The most common questions I get about Hawthorne Village trains are the kind that should go to the customer service department of Bradford Exchange - the people who distribute these. Here's an example:

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I am waiting for my last patriots train an power pack the acc is in my wife name [withheld]. Her account # is [withheld]

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I do advertise these trains, but I don't actually sell them - they come from Bradford Exchange. Nine times out of ten when someone writes me about a problem with shipping or billing, it's the first time they've been to any of my sites. But I have a couple of these Bachmann-manufactured Hawthorne Village trains and like them, so I hate to see someone disappointed with his or her train because of an order mixup.

Here is the answer I sent this fellow, typical of the answers I send. (By the way the same information is on the contact page he used to send me the e-mail above.)

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Thanks for getting in touch.

Your train came from Bradford Exchange (used to be Collectibles Today). Their customer service number is:
1-866-907-3607.

Since you have the account number, they should be able to find your information quickly.

Best of luck. Please let me know if you have any difficulties.

Paul Race
www.BigChristmasTrains.com

Here's another example. A Reader writes:

DEAR SIRl:
YOU PEOPLE ARE RIPPING CUSTOMERS OFF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

SINCE JANUARY OF 2009 I HAVE PAID YOU $279.00 DOLLARS FOR A MINNESOTA VIKING TRAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

TO DATE I HAVE ONLY 4 CARS, SOME TRACK AND THAT"S IT TO SHOW FOR THE MONEY I HAVE PAID YOU!!!!!!!!!

I HAVE CALLED MANY TIMES AND HAVE BEEN TOLD THAT I SHOULD HAVE THE WHOLE MN. VIKING TRAIN!!,BUT NOTHING IS FARTHER FROM THE TRUTH!!!! THE LAST WHEN I CALLED WAS MONTHS AGO BEFORE I WAS HOSPITALIZED,AND AGAIN TOLD WITH WHAT HAVE PAID YOU I HAVE ALL OF THE VIKING TRAIN PAID IN FULL!!!!!I CAN'T DO ANYTHING WITH JUST 4 CARS NO POWER TRANSFORMER AND REST OF TRAIN!!!!!!!!!

WHAT I AM GOING TO DO GIVE YOU ONE LAST CHANCE TO SEND ME THE CARS,REST OF TRACK,AND POWER TRANSFORMER FREE OF CHARGE SINCE I HAVE ALREADY PAID FOR ALL OF IT!!!!!!!!!

IF NOT RECEIVED BY JUNE 24TH I WILL TELL THE BETTER BUSINESS BUREAU AND MY ATTORNEY AND LET THEM TAKE CARE OF YOU SO YOU DON'T RIP-OFF ANYMORE CUSTOMERS!!!! IT'S TERRIBLE TAKING ALL THAT MONEY AND NOT!!!!-GIVING YOUR CUSTOMERS WHAT THEY HAVE PAID FOR.

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I advertise these but I don't sell them. Maybe I can help clarify, though.

Ordinarily four "issues" (shipments) is considered a whole train, although some trains
are so popular they keep making and sending you cars as long as you want to keep buying
them. You pay for each issue at a time. With the sports trains, the first issue is the
locomotive. The second issue is usually an unpowered "B" unit with a circle of track.
The third issue is usually a passenger coach with a power supply. By then you have enough
of the train, track, and power supply to run. The fourth issue is usually a passenger
coach with more track.

You SHOULD have received a power supply with your third shipment. If you didn't get a
power supply, maybe you didn't get the third installment. Is it possible that you got
one of the other installments twice?

When you say you have four cars, are you saying you never received the locomotive either?

I would recommend making detailed list of exactly what you got in each box, then calling
Bradford Exchange's customer service number 1-866-907-3607. They are the people who
actually sold you the train after all.

If they aren't helpful, e-mail me the detailed list of exactly what you've received so
far and maybe I can figure out what went wrong.

In the meantime, ANY HO power supply will run this train - the motors and chassis are made
by Bachmann who is one of the world's largest model train manufacturers, and completely
compatible with any Bachmann HO equipment.

Hope this helps - Paul

By the way, I always ask readers with "where is my train" questions to get back to me if they still have problems getting through to Bradford Exchange customer service. They never get back to me. The few times I've had a chance to follow up, the BE folks got it sorted out for them. So please don't assume that these complaint letters are the norm - they're a very, very small percentage, and the vast majority of those get sorted out with one phone call.

- Paul