MBK no longer carries Scale Trains models?

[basementcalling]

Might also have something to do with the fact I am not sure most people would consider MBK a B&M hobby shop anymore now that you cannot visit the showroom and buy items there. Yes you can pick up orders you place online, but they closed their in person shopping area to concentrate on the online side of the businesss.

[mu26aeh]

There are no discounts on ST products unless a store is trying to move old stock.  The price at one of their "select retailers" is the same you pay direct from them, as @flight2000 pointed out.  Or if ST was moving product on their end (ie when they slashed the prices on N scale containers"

Good luck to those who have to track down their products

[pmpexpress]

Well, all the preorders are now "sold out" in the Scale Trains website.  Seems kind of  silly to sell out preorders.    Just adjust your production run, dammit! I know, it is not that simple.  If I want one of those I'll have to either wait until the next run, or find a retailer that ordered enough to have spares.

You also want to bear in mind that once pre-order models arrive at ScaleTrains, buyers who do not have have a valid credit card on file are provided a short window of opportunity to pay for their ordered items, after which time any unclaimed products are released for sale on the ScaleTrains site.

For one reason or another, there always seems to be a few customers who who renege on their pre-orders, which is great for buyers who missed the pre-order deadlines.

Managed to score a couple of third run Tier IV GEVO locomotives in this manner.

As is often the case with short-run model releases listed by MBK, you must be ready to pounce once the pre-order payment window has closed.

[peteski]

You also want to bear in mind that once pre-order models arrive at ScaleTrains, buyers who do not have have a valid credit card on file are provided a short window of opportunity to pay for their ordered items, after which time any unclaimed products are released for sale on the ScaleTrains site.

For one reason or another, there always seems to be a few customers who who renege on their pre-orders, which is great for buyers who missed the pre-order deadlines.

Managed to score a couple of third run Tier IV GEVO locomotives in this manner.

As is often the case with short-run model releases listed by MBK, you must be ready to pounce once the pre-order payment window has closed.

Thanks for the tip Neville!

[BruceStikkers]

I have always bought my Scale Trains stuff from Lombard Hobbies. I like it because I can add other things on to the order. They have been very good to deal with. The store has a huge inventory and that helps if you didn't pre-order something.

Bruce Stikkers
St. Joseph, IL

[ek2000]

I checked few of the online shops I usually deal with (Hogs, Trainworld) and neither carries Scale Trains models.  So I went to Scale Trains website and found their list of dealers.  Neither one of them is listed there, and neither is MBK!  I also noticed that it seems that Scale Trains seems to be serious about direct sales. What's the story? Last time I bought a Scale Trains model was the Big Blow turbine (from MBK), so Ive been out of the loop for few years.

I recently checked with MTS and they confirmed that they are not carrying ST products anymore.

There is a thread about this in the atlasrescue forum where Shane Wilson has weighed in on. MBK and ST parted company in Dec 2019 as confirmed by Shane.

BTW, my exact thoughts when I saw the turbines were sold out  😃  For all the online displeasure ST received, this model sold out months before delivery. Happy for ST as this will hopefully allow them to do a rerun and/or produce more N scale models.

Yankeedabbler also carries ST models and you can get a 5% discount with code 'Engineer Hall'. Plus Yankeedabblers shipping prices are very low.

[EspeeGoldenState]

I will also mention that they discussed their experience with N scale.  Apparently, some of their early offerings were not a financial success, but they are committed to slowly and carefully building their N scale offerings.  I don't know if they were referring to the UP Turbine project.  That was a spectacular N scale project, but way out of my geographic area and era.

That had a lot to do with the C32-8 sales, and also believe the Carbon Black cars. They were not hot sellers. And so in the end it soured them a bit. I own two CB cars as thats what I could afford at the time, but had no use for a C32-8 at all.

Shane even addressed the C32-8 here:
https://www.trainboard.com/highball/index.php?threads/guess-im-not-going-to-buy-any-more-scaletrains.119272/page-2#post-1066479

The Standard Turbine will be most likely the only new N scale locomotive announced this year, so no ES44 series locomotive announcement it seems, or AC44CWs. I guess that saves my pocket book a bit from them, thought part of me wishes a little I would have pre-ordered one.

Chris

[Maletrain]

Well, I am sure that SC lost money in sales to me, because I won my first SC loco for free at the Amherst show a couple of years ago.  The SC models are way out of my chosen modeling era, so I am not a big customer.  I run mine at my club, which is modern era (sort of), and bought a second one to pull longer trains for open house events.  So, basically I got my total SC purchases at 50% off.

That said, I do love the way SC locos/decoders operate.  Very smooth, and can be run in a realistic manner.   I like the "independent brake" function.  I wish it was standard on all decoders.

So, if SC ever gets around to modeling something in the transition era that would be seen on the B&O, I'm "in".

[wmcbride]

Well, if ST would like to recoup their tooling costs on the C39-8s, they could rerun them. I bought one, and finally found another, and would buy 2 more. I really like them.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

I think there's one thing he's missing about C39s vs Tunnel Motors.

On NS and Conrail the C39s were interesting oddities: notable for the occasional variety the provided amongst far larger fleets of other units. It's entirely possible for someone to have what they'd consider a "complete" NS or Conrail layout without one.

For railroads that had tunnel motors, they were THE defining locomotive. Their absence would be obvious and notable on a layout set in the periods they were around.

It's like modeling 80s or 90s Conrail without SD40-2s. Or steam era Pennsy without H class 2-8-0s and I1 2-10-0s.

[wmcbride]

Exactly. The C39s were an odd choice albeit nicely executed.

An N-scale tunnel motor is a license to print money for ST.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Exactly. The C39s were an odd choice albeit nicely executed.

An N-scale tunnel motor is a license to print money for ST.

Like an SD40-2 would be.

Come to think of it, also like a GP38-2 would be too. They're useful for modelers from the BNSF all the way down to the BF&W.

Yes, I know there's a good enough Atlas model out there, but damn, I'd love me some ST models of these ubiquitous beasts.

[wmcbride]

The last run of SD40-2s by Intermountain were really well done compared to their earlier efforts with the falling off handrails etc. Thee earlier ones  looked so much better with my fingers superglued to the handrails and shell.

Unfortunately, Intermountain engine production has kind of gone into the abyss in N.

[C855B]

... For railroads that had tunnel motors, they were THE defining locomotive. Their absence would be obvious and notable on a layout set in the periods they were around. ...

That's like DD35s on the UP in the '60s and '70s. While there were only 15 A's and 27 B's, because UP ran the snot out of their trains you saw them everywhere, and totally dominating on the Council Bluffs-Cheyenne racetrack, even while the big turbines were active.

There was a rumor several years back in the UP modeler world about ST considering a DD35 in HO. No such luck, obviously, but given ST's love affair with UP's turbine monsters, they'd be the ones to take it on.

(I've been struggling for several years against DD35 Shapeways shells. After dozens of hours invested they're just not happening for me. They take so much work to fix accuracy and incompleteness issues that even the modest target of two B's and an A has the bits lingering on the workbench taking up space.  )

[Mark5]

On NS and Conrail the C39s were interesting oddities: notable for the occasional variety the provided amongst far larger fleets of other units. It's entirely possible for someone to have what they'd consider a "complete" NS or Conrail layout without one.

I would tend to disagree about the "complete" NS remark, but I digress. 

For railroads that had tunnel motors, they were THE defining locomotive. Their absence would be obvious and notable on a layout set in the periods they were around.

100% agree. I have a photo of an SP TM on N&W's pokey in the late 1970s, so I would grab an ST version.

Mark