Island Trains?

Years ago Island Trains was based in Staten Island, NY with a satellite location in/near Matawan, NJ.

I'm pretty sure Henry is now open for business at a new location in Marlboro, NJ as The Train Store of NJ (located off Highway 520 for locals in the area).  He also sells on eBay as Closeout Trains.

David

I think Elmira is considered to be in the "Southern Tier", but, who's counting, eh? 

True to form , folks here on the forum mimic the real world in its tendency to disagree on the definition of what comprises "upstate NY".  Google the phrase to see what I'm talking about, but generally speaking Elmira would be considered "upstate" in many of its broader definitions even though its near the NY/PA border.  

I'll leave it for native New Yorkers to chime in here.  But having lived my entire life in NJ and PA, I've always heard folks refer to "upstate NY" as the region north of the greater NYC metropolitan area -- except for areas near Rochester, Buffalo and Niagara Falls which tend to be referred as western New York State.

Now on to more important matters... 

David

As far as a native NYC'er is concerned (me!) everything north of Westchester (notice I didn't say Westchester county) is upstate.  

Anything north of Long Island is upstate. In reality, the "real" upstaters, consider Rockland, Westchester as downstate.

rat

North of the Tappan Zee is upstate. Anything west of Nassau County is "the city" and Long Island is composed of Nassau and Suffolk counties.

Born and raised on the South Shore.

All the best,

Miketg

So there is NO Island Trains?

quote:

North of the Tappan Zee is upstate. Anything west of Nassau County is "the city" and Long Island is composed of Nassau and Suffolk counties.

Born and raised on the South Shore.

LOL, only to people from NYC, Long Island, and thereabout.

Here are Wikipedia's thoughts on the matter. We have to remember, Wikipedia is hardly authoritative.

Not that I'm aware of... At least not the one we knew of years ago based in Staten Island. 

As far as I know, Henry (the owner) closed that operation formerly known as Island Trains several years ago and re-opened a store under the name "The Train Store of NJ" in Middletown, NJ off Rt. 35 for a few years. They are an OGR Forum sponsor.  Very recently (as in this Summer) he relocated the store to a new location in neighboring Marlboro, NJ.

Throughout all of these changes, Henry has always had a booth at York in the Orange Hall between Lionel and Atlas-O.

David

A couple of years ago Henry opened a pop up holiday store right across the street from his old Hylan Blvd Staten Island location.  I don't think it was open too often and was never repeated.  

Is the new store strictly mail order or is it a brick and mortar (do they still build out of brick anymore? ) shop as well. The website didn't give a good indication. I was going to call first if I ever found myself in the area but since the subject came up here I figured I'd ask.

I called Henry when I drove through Middletown, NJ this summer and didn't see his store off Rt 35 anymore.  When I called he was literally in the process of setting up the new store, which I gathered would have a walk-in area for customers.  Haven't been there yet though, so it's probably good to confirm with a phone call to the store.

David

It must be mostly an order and dropship operation now - not much of the latest stuff showing in stock on the website; mostly somewhat older items (i.e., TMCC engines), only a few passenger sets, etc. Curious why he dropped the Island Trains name (regardless of moving off Staten Island) after all the years spent building a business with that recognizable name.

Ok, for those of you who just have to take this "Upstate"/"Southern Tier" so seriously, here you go:

Southern Tier or ST/NYSED

In my over forty years of visiting the area all I have ever heard it referred to was the Southern Tier.

Does anyone remember the old Island Trains website that had the station train board with the flip letters/numbers on the home page that listed the different product categories?  I always thought that was pretty cool. 

David

Well you're the one who brought up this whole "Southern Tier" business to begin with.  Sounds like someone in NY State government had two much time on their hands to create websites with that terminology.  I've never heard New Yorkers refer to it in that way.  It's always all just been Upstate NY. 

David

quote:

Sounds like someone in NY State government had two much time on their hands to create websites with that terminology.  I've never heard New Yorkers refer to it in that way.

The terminology almost certainly predates the web sites. It would be interesting to know who coined the term, and defined the boundaries.

It would not surprise me to learn that most NYC metro/ Long Island folks have never heard the term "Southern Tier". Those folks have enough to deal with following their own local politics and such.

David,

Which of the following is "Upstate New York"? Personally, I'd could go with 5, 6, 7 or maybe 8. I dare say it is halfway across the bottom of the state.

I guess you just have had to live there or listen to a local radio station give the weather across the "Southern Tier".

Now, I think the area has been redefined into the "Finger Lakes" region for tourism.

Yes, I remember that - it was pretty cool. It was a big change from the previous site, and was "under construction" quite awhile. I remember mentioning it in a phone conversation with Henry when I ordered something once after it came online. I said that it must have been a lot of work constructing that site, and he confirmed that it took a lot of effort. 

Dave,

Yes, I remember the flip board style homepage.

I also recall the "haggle Henry" section or link that allowed you to send your best offer for an item.

In those days, my main stores were Island Trains and Trains Express in Indianapolis.

From time to time, I've seen newer Legacy offerings on the eBay web store.  For example, there's a Lionel NYC Water Level Freight Set and a set of pilot Centipedes out there right now... among tons of other stuff.   Follow the seller closeouttrains1.  I check every now and then... never know what you might find.

David

From time to time, yes, and there is some of the newer stuff shown, but not a whole lot. It appears to be a totally different operation than in the old days, when he stocked most current products like the biggest dealers did, and do now. Not a bad thing, just not a place to find current items if you didn't pre-order them. Lots of older stuff, though.

I'll need to stop in the new location when I'm back in that part of Jersey again, but you're probably right.  They do have great pre-order prices for new stuff, but there's apparently not the level of new product inventory stocking as in older days.  

Seems to be a business model based more on pre-orders for new stuff and turning over older items in like-new or sealed condition -- most likely purchased at dimes/cents on the dollar.

David

When, I lived in Manhattan, Staten Island and briefly in Brooklyn, any place above Bronx and within N.Y.S., was considered upstate, to us BIG CITY folks.

As, for Long Island, I agree that Nassau Co. and Suffolk Co. are considered L.I., but look at a 1950's and earlier map, or maybe even into the '60's. and Long Island contained the two boroughs of Brooklyn/Kings Co., Queens/Queens Co.,(Which belong to New York City), as well as, Nassau Co. and Suffolk Co.

I lost a bet to a fellow office worker, he used to tend bar.

Ralph

I am from Long Island. Anything upstate starts at the Bronx/Westchester County Border going north.