Shipping policy

INTERNATIONAL ORDERS: Our shopping cart will not support orders outside of the USA. In the event that you would like to place an international order please call us at 630-893-5719. We can take your order and process your credit card order over the phone. Thank you.

ALL ORDERS: Shipping cost is automatically calculated at checkout based on the total value of your order.

Most packages are shipped the same or next business day after we receive your cleared payment. Exceptions to that are generally very large items that require extra special packing to protect them during transit.

We are located mid-point between very large hub facilities for both UPS and USPS. Those are the carriers we use. We will hand carry and deliver your package to one of those facilities. This saves days of time in transit by bringing your package directly to the same facility that will expedite it to semi-truck, train or plane travel. This also eliminates a potential day of your package bouncing around in the back of a carrier truck while it makes its usual rounds to get from our facility and back to the hub at the end of the business day.

You will always receive the best possible packing job for the items you purchase. Models inside of their original or replacement boxes (and the boxes themselves) are always inspected to insure the packing materials inside of those boxes will protect the model as it moves from our location to yours. Many brass models were built and imported decades ago. That was a time of careful and delicate hand sorting of packages. Careful hand deliveries too. But those days are long gone.

Most older models, especially heavy brass locomotives, need to have the old box foam replaced with new bubble wrap or may require extra padding to be added inside of the model box. We take no short-cuts here and will do whatever it takes to protect your model before we ship it to you. In all the years we've been shipping Brass Model Trains to customers, there's never been an occasion where one was damaged in transit. We never use those free, flimsy priority mail boxes from the post office because they're not designed to safely ship delicate items. All items that we ship will arrive on your doorstep packed in our own sturdy boxes. We provide the best packing expertise in the industry.

Smaller, lighter, less valuable items such as rolling stock usually ship via USPS Priority Mail.

More valuable, larger and heavier items such as locomotives usually ship via UPS Ground.

Each shipment always includes package tracking, full-value insurance, and always requires your signature. These high standards protect us both, and the model in transit too. We've shipped many thousands of brass model trains and none have ever been damaged in transit because we pack them to withstand the rigors of today's fast-paced, high-impact shipping environment. Expect your model to arrive exactly as you see it here today.

Thank you for your interest in Jeff Lemke Trains, Inc.