Plaza Japan on eBay for the Tomix version. It used to be the only choice but now that Bachmann is in the picture you can just buy the Bachmann version and avoid the international shipping.
I have worked with Plaza Japan many times and his shipping is reasonable and he has great customer service. Last time I was looking for Thomas he and his coaches were in the $200 range... that’s just too much $$$.
It really depends on timing. A while ago I checked Thomas just for grins and prices were up to $500!!! Then on the grape vine I heard Tomix was going to do another run of Thomas and prices steadily fell until their "normal" price of around $75-$80. This was maybe 5 years ago. I got mine for around that price 15 years ago (geeez, has it been that long????). I did a quick check and Plaza has it for $160 but it's for the set which includes track and power pack. Since they don't have just Thomas my suspicion is that the last run is running out and prices will climb until Tomix does another run.
True. From what I understand they couldn't give them away at the beginning. Well, those days are gone. I paid $215 shipped. He was asking $240. I saw another one for $275. Then I looked at the ebay history of the item and the cost varied wildy from $90 to $125 and up. One seemed to pop up every few months, but they didn't seem to be getting any cheaper, so I said what the hell.
Got a chance to test the new Thomas and I am very pleased. Fairly heavy, runs reliably through my Kato turnouts, not sure if "scale" speed is meaningful here, but it has a very low top end and good low speed operation. Looks like a coreless motor with small flywheel in the boiler. I think I can stuff in a TCS Z2 decoder. If the decoder fits, the wiring should be simple as all pickup and motor wires are soldered to a PC board in the cab area. Going price is about $80 in the shops I checked. Unless there is some hidden flaw I think these are going to be a hit. Stay safe and Happy Thanksgiving
Oh...wow. That is pricey. The boxed weight is probably at least 5-10 lbs... so shipping charge was going to be expensive too. I am sure that the early buyers got a good deal... and may have been spared some of that shipping cost. Walthers no longer sells these 'modulars'... one of the key components has been out if production for years... the 'columns and cornices' which are necessary parts. Sent from my SM-J737T using Tapatalk
Very cool! Those are the British N scale 1:148?? How do they compare in size with the Athearn John Deere and the GHQ farm equipment kits? Sent from my SM-J737T using Tapatalk
Okay... then if those are all that you would use at your dealership then everything will look consistant. Oxford makes some nice products. One of N scales 'issues' has been the lack of consistancy from different countries.... Germany 9mm is about 1:160, Japan uses 1:150, British is 1:148. US adopted the German 1:160 from Arnold imports in the 1960's. Personally... I would have been happier with N scale being 1:144 (1"=12'). Many plastic models of ships, planes and autos are available in 1:144... 1:160 is a weird ratio of 1"=13.3333'. I'm sure the HO crowd wonders about the 1:87 ratio they contend with too. Wouldn't 1:72 (1"=6') or 1:96 (1"=8') be more logical for HO? Sent from my SM-J737T using Tapatalk
Recently received the TGV Duplex set, purchased here, from another TB a member. Looks and runs great!! Just need to find out what to add to trailing locomotive for lighting control, so I can have proper head/tail lights on both ends of the train! Photo(s) later. Just getting ready to sit down to Thanksgiving dinner with my folks! Hope everyone has a Happy Thanksgiving.
If memory serves me TCS and Digitrax both make a drop in lighting decoder for the trailing car. I never bought it for either of my TGVs. You could also use the standard motor decoder and just not have it hooked up to anything. I dont think the Kato lighting decoder works in these.
I bought a table. Yup a plastic folding table. As many of you know I like T-Trak and I didn't have a table large enough to hold more than 2 double modules. Now I can make a loop out of my modules and connect all but one. Check out the T-Trak thread for a video of my modules in action on the table!
For those that were interested, I got a chance to install the decoder into the new Thomas. Here is a shot of the basic position: The wiring connections: The wiring dressed to fit into the cab area: If you have a fine tipped soldering iron, small Phillips screwdriver and a hobby knife it is not a difficult install. The loco wiring is already attached to a small pc board on top of the frame. Remove the shell, unsolder the wires and remove the pc board. The shell is held in place with 4 screws. I removed the lighting wires and motor wires from the decoder. The lighting is redundant in Thomas and I soldered the motor leads directly to the decoder. Stay safe
Don't have any of the Oxford tractors but do have one of those horse trailers. Here is how it looks with an Atlas pickup.