Hobby Shops and Salesmen |
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| Of course train stores were my favorite places to shop. I still remember one time dad and I were shopping in this one little store that was a train lovers paradise. This guy had stuff from way back….It was near my birthday and I couldn’t make up my mind between several locomotives I simply loved and would have sold my soul for. I’ll never forget the conversation we had with the owner that day. My father wasn’t giving in and I simply had to make up my mind and pick just one. But this nice old man behind the counter was on my side and made all kinds of suggestion on how I might "earn" the other ones. He mentioned maybe me doing some extra chores around the house to get the extra money to purchase all the ones I wanted. This guy was a great salesmen. Kids would come in and layaway something they wanted. He kept file cards on all his customers so he could keep track of what each was interested in, then when he went to trains shows he could shop for items he thought each customer would like. He would buy, sell, and trade used stuff. If there was something you wanted that was in a pre-packaged set but didn’t want the whole thing, he’d cut open the set and sell you the piece you wanted and sell the rest as open stock. Whenever you bought a new piece of rolling stock or an engine, or even a transformer, he’d get it out of the box and make sure it worked right then and there before you took it home. Anyway, since I was a young teenager at the time, this wonderful man told my dad that when I was home playing with my trains my parents would at least know where I was and that I was safe instead of out running around on the streets with the wrong kinds of kids and getting mixed up with drugs and who knew what else. Dad took all the engines I wanted explaining that one was my birthday present, one was a Christmas present, one was for next Easter………….I had a really great dad…………….. |
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 This layout is "my"
first layout. The saleman at Schrader's Corner Store in Sunbury had it in storage after
using it for a window display. My father told Mr. Schrader how I was having problems with
his larger layout because I couldn't work the switches and stuff so I was always wreaking
the trains. And since my Dad did so much business there at his store, he gave it to Dad to
give to me for Christmas. (They just don't make sales people like that anymore.) This
photo shows the layout with Dad's "Wild Wild West" HO train set that I
mentioned in my openning chapter. We don't have any photos of the layout with the
race set in the middle, but this is the train I insisted needs a RED
CABOOSE! |
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(NOTE: One of Pennsylvania’s best hobby shops is English’s Trains in Montoursville PA. If you really love trains, you can’t help but get goose bumps just walking through the front door. See my Links & Events page for more info.) |
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