Had anyone else had any experience with Lindy's Trains, or another outfit like them?
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They rent booths in Antique Malls throughout the South, and they put model railroading related items in them. I think the items are from estate buy-outs from trainz.com in Buford, GA.
The items they have are generally junky, and getting picked over in an antique mall does not help. However, every so often there is a gem or obscure item buried in there that makes the search worth the effort.
Their website shows they have locations in about a dozen antique malls. I think I have been to more than half of them.
Is there anyone else doing something similar? Could this be a new trend in selling off lower-end items?
-Kevin
Living the dream.
Ok I wonder how long they had this going. A while back I went through the mall at Jeffrey's Antique Mall in Ohio and there was a booth that had a ton of trains in it. That was about 5-6 years ago. I was thinking it was in a different area though. Going to have to check out the one at Catawba. There is a similar idea with a fellow up in Indianapolis called Sanford and Son's Trains. He is in an antique mall on Shadeland Ave. Often he has had some neat stuff but it varies. He has two good size booths there. They do the trainshow circuit so on those weekends the booth is low.
drgwcsThere is a similar idea with a fellow up in Indianapolis called Sanford and Son's Trains.
I am going to get to Indianapolis in September. I will check him out.
Train Central is one of my favorite stops. Mr. Puffin is also a must-see.
I was going to put down the address for Sanford and Son's at the Old Shadeland Antique Mall and found the mall just closed down this week. It sound like the dealers dispersed I have a link to the facebook site below. I did pose the question if they knew whare they moved to. I had seen them at the Dayton Train show as we happened to be in area visiting my Wife's folks. https://b-m.facebook.com/OldeShadelandAntiqueMall
Train Central was my favorite when we lived in the area but I am unfamiliar with Mr. Puffin. That wasn't the one out on East Washington Street in a strip mall near Washington Square Mall was it? If so that one went out a while back. Indy also lost Big Four in Plainfield and Tom Metzgers over the past few years. Hobbytown on the North Side near Castleton Square Mall is fantastic. They just moved late last year and I don't know how big there new location is compared to the old one. There is a Hobbytown location on the southside too and though it carries more trains than the typical one it is no where near the north location. There is Big Boy Hobbies over on Shadeland but the last time I was in there they didn't have as much train stuff as they used to have, but that has been several years.
Resurrecting a thread here. Finally got a chance to visit the Lindy's trains location at the Catawba River Antique Mall in Belmont NC just west of Charlotte today. From the website it looks like Lindy's has reduced their locations quite a bit. Thought I might give my impressions. There are some bargains to be found there but it takes a little bit of digging. Found a blue box Athearn SD9 for 15 as well as a Ertl flatcar in the box for 5. Found a couple of other smaller bargains too including some permascene a rock mold and a layout visit DVD for cheap. If I had been into Pennsy or C&O B&O I probably would have went crazy. They had some Sharks, and some pennsy passenger cars and some of the Atlas Roco Geeps for 10-15. If you are in the Charlotte area and into these roads I would check it out!!!!!
There are some great bargains there. You have to check things out though. I thought I found some Roundhouse 3 in 1s and an E&B combine but looking in the box they were mainly parts and pieces and not nearly complete. Boxes were not labeled right either- had to look in each box. They could do a better job on loose things as things are stacked up pretty bad. A lot of those were tyco etc but there were some Athearn and others in the mix. Casual shoppers not knowing fragility could certainly break stuff. Prices were very reasonable and there was some interesting stuff- kind of like a swap meet in a booth. There was a good amount of Lionel and some accessories- even some of the old ideal cardboard kits from the 50's Besides trains they also had some die cast and a few Dept 56 houses.
Jim
drgwcs From the website it looks like Lindy's has reduced their locations quite a bit.
Yes, they closed some booths on August 1st. This included the booth at the Big Peach Antique Mall in Warner-Robbins, Georgia, which is the one I stop in most frequently.
Sad news for me. I have made days of driving through Georgia stopping at Antique Malls with my wife and digging through the Lindys booths.
I kind of suspect Lindy's kind of consolidated down when they closed down the others as they had a LOT of stuff in that booth. You never know what you find in antique malls. Got several nice tank cars at one in Indiana including a brass one for 6 each. Sometimes it goes the other way and you see Tyco going for crazy expensive prices . There are generally a few trains in most larger antique malls. We travelled extensively at one time and would make antique malls a good stop to stretch our legs on the way to a meeting. Ironicly when looking through Lindy's locations- I realized I had been in the mall in Livonia GA but I do not remember a train booth there (and that is something I WOULD have remembered )