My favorites were Edmond's Hobby shop and Gardner The Train Doctor in Rochester. Edmond's is long gone but Gardner's is still in business although they've moved to North Rose, NY.
Hobby Corner !! I faintly remember that but not the trains. I think they carried a lot of model kits, too. There was a hobby shop in Springdale, Pa. run by Neil Boggiano who I saw recently at the Greenberg show. Neil was big in to brass, an excellent photographer, knew where all the tracks were in the Pgh area. Neil retired, closed the store and living the good life.
jim pastorius posted:Hobby Corner !! I faintly remember that but not the trains. I think they carried a lot of model kits, too. There was a hobby shop in Springdale, Pa. run by Neil Boggiano who I saw recently at the Greenberg show. Neil was big in to brass, an excellent photographer, knew where all the tracks were in the Pgh area. Neil retired, closed the store and living the good life. Hobby Corner had an amazing selection of model kits! Also if I remember right a pretty good selection of model rockets too! I was amazed how much fit in the limited space the store had.
There was a thread earlier this year that mentioned some shops that haven't been covered on this thread. See it here:
https://ogrforum.ogaugerr.com/t...that-you-miss?page=1
I had forgotten a couple of additional Richmond "pop-ups" in the PW era:
"Mac the Train Man" in Southside Plaza Shopping center between Thanksgiving and New Years. I ended up working with Mac for many years at the telephone company and he is still into O-gauge.
And a Mystery Quonset Hut in a big field in South Richmond that had used/remaindered NOS trains in big paste-board barrels. I never knew the name, I was just too young for it to register.
Dildine's on Calumet Avenue in Hammond, Indiana. Basement had a room size permanent layout. Lots of Lionel orange boxes on the shelves of the ground floor. John in Lansing, ILL
I guess Gardner the Train Doctor before the move to North Rose, NY and Hobby Haven which is long gone as are most of the hobby shops around Rochester, NY.
Around the age of 11 or so, I saw my first two real model train stores. Thankfully both are still around.
First, Gilbert's in Gettysburg, and the following year, Memory Station in Watkinsville GA. The latter, I would see each year on the way to visit family in Tennessee. They once told me they knew to expect me once a year and was always nice to me. I wonder if they wondered whatever happened to me. I still wish I could get there again someday...
Wilcox Hardware in Midland, Texas. They had two layouts in display windows and outside push buttons so you could run the trains as long as you held in the buttons. Inside the store they had two massive layouts, very detailed and scenic, with all Lionel accessories available in the early '60s. The walls were lined with shelves filled with all the Lionel engines and rolling stock you could think of or wish for as a young fella. Sadly, the store burned down in '66 and I remember pictures in the newspaper of melted Lionel items all running/drooped down the walls.
Jesse TCA 12-682##
Rex Hardware, downtown Augusta, GA... Long gone........
Macys and FAO Schwartz in Manhattan and Telly's Hardware in Mt Vernon, NY. Arnold
Having grown up in Brooklyn, NY I'd have to say my favorite train store was Julies on 23rd street in Manhattan. It was a half block from Madison Hardware (that I also liked) but they seemed to have better prices. The only other stores I remember was the Fix All Appliance shop on Coney Island Ave and a toy store on the corner of Bay Parkway and 86th street that I can recall the name of. In reality there seemed like 100's of trains stores in NYC during the 1950's. Lionel was sold at hardware, toy, cycle shops. I even recall a furniture store that carried them. How times have really changed.
Does anyone know a currently existing hardware store that sells Lionel or O Gauge trains?
The only one that I know that comes close is Tom's Trains in Ardsley, NY. It is a very nice LHS with a very nice operating layout that was, and I think still is, in the basement of a hardware store. The hardware store itself had a Lionel train displayed in its picture window, but did not as actually sell any trains. Arnold
Les Gordon's Trains here in Indianapolis. I remember cases and cases of trains and a large stack of Girl's Trains marked $15. My dad and I spent several Saturdays during the winter there. Also Kelly's Koin Kupboard which was a coin store that also carried trains.
Regards,
Steve
Arnold D. Cribari posted:Does anyone know a currently existing hardware store that sells Lionel or O Gauge trains?
The only one that I know that comes close is Tom's Trains in Ardsley, NY. It is a very nice LHS with a very nice operating layout that was, and I think still is, in the basement of a hardware store. The hardware store itself had a Lionel train displayed in its picture window, but did not as actually sell any trains. Arnold
One on Cape Code, can't remember the name.
HL Child n Sons in Northampton Ma. The classic Lionel train store with Doll houses and other toys. They had a great repairman, plenty of SuperO track, a huge Lionel billboard with a lighted headlight on a diesel out front. Sadly, long gone and now a furniture store.
Funny, I don't remember any as a kid. It wasn't til I was quite a bit older that I discovered Hills Hobbies in Park Ridge, IL.
Mine was Trainworld in Brooklyn. I think they were on Ave M back then.
Honig's Parkway in the Bronx......under the Number 2 EL (White Plains RdI), just north of the intersection with Allerton Ave.
PeterI
superwarp1 posted:Arnold D. Cribari posted:Does anyone know a currently existing hardware store that sells Lionel or O Gauge trains?
The only one that I know that comes close is Tom's Trains in Ardsley, NY. It is a very nice LHS with a very nice operating layout that was, and I think still is, in the basement of a hardware store. The hardware store itself had a Lionel train displayed in its picture window, but did not as actually sell any trains. Arnold
One on Cape Code, can't remember the name.
HL Child n Sons in Northampton Ma. The classic Lionel train store with Doll houses and other toys. They had a great repairman, plenty of SuperO track, a huge Lionel billboard with a lighted headlight on a diesel out front. Sadly, long gone and now a furniture store.
Gary.....you are thinking of Snow's in Orleans.....across from where the old New Haven station was. I pass it all the time biking on the Rail Trail......
Peter
Grew up near Wilkes-Barre, in the Wyoming Valley. I remember trains being sold at American Auto, and Sears in the Narrows Shopping Center, in Kingston. Sears was my favorite with the Allstste sets. There was also a store at Kingston Corners which I believe sold Lionel. A hobby shop, Jacks (?) near the A&P at the Narrows sold mostly HO and HO brass which was out of our league. Mc Crory's (I believe) also at the Narrows had the usual Christmas offerings. In Wilkes Barre I vaguely remember Lionel being sold at a corner shop on North Main Street, possibly Allied Radio.......The Boston Store, Pomeroys, and Kresge's around the square again had the goods at Christmas.
I was sure that those places would always be there......now only the pleasant memories remain.
As a child, I only remember hobby shops, and Christmas layouts in major dept. stores like Macy's. The oldest (110 years) retail seller of Lionel is still in business...Nicolas Smith trains in Broomall, PA, now owned for many years by Chis Gans. Nicolas Smith was an electrician who opened a store in Philadelphia repairing lamps. Soon he was selling Lionel electric trains. I'm lucky to live only a 15 minute drive from this large store.
Arnold D. Cribari posted:Does anyone know a currently existing hardware store that sells Lionel or O Gauge trains?
The only one that I know that comes close is Tom's Trains in Ardsley, NY. It is a very nice LHS with a very nice operating layout that was, and I think still is, in the basement of a hardware store. The hardware store itself had a Lionel train displayed in its picture window, but did not as actually sell any trains. Arnold
C.T. McCormick's in Zelionople, PA about 10 miles north of downtown Pgh off I-79. Trains on one side, drill bits, plumbing supplies, and all the tools on the other.
Arnold D. Cribari posted:Does anyone know a currently existing hardware store that sells Lionel or O Gauge trains?
The only one that I know that comes close is Tom's Trains in Ardsley, NY. It is a very nice LHS with a very nice operating layout that was, and I think still is, in the basement of a hardware store. The hardware store itself had a Lionel train displayed in its picture window, but did not as actually sell any trains. Arnold
Toms Trains @ Ardsley Hardware is just Toms Trains now. Sadly the hardware store closed due to the changing retail habits.. It is now a pediatric urgent center. Tom's is still there and doing well. I just purchased the new Lionel H10 there at Christmas. As my favorite store, Train World on Ave M and Madison Hardware. There was also a store in White Plains called the Roundhouse. It carried Lionel and a lot of brass. I think they closed up in the mid-80's.
I didn't know train stores existed back in the early to late 70s so I bought all my trains at Ace Hardware on Lake Street in Aurora Illinois. A few at Henricks Toy Store and flea markets also. Ace Hardware still carries Lionel and MTH.
Putnam Division posted:superwarp1 posted:Arnold D. Cribari posted:Does anyone know a currently existing hardware store that sells Lionel or O Gauge trains?
The only one that I know that comes close is Tom's Trains in Ardsley, NY. It is a very nice LHS with a very nice operating layout that was, and I think still is, in the basement of a hardware store. The hardware store itself had a Lionel train displayed in its picture window, but did not as actually sell any trains. Arnold
One on Cape Code, can't remember the name.
HL Child n Sons in Northampton Ma. The classic Lionel train store with Doll houses and other toys. They had a great repairman, plenty of SuperO track, a huge Lionel billboard with a lighted headlight on a diesel out front. Sadly, long gone and now a furniture store.
Gary.....you are thinking of Snow's in Orleans.....across from where the old New Haven station was. I pass it all the time biking on the Rail Trail......
Peter
What, you visit the cape often and you don't take a detour and visit. I'm hurt
I just realized how large this thread is. Bet I stated this before, several pages back.
As a young child and a young adult my two favorites were Spoonley the Trainman in South Buffalo and K-Val hobbies on Hinman in Buffalo......................Paul
French's in downtown Baltimore. Actually a sporting goods store on the first floor. Trains were on the second floor. My father always took me there when I was a kid at Christmas.
The Model Railroad Shop in Piscataway, NJ …. which is still open. Jam packed with absolutely everything in HO, a lot of N, and I remember a back room of brass O locomotives. Really nice folks, too.
When I was a boy, many Saturdays, after I finished my paper route, my father would take me to Ross Sport Shop (hunting and fishing) in Elizabeth NJ and then on to The Model Railroad Shop. Often times, stopping for a greasy burger and fries at the drive-in.
I lost interest in model trains before I got to high school, and didn't resume until I had my first child.
I had three. The first was Train World, in Lynbrook, NY, the second was LI Train and Hobby in Mineloa, NY Owned by Richard Nappi, and the Red Caboose in Huntington Village, NY. Red Caboose was primarily a Marklin dealer. I had Lionel and Marklin as a child.
OTASCO's (Oklahoma Tire and Supply Co..) in Duncan, Oklahoma. Had Lionel Trains at Christmas time and stored the extra trains in the upstairs over the tire shop for purchase the rest of the year in the late 1950's and 1960's.
First pair of manual O27 switches at Shippensburg Hardware in 1940s; more later at Joe the Motorist's Friend and at Shaeffer Bros, Carlisle, PA. Still later maybe Penney's and Sears.
Wally
My first recollection of trains in a store was the Rhodes department store in Tacoma, Wa. growing up in 50s and 60s. One floor was dedicated for toys at Christmas time. They had a train you could ride set up on the floor with a tunnel, which was a definite must ride for me. I recall numerous O gauge engines on display in glass cases and on shelves. Tacoma was about an hour or so drive from where we lived but we went there quite often since my grandparents lived there. The closest store to a toy/hobby store in the town I lived in growing up was a Sprouse Reitz 5 & dime store. They had some toys but no trains. We did get a toy/hobby store in the mid 60s but I only remember it having HO. They did have a large slot car track.
Larry
When I was a child my father and I would take a Boston & Maine train to the North Station in Boston and walk to the South Station. Boston Models was across the street where my father would sometimes buy 0 gauge freight car kits, such as, Westbrook. Then we would walk to Tremont Street, having lunch along the way, to visit Eric Fuchs, which had a full complement of Lionel trains and a layout that had two trains running between the back room, where repairs were done, to the store window, facing the street. My father made most of his purchases of Lionel products there. Both retailers are long gone; I have no knowledge of Boston Models history but the heirs of Eric Fuchs tried to expand their business by opening shops in surburban malls but were not successful and went out-of-business.
I grew up in Wakefield, MA and there was a business on Albion Street that sold Lionel trains during the Christmas and went out-of-business years ago as well.
Sol's Store in Ambridge, PA. It was a hardware-sporting goods store and at Christmas had a huge Lionel display and inventory always discounted.
My brother worked for the local newspaper that was a few blocks off the main street. He got off the work later in the afternoon on Christmas Eve. He is 13 years older than me. He decided to go to Sol's and get me a couple nice train cars for our Christmas layout.
When he went in he found they were well into a Christmas Eve party with lots of cheer flowing. While he waited he browsed the high end sets on display on shelves next to the aisle. He particularly like a top of the Line Santa Fe freight with twin F3 diesels.
The owner, Harry, came over and asked him if he could help him and noticed him admiring the set. He asked if he wanted to buy it. My brother told him no, he couldn't afford it, he just wanted to buy a couple of train cars for his little brother. Harry asked him how much money had and my brother told him $45. Harry dug under the display counter and pulled out the boxed for the set and tossed it to him. He scowled and said you can have it for that, pack it up! As I remember from collecting Catalogues later, that set sold for $75. That was about 1950
So that is how I got the set which has been passed around the family for years and well used and still runs. I bought stuff later from Sol's when I grew up too. The discounts were always good too.
I remember going to Jack Colliers in San Francisco and Lees Trains in Oakland with my dad and also to the Emporium with their large operating Layout which were all Lionel,great memories.
Mikey
Always “Pappy Jaye’s” (Jaye and Jaye Hobby) on Euclid Avenue at Lee Road on Cleveland’s East Side. 1950’s and 60’s. Fond memories!
Wish I had a photo of the place; I’d frame it.
Denver - Caboose Hobbies and Downtown Hobbies and there was another hobby shop in the JCRS shopping center in Lakewood.
Mine was Steve Varga's Hobby Shop in New Brunswick, NJ.
Once a month (maybe less frequently) my Dad would take me to the New Brunswick train station on a Saturday afternoon, where we would watch the trains go through. GG1s were still running back then, and it was always a thrill to see them, as well as the Metroliners rolling through at warp speed. Those trips to New Brunswick always included a stop at Steve Varga's Hobby Shop. Dad and Mr. Varga were friends, and I loved listening to them talk about their beloved prewar trains, which probably has something to do with why I became a (mostly) prewar fan. The good old days...…………
John
Custom Hobbies in Wintersville, Ohio. This was the first time I had seen these "big" trains (Lionel) for sale. Before then, I only played with HO scale. They also had a nice O Scale layout. I was probably 10 or 11 years old.
They, like many others, are no longer in business. I believe they closed 15 or so years ago. I went to visit my hometown and thought I would go check them out. At that time it had been turned into a gun shop. Go figure.
Dave
mikey posted:Jack Colliers Toys For Men in SF and Lees Trains in Oakland,a long time ago.
Mikey
I remember Lee's !!!
mikey posted:Allied Hobbies on Pico Blvd.
Mikey
Yes, Allied Trains! A landmark, its architecture resembled the Los Angeles Union Station. A gorgeous place. Sadly, it is now gone. A cannabis dispensary occupies the location currently.
I recall that it was on Sepulveda, but perhaps it was Pico. My memory fails.
A runner-up is The Train Shack in Burbank (where I was born - in Burbank, not the train store) :-)
- Dr Joe
