Where to get reasonable priced models now?

Now that the Proto LIRR GP-38 (Walthers/MSRP $134.98) and LIRR baggage car (Walthers/MSRP $34.98) are out, where can one get them for a reasonable price? Does anyone know where you can get the trucks that are on the Walthers LIRR baggage car, and for how much?

WWW.TRAINLAND.COM and excellent discount store.

I wonder if Trainland has detail parts like mu hoses and windshield wipers? roofwalks? fans and sunshades? How about paint, brushes, and airbrush supplies? gears? tools? decals? styrene parts? I didn't see any of that on their website. Oh, wait a minute. silly me -- that stuff only costs a couple of bucks.

Gee, maybe a local hobby shop should get the big purchase. That way I will be able to buy the details when I need them.....

Shop around. Only you can determine what a "reasonable" price is. Don't expect recently released models to be much cheaper than list price for awhile. Don't forget, what may be unreasonable to you may be perfectly reasonable to everyone else. Model railroading supplies are not always priced to a high school student's budget.

-otto-

I am not a total skin flint, but I do remember getting taken pretty good when I first had come back into the hobby. It was the Atlas HO RS's (LIRR), I paid with-in 5% of MSRP from the local Hobby shop when they first hit the streets only to see them drop to almost 50% off with-in a couple of months. This seems to be the way it has worked the past few years, my concern is, now that Walthers has bought Life Like, will it still work out this way. I'm not looking a "devils advocate", just some answers/discussion....

I can only emphasize... SHOP AROUND. Yes, prices often do drop after a few months, since hobby shops want to unload whatever they have in stock so they can make room for the new arrivals just around the corner.

-otto-

If your paying list your paying too much. I will not buy anything that is not around 20% off the list price.
M B Kline and Trainworld are good choices.

I feel I must state the obvious, but why don't you look at eBay? Some excellent bargains there, and I have even seen folks cleaning out their attics, and listing an entire box of HO trains, starting bid .99 cents. New or used, I often get my stuff there, especially when some store is selling off discontinued stuff. You get to see pictures, and you know what the shipping costs, before you bid. I buy about 5 items a week, and have only been "burnt" once, in hundreds of purchases. I know I have saved hundreds and hundreds of dollars, versus retail prices. Regards

I'm going to be REAL curious as to Walthers' success with the Life Like Proto 2000 and 1000 lines that they sucked up recently. Have you seen the list prices for the new stuff? No bargains there, meaning even fewer discounted items, and ratcheting up prices of HO locos, etc. Either that, or a lot of stuff will be dumped after they can't sell their high-priced stuff.
Can you say boondoggle?

I shop at:

Discount trains online www.discounttrainsonline.com

First Hobby www.firsthobby.com

1st place hobbies www.1stplacehobbies.com

Trainland www.trainland.com

Standard Hobby Supply (not sure of the website, we get our track from here)

That's all i can think of for now...

Thanks for the input guys, greatly appreciated! I guess it comes down to a crap shoot, by that I mean, hoping there are some left over of these limited runs to buy at something of a reasonable price(timing!). What is scary is that the adds of my favorite places are shrinking and with Walthers in the pipeline with Proto now, will the products ever reach the internet discounters. Will Atlas continue to be reduced if their main competitor isn't? That leaves Athearn, but their selection at the high end is not that great, and they never seem to consistently match Proto & Atlas on price.....