Red Caboose — Local services in New York

Just avoid, especially if you’re a younger person in the hobby. Owner clearly didn’t see me as a serious customer and in general was very off-putting and rude. Reading other reviews and I’m confounded by how black and white they are, guess he just gets in bad moods, but it’s still unacceptable.

Immediately berated his employee the moment we walked in, simply because he asked us if we were looking for anything. Instantly made it super awkward and, based on other interactions, they clearly have an unhealthy work environment.

If you’re a hobbyist, you’ll certainly have fun looking around. Spent an hour or so just browsing the store, and there is a really good selection of reasonably priced plastic kits. If anything, go just to grab some pictures.

The trouble continues when you actually try to buy something. I’ve been collecting European model trains for a good bit, and he seemed to have a good selection. They’re mostly in glass cases, which is fine, but when I asked to see something closer he was clearly annoyed and openly mocked me. When I asked what the item was priced he said “he didn’t even know what it was.” Told me to make an offer without giving me any baseline price to start with. Having dealt with similar situations before, I understood that if I said something too low he’d be offended, but that I’d be taken advantage of if I said something too high. While I knew what I would pay for it, I had no interest in playing mind games and just declined. Based on other reviews, I imagine he had no interest in selling it to me and if he did it would be for an extortionate price. Of course, he didn’t even humor the idea that there were other items I wanted to check out and quickly shut the case.

Along with this, he claimed the model had “never been run” which is complete BS. Thing was fairly old and certainly had the basic wear most used models have. (Again, probably a ploy to upsell me, showcasing that he thought I was a complete idiot.) Even if this was somehow the case, dusty models that have sat for years are still not going to be pristine runners, so his point was moot.

The unpleasant atmosphere is abetted by his complete ignoring of most customers. He’s friendly with regulars, which is fine of course, but makes no effort to speak to or help anyone else. While I appreciate a shop owner who isn’t over your shoulder the whole time, in a store so small it gets awkward and uncomfortable really fast. He was also constantly on the phone, usually arguing with someone. Go figure.

In all, it’s a really interesting store and space that is entirely ruined by the owner. Ended up buying a kit—mostly because I’d feel bad spending so much time there and walking away empty handed. Would love to know how I’d be received if I was older, probably much better I imagine. It’s a pertinent reminder of why this hobby is dying at the rate it is. Been modeling and collecting for about a decade, so to be treated like this by someone who shares my interests is really disconcerting. Just do yourself a favor and avoid this place.

Really, disappointed, because there is a lot of great stuff that will just be left to collect dust. Would’ve spent untold hundreds here, but the owner made his choice.

(By the way, I’m 90% sure he’s falsifying his sales tax. Another review pointed this out and I’ve now noticed my receipt doesn’t show how much of the total is from tax. Did the math and the total is wrong. When checking out he added it very quickly without doing, what looked to me, the proper calculations. I’m sure he’s been at this a long time, I’m not doubting he could pick up the skill,...

BAD SHOPPING EXPERIENCE So here the story goes.

I have been collecting miniatures for a while, but while I was living in New York my interest was on scales equal or larger than 1-43. Time makes us change opinions, and so do our pockets and lack of space, and eventually I took an interest on HO and even N scale vehicles, which I use to populate my sprawling dioramas. So while I lived in the city from 1984 to 2005, I barely ever visited this shop located at 45th Street, a few feet off of 5th Avenue.

On a recent visit to the Big Apple, I decided to go there in the hopes of finding some rare and low priced HO and N scale cars and vehicles.

I guess when you are almost the only game in town, you take some liberties. The Red Caboose is located in a basement (as it has always been), but I don’t remember it being that cluttered, and messy, by the way. I have been to many train shops, and this is by far, the most ill arranged, providing a bad shopping experience. Making matters worse, the heater was full blast, so breathing was difficult.

There were some nice looking large buses, including a Gold Leaf Team Lotus transporter that was screaming to be taken away from the harsher environment. I stood on my purpose, however.

Notwithstanding, I thought I had found what I was looking for. In the racks, there were plenty of Althearns and Model Powers, a bit more expensive than normal, but this is NYC after all. There was, however, a glass cabinet with a whole bunch of HO cars piled up, and that is where I hoped to find treasures.

When I finally got the shop keeper to open the window, so that I could inspect the cars, I was warned that the prices were not the ones on the stickers, which I found a bit unusual. Most of the Herpa, Wiking and Busch miniatures in there seemed very old, actually, some were very broken and tatty. At any rate, I decided to choose a few Herpas, that were priced at $8.95, and a blue, 30’s pick-up truck with no price.

Then I went to pay.

The guy looked studiously at the pick-up truck and gave me some story that it was a special resin model, done by a German guy whose name he forgot, from whom they bought some stuff a few years back. Then he told me it cost 39 bucks!!! The thing was nice, but I was not about to pay almost 40 dollars for an HO miniature. I said I was not taking it.

Then he began looking at a Walthers catalog, to “adjust” the price of the Herpas. And then he laid on me, with no anesthesia, 17 bucks! Well, when he said the prices were different, I could expect a difference of 3 dollars each, but he just doubled the price on me! He used current Herpa prices for cars that he probably paid 4 dollars back in the early 90’s!

I decided to take two anyway, tourists are suckers after all, but I found the commercial tactic a bit awkward.

Who knows how much he would try to charge for the Team Lotus transporter. It may be more expensive than a real Lotus.

No wonder the guy does not...

I'm, unfortunately, still at a loss as to what the owners decisions were today.

I really really liked the store as I walked in. There was an expansive collection of N Scale, HO Scale, and even some O Gauge trains.

I'm just getting into N scale trains and thought it would be a fun shop to wander into to peruse - and possibly buy - while we had time to kill before a broadway show. What I didn't except to find was a MASSIVE collection. Unfortunately, that's sort of where the story stops - it's the owner's personal collection and bragging rights. If he doesn't want to sell it, he won't. The major things he will sell are new stock (where he says he has wiggle room on his prices).

He had an impressive amount of N Scale brass and even some more hard-to-find trains. When inquiring about any of these things he seemed to be either out of touch with reality (2.5x current market value) or just wouldn't want to sell when offered something reasonable. He said he needed to "look into exactly what he would sell it for" as I was standing in the store. The other reason he stated was that he needed to "make rent". I completely understand making rent, but fleecing your buyers is downright disrespectful.

Unless he has no sentimental attachment to the item, good luck actually getting it at a reasonable (meaning standard market) price. No "Wow! deals" like he, unfortunately, claims.

The owner is, unfortunately, what will kill his business for him. My girlfriend and I were willing to spend money with him right from the start. He turned away our business for, what she felt like, us being too young and eventually got both of us so frustrated we just had to walk out.

TL;DR: Owner's Personal Collection more than a store. If he has any attachment, good luck actually getting something at a...