website and checking for What's New and the Captain Blaster specials.  The only complaint I had was with trying to find MT cars - I had to look them up by the month they were released until he updated the website.  The on line index sorted by manufacturers was helpful. 

I've had no luck ordering from Wig-wag either.  I tried a few times and gave up. 

I've ordered from MTS, but not as much lately.  Seems like most of what I'm interested in is out of stock. 

Most of my new orders have been with Factory Direct Hobbies (FDH).  FDH carries a lot of BLI stuff at a pretty good discount and run some good deals from time to time.  Joe Grubba is the brother of Bob Grubba from BLI, which probably explains the selection and pricing for BLI items.  FDH was selling the BLI cryogenic tank cars for $16.99 each for a few days.  I almost pulled the trigger on a few, but didn't.  Service has been pretty good on dealing with damaged items.  I ordered several Bowser PRR cabin cars from them a few months ago when they were running a sale.  About have of them had the steps broken off.  The replaced what they could and credited the rest. 

[wmcbride]

Wig-Wag!! I didn't realize they were still around. What a curious business "model."

HOGTrainz website is hard but I will say that the few times there has been a minor order goof up, Paul has fixed it ASAP.

For preorders, I have been using Lombard Hobby (www.lombardhobby.com) for a while. Per your preorder preference, they will either telephone or email when your preorder has arrived to see if you still want it. If you do, they send you an invoice. No down-payments; no fuss.