When The Train Barn closes in Portage, MI somebody at the Portage Historical Society wants to....move the entire Barn to their historic building site. That is about 4 miles away. The barn is over 100 years old and is a very large building.There is not enough space on the drive along Austin Lake to transport such a wide structure. Whomever suggested that does not have a sense of volume. The barn can not be lifted anyway since the bottom edge will most likely collapse under the stress of moving.The Train Barn layout does not actually represent much actually in Portage. There is a model of The Train Barn. There is a crossing and model of the Vicksburg Union Depot at that crossing. If they are so hot for a huge train layout, the City of Portage should hire a few local companies to design a railroad model based on the real New York Central and Pennsylvania Railroad branches that ran from Indiana to Portage to Kalamazoo. There are many builders and contractors that can assemble the model railroad. It has to be O Scale though, preferrably 3-Rail. Hopefully the Portage Historical Society will be purchashing some of the remaining items in stock from Seth Geim at The Train Barn. Andrew Falconer
Watch my videos on-line at https://www.youtube.com/user/AndrewNeilFalconer
Here are the videos of The Train Barn layout.
watch?v=DnaatCmhFuo
watch?v=mwTIsFN6IYM&feature=related
watch?v=rNkfyD6SrM8
watch?v=F0Iv92X8ocw
Andrew
Andrew - has there been a date established for closure? We first visited the Train Barn on a Lower Peninsula camping vacation in the mid 90's. Then we were there for the 2000 LCCA convention when it was at Deabron. My next visit was when my daugher attended WMU in Kalamazoo, which gave me the excuse to drop by there when visiting her. I knew this day would come, but cherish the memories of the visits, as well as the items we purchased there.
I visited the Train Barn during a LOTS tour. One fantastic layout, super high on the WOW factor. It would be a shame for that layout to vanish from the O Gauge world.
Any idea if there is not a buyer for the intire layout what will happen to it ?
Bill T.
I believe I visited the place several years back when I was in the Battle Creek area on business. I had always made it a habit to look up the local hobby shops while on these trips.
If it is in fact the same location, it was a BEAR to find. I drove around in circles looking for it, and passed it at least once without noticing. I had really thought something named the "Train Barn" would be a little more prominent! At the time I was there the layout was not open to the public, so I only had an opportunity to see the hobby shop. I remember the proprietor was an elderly gentleman, I'm assuming that may have had something to do with it's closure.
I have figured out what is wrong with my brain! On the left side nothing works right, and on the right side there is nothing left!
Seth would like to end the current regular hours on Friday and Saturday, by the end of 2011.
The layout will still be in place, but it will only be open for scheduled viewing by special request ahead of time.
Seth wanted to expand the size of the Barn, but the Portage City Council would not let him.
At The Celery Flats Interpretive Center on Garden Lane in Portage, Michigan they have very high standards for building construction and appearance. As good as The Train Barn looks, the people who run the city of Portage would want to upgrade everything. The Celery Flats park relocated buildings look nearly perfect. It would be more practical to build an all new Barn and historical model railroad than to move and upgrade. Somebody would eventually ask for elevator access to the upstairs layout.
Seth has old opinions from someone in Portage. The real costs of everything has changed the decision making.They would like such a structure, but it has to be an extremely low maintenance new-version of The Train Barn. The inital costs have to be reasonable, but the maintenance of the structure and the layouts would have to be done by the Parks & Recreation department of Portage, Michigan. The one way to balance the budget would be to charge addmission to view 3 new layouts. One N Scale and one HO Scale on the first floor and an all new O Scale/O Gauge layout on the second floor. The recreation of the barn building would have to be made out of non-rusting, non-rotting materials to keep maintenance costs low for the long term. Andrew
The Train Barn in Portage, Michigan is closing on April 14th or 21st, 2012.
Seth Geim said he can not continue to keep the store open on Friday and Saturday, due to health concerns.
All the O gauge and S gauge items are 40% off. Get it while you can.
The address for The Train Barn is Eastshore Drive, Portage, Michigan. It is located between Nash and 23rd Steet. The lake is Austin Lake.
The upstairs train layout is only operated on Saturdays.
The hours are now limited to 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Friday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday.
Andrew Falconer
The Train Barn was featured in the Premier Issue of Classic Toy Trains - Fall 1987 ( Wow 25 years ago ! ) Great pictures of a great layout, where big Lionel Trains can stretch their legs. Love that picture on pages 34-35 - big long train on a big sweeping curve. And that picture on page 38 with Seth below that bridge over the Gorge !
We revisited the Train Barn in our November 1997 issue as well.
Bob Keller
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