Buying Second Hand Model Trains | How To Avoid Getting Ripped Off

Yeah a shop scammed me by selling me a train saying it worked. I asked if they could test it and they said no and they wouldn't let me actually look at it. Could u imagine that it's main gear was destroyed when I took it home and put it on the layout? And it wasn't cheap either it was 75 dollars for an old RSO

what do you clean your rolling stock wheels with as shown on one of you videos

The 1st thing ido is see if parts are available for the train or upgrade kit if I'm buying online for what I'm buying this way i can work out what the price is if it needs something either when i get it or later down line so if the train cost £50 but a new motor is £35 than i see if i get one for around £80-£100 from a model shop instead. I only do this on untested or non running if it says it is in full working order than i do send back if it is not

Tip tip for not getting ripped off is to avoid buying them from a very large retailer in Sheffield.

Evil bay is where I have been generally buying my model railway gear. On my return to the hobby. It is saving me a bit money in general. But with postage prices being as high as they are, it can wipe out any real feeling if getting a bargain. And of course sometimes not obvious from photos where we may not be getting quite what we wanted.

I won't pay more than $200 second hand. If I shop second hand online, I almost always look for one that still has the box. If I'm shopping at a train show or local shop, I almost always over shop because you can often get models that are normally $100s for $10s, and I'm certainly much more willing to risk getting a faulty loco for $40 than for $400. Sometimes, you hit the jackpot and land a really powerful, realistically fast electric locomotive with custom knuckle couplers that are compatible with two types of normally incompatible couplers for just $30! (Yes, this is an anecdote)

The appears to be British or European. I rarely have purchased 2nd hand trains here in the US, mostly buy new. I've had a few new models turn out to be bad too, but since they were on the shelf too long while awaiting a layout, the company that made them refused to do anything.

what you say is true I recently bought carriages from Rails of Sheffield through eBay and the deliberately ill described and I put in a return request for them and they honored the request thankfully😎

Recently I’ve had a decent experience with second hand buying, I got an NRM 75th edition Scotsman from my local model shop for a very good price, pristine condition and it runs perfectly, hell it’s even under warranty, the box is a bit tatty but that’s not exactly an issue for me, the model that lied inside was a gem.

Almost my entire fleet of locos and cars is made up of used locos and most of them are great

Do TRIANG and HORNBY locomotive trains run on same controller? I am thinking of buying 2nd train, LMS Princess Elizabeth locomotive.

I've bought and sold a few second-hand trains, for me, it's the only affordable way of taking part in the hobby.

Don't forget, the retailer has already paid for the model, so a discount to the customer chews into their profits big time.

I recommended this to my friend and he saved nearly thrice as much he would have paid. Thanks Sam!

I'm a member of Manchester Model Railway Society and at our annual show every December our secondhand stand has test tracks for OO, HO and N gauge locos and stock so customers can see how it runs before they buy. I like to try before I buy. The 9V battery and asking the trader if they can test a loco with it is also a good idea.

With more modern rolling stock the risk is certainly higher as they are more sophisticated, so more to go wrong. However older models are relatively simple and if you have a basic knowledge of electrics they are very easy to maintain and repair.

I got a br blue class 37 for 35 pound is that good?

Great video, I live in Mexico and model railroad is very different from UK or USA, I will use the idea an adapt to make a video for latino market. Also I would love to make a program with you. Regards from Mexico. Eduardo

"Horneybeaming," you English and all😮...trains? Omgosh

Bill here. IM old so...

Dang man. I jumped through fire to send you $2! JK. I enjoy your vids and find them relaxing while my young maidens massage My nether raging...k...in my fantasy. Leave it alone!!
Anyway...I'm sure that you have not seen "what's his face, " doing the, "what's it's face, " latest vid. I brought it upon myself to inform you...here's two qwideings

thanks Sam a lot of good advice. i'd add be confident, be friendly and keep your cool!!!

your so right well said.

I have bought nearly all my rolling stock second hand and that is more than 50 items. Every one of them is a perfect runner, even though a bit of tweaking the back to backs is sometimes needed. All of them negotiate all my points which are old Hornby, new Peco, old Peco -about 25 of them - without any problems on a small but complex layout. Not quite the same for the locos though. The last one from ebay, a B B Class Hornby pacific from the early 2000s but clearly barely used would not reverse. The wheel bearings had all been dislodged. But not too difficult a job to repair.

Vectis auctions is worth a look.

I've got a Hornby flying scotsman in br green. I had it for xmas in 1974. I sold all my stuff in early 1976 except this loco & an 060 loco. The scotsman hasn't been used since end of 1975. Its in its box in a draw now. I still hope to get going again one day.

Buying second hand is one of the best parts of this hobby

Ive known sellers on Ebay getting their friends to bid the price up be careful.

I just shop online for wagons or dummy coaches/power cars, if I'm buying second hand locomotives I go to a model shop where I see it get tested or if it's damaged.

Do scalpers buy-up limited pre-orders to sell at marked-up prices, like people do with Transformers figurines?

I just wait and stock up money for a model train show and buy stuff there. The people there show their models for sale in use, and on track you even bring it, granted only if it’s in the same scale

I don't think I have ever bought anything new unless I had to or it was heavily discounted, maybe shoes & some clothes but never branded [I don't believe in paying for adverts or to look cool in the right name], chose carefully & or buy non runners for spares or fix, I worked in a car breakers yard for quite a while so got used to never buying new except filters & oil even the 'used'petrol was used in our cars I now work on Aircraft & if a part in not available in time then we borrow a part from another aircraft that's in long term maintenance The USAF has boneyard's yep the obsolete very old are scraped but all usable parts are removed first, newer stuff is preserved & often re-lifed & upgraded,
its just a sales con to buy the shareholders their next luxury holiday or the CEO his 2nd private jet, non stop conditioning us to always want the latest.

I once bought an amtrak coach off ebay. It said it was HO scale, but when i got it, it was N scale! Eh, i liked it and kept it. I did see a listing for an HO loco that was actually an O scale. I notified the seller. They didnt know their model trains. Even admitted so. They did correct the listing. I happen to have that same model, plus the underside was an instant tell.

If you are buying a secondhand model from an auction site steer clear of sellers that offer "No Refunds" This could mean that there is something wrong with the model that the seller is not telling you. Martin. (Thailand)

I've got a battle going on with Heljan

My son bought me one of their new class 47s at NEC key model World, and Heljan charged him in Danish Króna which I'm sure is illegal, if its sold in the UK then it should be purchased in GBP £.

The model is awful and totally wrong and unacceptable also no couplings or snow ploughs as shown , terrible rendition of the 47, contacted Heljan in Denmark and they asked for it to be sent back to them- thats cost me £20.60.

They now have the model but say they havnt, yet I have proof it was signed and delivered their end, they're now refusing to refund so a court case could ensue but being out of the UK its gonna be hard to enforce.

I suggest you review their new 47 - see fir yourself its a nightmare, wrong roof detail overly narrow front end, massive windscreen wipers over size headcode box etc etc

You have never seen such a bigger pipe of poo if you tried - I lay down the challenge, watch out Heljan!

1 use ebay on a regular basis on only use sellers with a 99.5% or above rating, also I tend to stick to a regular list of trusted sellers and have very rarely had any problems.

It’s always risk … Risk = Probability x Consequence
You can reduce the Probability of buying and being left with a dog by ensuring you can return the model and / or buying from a reputable source.
Consequence. All about getting the model at the right price …
So head has gotta rule heart here ….

I've got the Bachman Deltic prototype DCC mint in box. Was exclusive to the NRM at the time.

I only order my 3 Rail o scale from eBay occasionally….that is due to the fact that I order all my models from a well known second hand shop in Georgia. They ship them to my home city in Florida rather quickly. Yesterday at 5PM I ordered the Hornby Diecast Boiler 92220 DCC/Sound fitted from them pre-owned and they shipped it this morning at 8am.

A decent number of my model trains are second hand, being acquired from places like eBay or the different marketplace sites, or even train shows and antique malls

I don't have too many trains. only about 5/6 in N gauge the only one I've bought first hand is my most temperamental runner.

I just paid £32 for a Lima class 26 on ebay 😬 too much...
I also paid £16 for a slightly damaged modified hornby class 50 great price, until the postman rammed it in the letterbox and broke the body but being a modifier I've already repaired the body and rebuilt the chassis with new bufferbeams since they'd been cut off the chassis and glued into the body I hadn't oticed but its got different numbers on both sides. If your buying tnd hand I'd always try and get an aging model as there generally cheaper and easier to fix if they do turn out to be damaged in some way I want an accurascale 37 but I won't buy a 2nd hand one because of their price still being as high as brand new ones and parts aren't easy to get for them

mr Sam, i have bought everything i own second hand.
And i have no problem trying to fix stuff that is broken.

Sometimes i can not fix it, but most of the time i can.

But this is obviously only the case with easy stuff. DC stuff.
I am not a wizz kid and so i have not much experience with the newer stuff.
DC is easy enough. Everybody can fix that.

but now i have this question:
Does it hurt to put a DCC locomotive on a DC layout?
Will it work, or not, and why or why not, etc.

Thanks for any response in advance.

Can't find a second-hand bargain these day's, you can't blame people, they have paid so much for the loco brand new they want to get their money back when selling it.

I almost exclusively buy second hand. You can get some great models for half the price of a comparable new one, sometimes even less. This goes especially for cars and coaches.
It also helps that I have a great shop nearby.

I remember the 2nd hand market 10 years ago…I saw a Hornby Accessory Decoder with one of the little plastic covers missing on sale on eBay and the current highest bid was higher than it was brand new in Modelzone…and they had it in stock as well…

Thank You Sam for the awesome information and really caring about us. You are very appreciated.

Another thing to look out for is models for sale that have been upgraded by manufacturers such as Bachmann Class 20s, Hornby Brits etc. You might think you are getting the latest version, so always check the model number.

I did not used to be frightened of secondhand, but I am very weary now. Firstly some experiences on E-bay. For example an item that people could bid on, was stated as DCC sound fitted with smoke. (because there was a bit of paper with it saying that). There was definitely no DCC chip nor smoke, nor any sign it had ever been fitted as such. I sent it back and e-bay agreed.

Secondly, a lot of stuff has faults now but ask for a premium price. I really do not want to pay that price and then spend my time fixing someone else's problem. This is compounded by the fact that modern models are far more fragile than what went before and there are too many people out there that simply do not know how to handle them.

And as you have shown, many sellers confusing old Lima items with modern super detailed items, claiming it as such and demanding a premium price.
E-bay used to change for any non sales. They don't do that anymore, so there are also 1000s of items out there appearing all the time that never sell, but do draw in others to sell their own as such high prices too.

I've decided life is too short for this hassle, and stick with new from reputable sellers.