Rails of Sheffield - experiences?

Tried to get a latest Heljan Falcon from Rails , and they had sold out, tried Hattons 4pm last Friday and they had one- agreed price- agreed 'normal ' delivery and confirmed that I didn't want it sent unitl Monday 10 Nov. Arrived by Royal Mail at 10am Tuesday 11th Nov... and packed to withstand a nuclear explosion on route.. Well done Hattons and Royal Mail.. Service above any expectation.

Last one in stock - would definately give that a good check over before its out of warranty :-)

Some people get upset as Hattons tend to price some items according to availability, but thats never bothered me as theyre up front about it.

Cheers, Simon

Recently Hatton's has been advertising a lot of one-off "imperfect" models at a discount - probably customer returns. Damage ranges from broken wings on aircraft to missing mirrors and scuffed or missing boxes.

Well thats honest at last.

I bought a Q1 for £20 at Donington the other day. Unboxed, marked motor good, spares or repair. Fixed one edge of buffer beam back in place with glue, looks a beut (for foreign) and runs like a dream. Cant find anything else wrong with it. Bargain if you are lucky and at £20 can afford to chance it. Must admit seen the stall holder a few times and bought a few things so reasonably sure hes honest.

Cheers, Simon

Honesty doesn't always pay if you don't understand what you're being honest about :-) I bought a Dapol J94 from a chap on eBay who was disposing of his late father's collection. As well as listing the positive points of each model, he'd also been very fair to point out the defects. In this particular case, it had "dirty paintwork" and "no couplings". When it arrived, it turned out to have been fairly expertly weathered and fitted with three-link couplings instead of the factory default lever arms. A more expert seller would have described these as enhancements, not defects.

Mark

But if there was a good photo and honest viewers they might have pointed this out to him. No wonder its dog eat dog on ebay.

Prefer an honest bargain where both sides happy.

CHeers, Simon

In this case, there wasn't a particularly good photo and I genuinely expected to be buying a cheap item of second-hand kit that was a good runner but nothing else special.

So do I, but unfortunately eBay tends to make that harder than it ought to be.

Mark

replying to simon, john scott-morgan wrote: I ordered a Hornby Peckett 0-6-0 ST from Rails of Sheffield, it arrived with damaged safety valves, they were not willing to replace the new model locomotive, as they told me they no longer sold Hornby products. I think this is very poor service, I much prefer Hatton's, who I have found supply models quickly and efficiently.

replying to simon, john scott-morgan wrote: I ordered a Hornby Peckett 0-6-0 ST from Rails of Sheffield, it arrived with damaged safety valves, they were not willing to replace the new model locomotive, as they told me they no longer sold Hornby products. I think this is very poor service, I much prefer Hatton's, who I have found supply models quickly and efficiently.