Thanks for the info! I hope at least one of the shops I mentioned is doing something to join in on the celebration. I'm going to call them tomorrow.
December 5th is a date that Lionel selected to celebrate their 115th Anniversary. Many train shops across the country are having similar celebrations. Lionel is offering special items on that date only to be sold in connection with their celebration.
Charles Ro normally has a fall open house so they planned this date to coincide with the Lionel event.
Lionel recently shipped the cornerstone piece of their Anniversary, the silver plated Berkshire.
I wish I could join you there. I was really impressed with their considerable knowledge, vast inventory, and great prices.
Back in the late 90s, the USAF sent me to Boston to evaluate some software. In my off-time, I went to every comic book shop and train store I could find. I'd ordered stuff from Charles Ro before then, since he'd always seemed to have a lot of good discounts advertised in the pages of CTT. (I think he and the now-defunct Island Trains had the best prices at the time.) The opportunity to visit the store in person was too good to pass up. I remember buying some Lionel rolling stock there at a substantial mark down.
I also recall they stocked a lot of USA Trains and LGB stuff around. I'd seen ads for it in CTT, but I didn't know the store had so much of it. It was impressive. I did end up buying a couple of Thomas the Tank Engine Track Packs each containing 2 manual switches along with 4 curves and 4 straights.
One unfortunate memory of that time is while I was walking down one of the aisles, I started smelling something unpleasant. It turned out a fairly large dog that had the run of the store dropped a bit of a load at the end of the aisle. The guy working there cleaned it up quickly as soon as he was made aware of it. I'd never seen that happen at any other store. I guess that's why I never forgot it!
I've lived in Gulfport, Mississippi for years. Unfortunately for me, model railroading is not very popular here. As far as I know, there has only been one train meet in this area the entire time I've been out here. There are a couple of train shops in this area, but they are not very big. One of them sells more plastic models, die-cast vehicles, and remote control paraphernalia than trains. The other sells mainly only trains, but does not have a big inventory. Both don't offer much in the way of service or parts.
While you're enjoying the event, how about mentioning to Charles Ro (or his employees) us trains guys in Mississippi would love it if he opened a store out here. I'm sure he could teach our two stores in Biloxi and Gulfport a lot about the model train business. (He'd probably put them out of the model train business quickly if they didn't adapt fast enough!)
BTW Is December 5th significant in the history of Lionel, or is that just a date Charles Ro picked out of thin air as a good pre-Christmas day to have a sale?
Are there any Forum members who are planning on attending the Charles Ro Open House event next Saturday? We are planning on lunch and invite anyone who is attending to join with us.
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