My miss fortune is your savings. I have in issue with my eye and need to wear an eyepatch until Sunday. If I’m going to look like a Pirate I might as well act like one. I have tons of booty at the store from trains, models, slot cars and Warhammer. Staring on Tuesday May 6 until Saturday May 10 come save 12% off orders $100 or more! Consignment items and pre-order items don’t qualify and no other coupons may be used in conjunction with this promotion.
Since I was in my early 20’s I always wanted to own a Model Train & Hobby Store. Back then they were all over the place and very few, if any were for sale. The couple times I found them for sale the owners wouldn’t sell to “a girl”, because they didn’t think it would work. So I moved on over the years and bought many other companies that did well because I had a passion for the product I was selling.
In 2008 I moved to Vegas and found Westside Trains. My son was young and had a passion for Thomas so natural we ended up hitting any and all train stores. Back then in Vegas there was many and we supported them all. However, out of them all, Westside Trains and John O’Neill was always the one that stood out each time we went into the store. His passion for the hobby showed and always treated me and my son like family.
Fast-forward to 2020, which just about destroyed the hobby here in Vegas. We were losing stores and owners. In 2020, John got COVID and the store was closed for almost three weeks. I thought we were going to lose one of the last remaining stores and a place I called home. That is when I approached John about buying the store. I wasn’t sure if he wanted sell or if he wanted to sell to a girl.
We worked out a plan to transition me as owner over a two year period and in September of 2023 I became the new owner of Westside Trains, Inc. in Las Vegas. A dream of mine for years had finally became a reality.
At the end of October of this year, 2024, John worked his last day in the store. It was filled with customers celebrating a man who gave back to community. A man who had a passion and still does for trains. A man who looked beyond gender and said, “This girl is going to make great things in this hobby!”
I truly have been blessed to have such a great previous owner, and mentor in my life. Everyone thinks I’m his daughter and although that isn’t the case it is an idea I find that puts a smile on my face. John was at the helm for 19 years and I’m hoping to continue that tradition for 20 plus years myself.
I have been very lucky over the years to have many talented individuals across the country in many hobby shops take me under their wing. I’ve learned a lot and still learn every day. My goal in to give that knowledge back and bring others young and old back into the GREATEST HOBBY IN THE WORLD.
Thank you John for entrusting me with your legacy. It is something I will treasure.
Thank you Paul Mickelson (Center Picture) for a great photo of John and I on his last day in the store. What a day it was! Memories, memories, memories.
Compared to previous years many are coming in and buying early in fear that we could see store shortages as well as large price hikes as we move into December. That is partly true!
Many vendors have limited supply on items that are normally bought in bulk this time of year. John had the foresight to purchase many items back in January thinking this could be an issue and we are sure glad he did.
Many of the normal vendors are either out of stock on items, or limited thus limiting the number of items they can send you as they wait for their own shipments that have been delay to be restocked. These shipping delays are causing many stores to closely monitor items in high demand this time of year.
If that wasn’t enough reason to buy early how about pricing? Over the past few month items we buy every month have continued to rise…so when our cost goes up so does the cost to the consumer. The longer you wait on that big ticket item the more likely the price might go up in just a few weeks. I know, sounds crazy, but that is the truth. Sets we bought back in June have already gone up by as much as $20.
You will find that prices for slightly used items, or items that have been bought in an estate sale will remain consistent. However, even simple items like track seem to go up on each order, and this time of the year we sell a lot of it.
Now granted bigger stores might be able to absorb those costs for a short period of time compared to smaller mom and pop operations, but eventually even they will succumb.
That is why we are pushing everyone to take advantage of our Black Friday to Cyber Monday sale. You get a discount, you get the lower price compared to the middle of December and you will get the item shipped to you on time. Well, hopefully, pending USPS delays. In addition you don’t risk getting to the store to only be told we are out of stock and won’t see items until January.
Now, please, as we are still spending many hours adding to our online inventory, if you see an item out of stock, or not listed on our website please call the store at 702-254-9475. We have many items showing out of stock or not showing at all on our website, but that is just we haven’t had the time to inventory, weigh, and process it in the online store as of yet. There are items we truly are out of stock on but to be sure please call the store. Maybe we can even order it for you and still get it in time for the holiday season.
Tina Marie Caouette – Webmaster
This will be the first year we have had in a long time an operational website. Just in time for the holiday season. And what better way to start things off then with a special deal.
The number 13 might be unlucky for some but for our customers it spells savings…..
Staring Black Friday and extending the entire weekend all the way through until Cyber Monday we are offering an additional 13% off already marked prices. That’s right, just enter Lucky13 at checkout and the 13% will be applied to your order. This is for online sales only.
So what better way to try out our new website and its ever expanding products inventory?
Remember this starts on Black Friday and extends only until the end of Cyber Monday and is for online purchases only.
Thank you and have safe and happy holiday season.
Tina Marie Caouette – Webmaster
We launched the new website just a few months ago. We only have maybe 15% to 20% of our in store inventory posted. As I’ll be at the store moving forward Wednesday through Thursday I’m hoping to get more products listed daily during those days as well as over the weekend.
If it is listed as Out of Stock on our site it could truly be out of stock, or just a product I’ve created a temp page for and we might have in stock I just haven’t got around to updating the page with current inventory and pricing. When in doubt feel free to call the store from the number listed on our site during business hours and ask, or even send us an email. We can also order items for you so if you really want something just ask and we will try and help.
One of the things I love is one of the fist people who bought from the new store Rob Poidomani posted a great unboxing on his YouTube Channel, New Haven Rails. There are so many great people in this hobby to want to help support small stores like Westside Trains. Below is the video so please watch, like and leave a comment for Ron. Show him some great support!
If you have buy something from our store and do a review on your YouTube channel, please send us the link at contact@westsidetrains.com and we will make sure to share it on our social media sites.
Again, thank you Rob for a great review and glad you enjoy your recent purchase from our store. Happy Model Railroading! Cant’ wait to see some pictures from your layout.
Tina Marie Caouette – Webmaster
So after months it was finally nice to have the site up live, but with that comes troubleshooting bugs that can’t always be tested in the backroom. Yeah, so many different devices, different browsers and they all don’t play nice together. So as comments come in, my job is to investigate, troubleshoot and fix them on top of still adding new products and trying organize the main brick and mortar store. Yet, through it all, I love it!
The one thing that is disturbing is some complaints of products being out of stock….well folks it happens on everyone’s website, but even more here and let me explain why!
It is unfair to compare this website to other train websites that have a full blown staff, plus have had an active and working website for years. They, just like us, at some point learned to crawl, then walk and finally run. They have had years to add product to the point they just have to manage any new products which is a fraction of having to build an entire store from the ground up. As the months get along and we are able to continue to add product from our store, plus the goal is to expand the store, our “out of stock” items will slowly go down. You can never remove all out of stock items, it is just the nature of online sales.
I’m still working out a bug on the filters for our store. They work fine through computers but on some mobile devices they aren’t working properly or not showing up all together. Frustrating, but expected as building a site this large you have bugs that need to be addressed. That said if you are in our store page to the left you have the ability to filter not just by category but by in stock, price, road name, brand and such. Again, I’m trying like crazy to update new products daily but as this is a side project of passion for me, at least right now, I do still have a regular day job.
I also want to mention to don’t forget to sign up for our Club Car Rewards points. It cost nothing!!! Just go to the login area and create an account. Why? Well you get points just for visiting the site daily. So even if we don’t have a product you want now, we might in the future, so why not earn points daily while you wait. Think of it as us giving you something for being patient with us as we expand the online store. Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither is an online store with 10,000 plus products.
I do want to say thank you to all that have taken the time to visit the store and leave comments, even if was of a negative kind. That is how we grow and proceed into the future. I’m looking forward to meeting some of your if you make your way to Vegas, as well as serving those of you who choose to buy from us in the future. I love this hobby, and can’t wait to see what the future holds for Westside Trains.
Tina Marie Caouette – Webmaster
