The Great Demise of the Showroom Layout

[lionelsuperotrack]

After years of trying to find out what happened to the 1957 Super "O"
Showroom layout (linked below):

Lionel 1957 Super "O" Showroom Layout
http://www.trains.com/ctt/obje...lionel_57_layout.pdf

We finally have the answer.............................

The answer is found in Bob Osterhoff's new book (one of the editors is Roger Carp), The Lionel Trains FunFactory which I am currently reading. One of the virtues of a
researcher like Bob Osterhoff is the detail and information with corroboration of facts that occurs. No facts without verification.

Unfortunately, the conclusion is a sad, but expected end to the tale.

With permission of Project Roar Publishing I quote what is told on Page 109, "Prior to 1966 and after Lionel abandoned its once-glorious showroom on Manhattan's East 26th Street, employees moved its fixtures, including the final Super O showroom layout, to the warehouse of Associated Book Service in West Orange, New Jersey. In describing the storage, Lionel's Robert Stein, who arrived at Lionel after the move, lamented, "The display sections were indiscrimantly piled on top of each other, absolutely crushed from their own weight. They were totally destroyed. The entire first floor was stacked with stuff. There were three or four thousand Lionel cartons filled with parts and product such as the Famous Inventors science series. It was all destroyed."

Bob Osterhoff has a very informative website that you will enjoy if paper of postwar or earlier your interest:

http://www.trainpaper.com/info.html

Very best,
Mike Spanier