Joined: 24/09/2006(UTC)
Posts: 173
Location: Hong Kong
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Gentleman,
I am looking at buying some HAG locos this year after a hiatus of a couple of years. They have quite a few appealing models this year  , in my opinion. For this year, the must haves are the Re 460 My Switzerland, and the Re 465 Golden Pass which comes back after several years. I know people have mixed views about the GTWs but I kind of like the GTW 2/6 Theater St Gallen (beautiful livery) and the GTW 2/8 with Zugkraft Stucki livery. However, the surge in the value of the Swiss Franc  makes it economically very difficult to acquire some of these highly desireable models which are sure to run out of the market fairly quickly given the samll production runs that HAG does.
The question I have is whether you can recommend any HAG dealers out there who are offering competitive prices. I don't mind buying the HAGs by online/ mail order from a dealer in the US or Switzerland.
BTW I posted this topic here because I know several forum members who primarily run Marklin also tend to have AC HAGs running on their layout, especially the ones with strong interest in Swiss models. Thanks a bunch in advance for your recommendations
Warm regards,
Chris
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 Joined: 27/08/2005(UTC) Posts: 11,071 Location: Murrumba Downs QLD
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Chris,
In the US I would try AJC Kids, Euro Model trains, Eurolokshop or Helmuts hobbies. I am sure you will get the names of good Swiss Dealers.
NN |
NOt wearing the Pink Pinny, which is hard to see and now I have a white Pinny which also is hard to see against MY pure white Skin Still have 2 new shiny tin Hips that is badly in Need of Repair matching rusting tin shoulders
and a hose pipe on the aorta
Junior member of the Banana Club, a reformist and an old Goat with a Bad memory, loafing around |
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Joined: 31/12/2003(UTC)
Posts: 77
Location: Singapore, Singapore
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Originally Posted by: nevw  Chris,
In the US I would try AJC Kids, Euro Model trains, Eurolokshop or Helmuts hobbies. I am sure you will get the names of good Swiss Dealers.
NN AJC Kids does not sell HAG anymore and only has some outdated web pages which show/ practically list out all the HAG models that were available at some point in time in the past. Eurolokshop has liquidated its old HAG stock and has a note on its website stating that they will no longer be stocking HAG models. Euro Model trains does not seem to have updated its website with 2011 item prices, which just leaves Helmuts Hobbies. Scott of Helmut Hobbies has listed the 2011 items but his prices in CHF are pretty steep.
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 Joined: 01/03/2008(UTC) Posts: 2,883 Location: South Western France
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Originally Posted by: chrisisrang
The question I have is whether you can recommend any HAG dealers out there who are offering competitive prices. I don't mind buying the HAGs by online/ mail order from a dealer in the US or Switzerland. ....
Chris
You already have a couple of good addresses, but their choice might be limited. From my last train buying "safari" in Switzerland I have noticed 3 places doing a good job at both * used and new items* (not an exhaustive list...just personal observation from about 20 visits in a week) Roundhouse (in Zürich) www.roundhouse.ch/Züri-tech (in Zürich) www.zueri-tech.chZuba-tech (in St Gallen) http://www.zuba-tech.ch/Hope this helps |
Jacques Vuye aka Dr.Eisenbahn
Once a vandal, learned to be better and had great success! |
 1 user liked this useful post by jvuye
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Joined: 24/09/2006(UTC)
Posts: 173
Location: Hong Kong
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Originally Posted by: jvuye Originally Posted by: chrisisrang
The question I have is whether you can recommend any HAG dealers out there who are offering competitive prices. I don't mind buying the HAGs by online/ mail order from a dealer in the US or Switzerland. ....
Chris
You already have a couple of good addresses, but their choice might be limited. From my last train buying "safari" in Switzerland I have noticed 3 places doing a good job at both * used and new items* (not an exhaustive list...just personal observation from about 20 visits in a week) Roundhouse (in Zürich) www.roundhouse.ch/Züri-tech (in Zürich) www.zueri-tech.chZuba-tech (in St Gallen) http://www.zuba-tech.ch/Hope this helps Thanks Jacques,
It is certainly helpful. Roundhouse is consistently good and is in fact have 32% discount on selected earlier year locos. The other dealer that I have bought off in the past i Spielwaren Stucki..very nice selection of models (Re 460s) that are completely sold out at other dealers, although their prices are a shade higher. The benefit of buying from them is that they sell the locos fitted with ESU Lokpilot mfx and Loksound mfx decoders. Buhler in Interlaken has a very nice selection of HAGs and I was in fact lucky enough to able to get the first generation Re460 RailAway that came out back in 2007 - 08, from them during a recent holiday to Switzerland.
I avoid Zuba Tech given the experience of receiving my precious locos in old shoe boxes  
Warm regards,
Chris
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 Joined: 29/07/2007(UTC) Posts: 1,437 Location: Switzerland
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If I understand Chris' question correctly, then he is primarily searching for a dealer who offers competitive HAG prices. IMHO, except in sweet dreams you rarely find a dealer who offers everything at once: The best selection on the globe, competitive prices, a beautiful female shop assistant, free coffee and croissants even when only browsing the shelves - and of course free worldwide shipping in sturdy giant-size boxes abundantly padded with bubblewrap...  Therefore, you will probably have to accept some limitations. If price is the decisive factor, then your choice will be more or less limited to (in alphabetical order): Anton Furger, Bahnorama, EYRO, Roger Suter, Wemoba, Zuba-Tech, Zueri-Tech However, some of these may not have what you want, may not sell abroad, may not accept credit cards or may belong to the "shoebox promotional group", etc. etc.  Price-wise, you will also find dealers who give you discounts if you are a regular customer (for instance Roundhouse). Buhler at Interlaken is a wonderful shop, but their prices can occasionally be even higher than recommended by HAG. So, to sum it up: If you want to buy cheap HAG, buy Piko... 
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Joined: 31/05/2007(UTC) Posts: 534
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Originally Posted by: Unholz IMHO, except in sweet dreams you rarely find a dealer who offers everything at once: The best selection on the globe, competitive prices, a beautiful female shop assistant, free coffee and croissants even when only browsing the shelves - and of course free worldwide shipping in sturdy giant-size boxes abundantly padded with bubblewrap... Ok, you have to pay for the coffee and the shipping, but all other points are matching pretty good to Stucki Modelleisenbahnen and it's café intercity.  The nicest female shop assistant I saw in a RR shop  rgds Stephan
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Joined: 24/09/2006(UTC)
Posts: 173
Location: Hong Kong
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Hello Stefan,
Thank you for your recommendations. I completely agree that one can't find everything in a dealer - lowest possible prices, shipping in large sized boxes, female shop assistant, free coffee and croissant etc. etc.....which is why I asked which of the HAG dealers can offer competitive prices (not necessarily the lowest). I definitely don't mind paying the extra bit.
There seems to be a fair amount of consistency in terms of the discount off the list price that majority of the Swiss HAG dealers offer, all generally offering between 10 - 12% discount.
I think I will just stay put with Stucki given my extremely positive experience dealing with them over the past several years
BTW Anton Furger no longer sells HAG. HAG models are not listed on their online store. It seems that the number of good HAG dealers across the globe can be easily counted on two hands
Warm regards,
Chris
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 Joined: 28/11/2007(UTC) Posts: 8,244 Location: Montreal, QC
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I would definitely check ETS (Schweickhardt) and other German dealers if I was looking for an older model. In Switzerland, I would recommend Roundhouse, Suter-Meggen, Buehler as well as Barp Tech (Winterthur). I would also recommend Bercher und Sternlicht in Basel. I have not dealt with Bahnorama but have heard good things about them. The biggest problem is that the Swiss Franc has increased about 40% in value in just over a year. This means that the price of Hag items has increased by the same amount. Older items in stock at US dealers were bought when the Franc was below or close to the US $, so the same item now would cost a lot more. A lok that was $500 now goes for $650-700. This means that shopping around is more important today than it was in the past. Compare prices (including shipping) using exchange rate sites like oanda.com. I like to use http://www.rbcroyalbank....-bin/travel/fxconvert.pl as you can convert to and from a selection of currencies and the rates are the actual bank rates and not the average median rate (as shown by oanda). The exchange rate is a little lower today than it was a few weeks ago, so today may be a good day to place an order and pay for it. http://www.modelleisenbahn.com/shop/shop.php?n=3Regards Mike C Edited by user 08 September 2011 05:06:37(UTC)
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Joined: 31/10/2009(UTC) Posts: 609 Location: Toronto, Ontario
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 Joined: 26/04/2002(UTC) Posts: 91 Location: Weltevreden Park, South Africa
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Stefan - i cant resist to chuckle about your PIKO comment... |
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