After my wife bought me a beaten up Lionel #2037 steamer from a local antique store in 1994, I came back into the toy train world.
Back then, in Westchester County (NY), there were several train stores around. My favorite was Trents Trains in Tuckahoe. I used to drag my wife with me to the store. I liked it, and got along well with the father/son owners, but I know other customers who didn't care for them. I particularly enjoyed staring at their wall of vintage postwar trains. I bought my first steam switchers there, a Lionel #1615 and a Williams all brass B6.
I also enjoyed a train store, Trains Plus, up in Glens Falls, New York, run by Thomas Curran. I used to have an annual college financial aid conference which I attended at the nearby Queensbury Hotel. In between sessions I would explore the stores in town. I was quite happy to stumble on this particular store one day. Surprisingly, his son attended the college where I worked and I actually knew his son. Dad always had a good selection of books. I remember buying a great book (author was Robert Mohowski), the "New York Ontario & Western Railway Milk Cans, Mixed Trains and Motor Cars" from him. It is still one of my favorite railroad books. One year I went back and his store was closed.
Trents Trains went out of business after moving from Tuckahoe to Scarsdale (Harney Road) and then another move near the Scarsdale-Yonkers border on Central Ave. All of this happened within a few years. I knew some other customers who got annoyed by what they felt was too much relocating.
In Manhattan, in the early 1970's, I remember my dad taking me to 2 stores on 45th Street when I was young. In 2003, the New York Times ran a story about how the existing stores were doing.
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/01...stomers-dwindle.html
I never was lucky enough to visit the legendary Madison Hardware, but have a few items that came out of their shop.
Any stores that you wish were still around today or any memories that come to mind?
Tom