General Discussion (Model Railroader)

Mobilman44 -- You probably remember Stanton's Hobby Shop on Milwaukee Avenue and Benty's Hobby Shop on Belmont downstairs from the "L" station. Stanton's was the larger of the two. Mr. Benty tried his best to survive over the years. Stanton's was far more successful, a larger store with a great variety of merchandise.

I also used to go to Simonsen's Hobby Shop on Lincoln Avenue south of Belmont. One time I was looking for a Lionel crane car. "I think I have one in the basement. I might need your help to get it down from the shelf," Mr Simonsen said.

To my surprise, he had a large inventory of prewar and postwar Lionel trains in their original boxes. It took him a few minutes to find the crane car, but he did. "It's up there," he pointed. "Would you mind climbing the ladder to get it?" I didn't mind at all.

Mr. Simonsen employed a former Chicago policeman as a repairman. I don't know if they were related. In the late 1970s, a friend of mine gave me a three-rail American Flyer freight set from the late 1930's she bought at a garage sale. The cars were in good condition, but the engine didn't work. I took it to Simonsen's. The repairman said he could fix it and asked me to come back in a week or so.

When I did, he asked, "How does it look?" He pointed to their three-loop, figure-eight display layout in the front window. I didn't notice it when I walked by. The engine was pulling a few cars as it raced around the window display layout with no trouble at all.

"It looks great!" I said.

"It just needed some new brushes," he said. "I cleaned the motor while I had it apart. Now, it runs like a raped rabbit!" I think he charged me only eight dollars to fix it.

I visited New York City on business quite often between 1976 and 1986, when I moved from Chicago to Los Angeles. Every time I was in New York, I made time to visit Madison Hardware and Supply on 23rd Street. I bought a number of Lionel products from them by mail over the years, but nothing prepared me for my first visit there.

The store was of normal width, maybe 25 feet, but quite deep. They had five or six floors of merchandise above, but customers were only allowed on the first floor. The salesman tended to be older and included two or three brothers whom I think were sons of the original owner. No matter what you wanted, Madison Hardware had it in stock. They had Lionel parts galore! 

I believe Madison Hardware was Lionel Trains' first dealer back in the first decade of the 20th Century. Sometime in the late 1980s or early 1990s, Lionel Trains acquired Madison Hardware and Supply and moved their enormous inventory to Michigan.

Thank you for a good story! 

Ive seen many stores close over the years, one in particular Gilberts was a favorite. I think it is still open under a younger generation today.

If I had to work in a train shop, I would be so busy browsing the new arrivals off the UPS truck, nothing would get done. I would not be a very good worker. =)

You can criticize its owner Allen Drucker all you want for refusing to sell toy trains for less than the Manufacturers Suggested Retail Price (MSRP). Keep in mind that Allied was one of the largest toy trains stores in the world, and it was expensive to operate on that scale.  We sold all scales and manufacturers. Customers came from everywhere, not only Southern California. Allied was only three miles from LAX, so many people dropped in on their way to or from the airport.

I began working at Allied on the Friday after Thanksgiving in 1990. We began work at 9:30 a.m., cleaning glass counters and re-stocking merchandise. The door opened at 10 a.m. On my first day, I sold $1,100 of LGB trains to my first customer within the first 15 minutes. I don't recall how many LGB Christmas train sets I sold that year (at $399 each), but I probably averaged six or seven a day until Christmas. Of course, I sold a lot of Lionel and other LGB merchandise, too.

George

Most of us who shopped at Allied realized that list price is list price and a dealer has the right to charge that price.  We might have shopped in a more selective mode since our money is for hobby items and we like to make it go as far as possible.    They tried discounting a few HO plastic items for a short time with that slogan,  "Don't take that Long drive"   or something like that.   I don't believe criticizing anyone for asking a fair price for a good product is fair and that is very short sighted for someone who is not in business to criticize others.

I purchased many brass pieces from Allen, Brian or Nick over the years and many other items that I wanted and would have preferred the great building to still be selling trains.   Allen was fair but all business.  I appreciated the store having a great supply of stock on hand and always picked up parts and whatever. 

Many of us miss the store also.

The good News is, the New Allied next door is much smaller, but very good for a full service train store.  Nick is there in the new store and Fred Hill works there on certain days and I got to visit them recently.  

I would recommend the new store very highly same as the previous Allied Trains but it is not in the great looking station building as it once was. 

Thanks for sharing your memories, George.  For us loners up in the north country, especially when we tend to stay home a lot and not get out to see folks, your stories are warming indeed.

I can feel you smiling when you type of your memories.  Good for you.

-Crandell

selector-Crandell -- Yes, I do smile as I write these memories. I was just thinking of others. I'll return often now and post them.

I still have all of my toy trains, but they are carefully packed in boxes and stored on shelves in my hall and bedroom closets. I don't have room for a layout in my one-bedroom apartment. Maybe someday I'll move into a larger one.

However, now that I am 67 years old, it is time for me to think of selling them. I wouldn't want to leave that task to my roommate when I die....

Klooka wrote:

Yes, I do smile as I write these memories. I was just thinking of others. I'll return often now and post them. I still have all of my toy trains, but they are carefully packed in boxes and stored on shelves in my hall and bedroom closets. I don't have room for a layout in my one-bedroom apartment. Maybe someday I'll move into a larger one. However, now that I am 67 years old, it is time for me to think of selling them. I wouldn't want to leave that task to my roommate when I die....

George.

Don't you know. Old model railroaders never die. You just run to the Roundhouse and hide 'cause the Grim Reaper can't corner you there.

As one Old Timer to another, (I have a year or possibly two on you, 69 the end of May) keep the stories coming. It's nice to see "feel good" stories in this day and age. 

Blue Flamer. 

George,

 "I know your pain"!!!   I'm 63 3/4 and while I have adult kids and grandkids, not a one of them has the interest in my postwar Lionel for themselves.  Yes, they will look at it on display and have seen the layout I built, and they surely admire them.  But its not their "thing".  Even my HO stuff, which enjoys a room filling layout get positive reactions from everyone, but no one is really interested in them or the hobby for themselves.

I'm an old Ebayer, and will probably sell the Lionel at some point in time, for I cringe at the thought of my kids storing them in an attic (they will rust here in south Texas) or just as bad, giving them away to the "we buy toy trains" folks.  Fortunately my wife (# 2) is also an avid Ebayer and knows that those toy trains are not truly "toys" when it comes to selling them.

While the train situation will be resolved in later years, I am now wrestling with thinning out my handgun collection - a much more difficult task - even in the Great State of Texas!

Long story short, disposition of the trains is a dilemna, when you are getting up in years and have no one you love waiting and wanting your stuff. 

Follow your heart!!!

Mobilman44