Glen Uhl

I'll read it.  Post away

I would read it, too.  Please post.

I recognized the name as being a Lionel dealer in Akron, Ohio.....I just visited his shop

once when I got back into tinplate...might have been in the late 1980's...I don't remember much about it, or a couple of shops in the Cleveland area that I think have

also vanished...I visited him the once because he was well known.....

I never met Glen but I've heard some stories about him. I shopped there when his son Robert was running things (he also seemed like quite the character) after I was sent his way by a shop owner in Canton. Glen's was a train shop like none other that I've ever visited, it was unique in many ways - from the loud buzzer announcing your arrival, the mountain of shipping carton's everywhere, or Robert's uncanny ability to know exactly which of the nondescript shipping cartons contained the item you came in looking for.

The shop is still there, but after Robert passed away much seemed in doubt. It now operates under new ownership with the name Aaron's City Trains, and is an incredible shop. It's a must visit every time I go home to visit my parents in Canton. 

I, too, never met Glen, but I have heard a good number of stories about him and his store over the years.  Perhaps Todd Wagner will chime in here at some point because he knew Glen and has a number of personal accounts he could probably share.

The store today--Aaron's--is 100% different from what it was when Glen operated the business.  Someone who was there in the Glen Uhl era would not even recognize the place today.  If you're ever in the Akron/Cleveland area, the "new" establishment is definitely worth a visit.

I was only in his shop once while on a business trip to Akron in the 1970’s and just seeing him and the shop was an experience although he didn’t have much to say.

But I recall a rather lengthy and interesting thread on here about him and his shop back during the time period after Robert Uhl died and before Aaron reopened the business.  I tried searching the archives but perhaps the archives don’t go back that far?

Bill

The story from the book: 

When Lionel (now MPC Lionel) first released the Pennsy GG1, the engine leaked grease. Perhaps the armature was too long?

Glen had met with Lionel and propsed a 'diaper' (not an actual diaper as we know them to be) to be placed on the engine to catch any grease or lubricants that may leak or drop onto the track.

Lionel had agreed to make this change.

When the 8850 (PC GG1)was released, there was no 'diaper'

Glen contacted Lionel and told them that he was going to return his 93 PC GG1s.

Lionel said, "No returns"

Glen told Lionel that they will take the engines back, or he would drop them off at their doorstep. Lionel knew that he was not bluffing.

He also sent empty diaper boxes to several people at Lionel to verse his dissatisfaction.

Lionel sent a truck to pick up all his inventory and took away his 'Authorized Dealership' status.

Glen continued to buy from a distributor.

He placed the letters 'UN' in front of the word 'Authorized' on his dealership sign, claiming to now be a 'UNAuthorized Lionel dealer, took a picture and sent it to Lionel.

I was in Glen's many times over the years, back when Senior ran it and also when his son took over. Senior could be a bear when he wanted, I saw him throw more than one customer out of his store!! He was not one for conversation, the book that the starter of this post {EMD} is talking about it what broke the ice for me with him. I had taken that book with me on one of my trips to his shop and took it into the store and reluctantly asked him to autograph it, not only is there a story in the fore mentioned book but there is also a picture of him from back in the day. I had no idea what his response was going to be, but I was prepared to run!! He not only signed my book, but that opened him up with me, he always treated me different after that. I think he was amazed that someone would ask this of him. I had explain to him as far as I was concerned he was a big player/buyer in the world of Lionel trains and part of it's history!! Not long after that he passed away, then his son Robert took over until his death. Glen's was an amazing store back in the 70's - 80's I had never seen so much inventory in one place. I am very glad I was able to have meet him and his son and I still have that autographed book to this day!!  

theres a joke among some us in the local north .ohio area" your not a true train collector unless you have been thrown out of glens". if you said anything about the prices ,he had a short fuse about that. but i think it had something to do with his age.he ran the store wellinto his 80's.he was real nice about everything on one visit,next time it was pretty much"stay out of my way".

      our family started going to glenns in the mid-60's.usually everything was 25% off list price.he advertised in the akron beacon paper on sundays,with current sets in the catalog. his shop was in an old home{ i think he said he grew up there}.it was packed to the gills with postwar lionel. if there was anything close to madison hardware, this might been it.he had an O guage layout [about 10x16] in the back room- it was his private layout few customers got to see -a few loops of 072 .

   around 1969 the shop caught fire .i dont know how much was lost . a cinder block building was built behind the old store and is the present home of aarons.

   glenn was a religous man and proud of his service in the navy. i believe he said he had a small train shop in cuba while stationed there after ww2.

  i am proud to say i knew the man ,and his train shop was my favorite in the cleveland-akron area.- jim

I feel fortunate to have not only met Glen, but he was an occasional visitor at our TCA meets up here in the Cleveland Area. Though I was only in my late teens, I remember Glen was a quite a character.

He always wore the Railroad bib overalls. Always had the engineer hat on. He was a big guy so he stood out.  His shop was stuffed with Lionel. His inventory was huge.

When his shop burned down, he re-built  it....this time, no wood, only concrete block. No way was it burning down again.

 He was a true Lionel man thru and thru. I remember the Penn Central fiasco. The "un Authorized" sign, and more.

I'm glad that I was able to meet his son, Robert. A true gentleman.

Glen was a legend.

From all accounts, Glen was one of the true "characters" of this hobby, along with the likes of Dwight Ingles (Owen Upp), the Madison Hardware "boys," and a select few others. Those fellas didn't take crap from anyone, but once you were in their good graces, you were A-OK in their book.

i for got glenn was happy to sign my mpc book,he signed it glenn p. uhl-pg 99. the page #referred to the story in the book emd posted. it too, changed his feelings towards me. sadly,i dont have that book anymore. glenn was never too happy with mpc. makes me wonder what he would  do with todays players in the toy train market.  iwill follow up with a post about robert,his son, soon.-jim

I first met Glen in 1969 when I relocated to Akron, OH.  At that time, besides Lionel, Glen carried some Atlas N ga. including track, switches, and some scenery details.  I purchased N ga. from him often, but only with severe trepidation because Glen made it known that he hated N ga. - said it was junk.  I believe that I survived because I always bought something when I went in there and so he tolerated me.

During that time, he had 2 other guys working there who repaired Lionel items (it was an authorized  Lionel repair station).  One time, I took back an Atlas N switcher that was running rough and asked him if his guys could repair it.  Well, Glen took the switcher and said "Here is how you fix it" and threw it hard against the wall behind the counter, destroying it.  What happened after that is kind of a blur, but before I left the store he gave me an identical new switcher, along with the advice to never ask him to repair anything N.   I was actually more comfortable going in there after that.

I have lots more stories, but that is my favorite.

Tom B

I dont know about the rest of you guys but he sounds like a nut! Taking a train and destroying it, throwing people out of the store about questioning the price. I understand that is what legends are made of but I am glad that, that type of retailer is gone by the wayside. Or at least I hope so.

I knew Glen.  He was a character and most of the stories that have been posted so far are true.  He was a retired Navy Chief and although I was just a customer I moved up somewhat one day when I showed up in my Air Force dress blues.  That really seemed to please him.  He always had table number 1 at the TCA Parma meets (I was a TCA officer then) he really had a sense of humor and we actually traded some good jokes.

Regards,

Lou N

I went with my brother once to an "auction" he had at his store. There weren't many people there, but he had some food set out. Glen started the auction, but nobody bid. The prices were pretty high. He got upset, gathered up the food, even taking the plate from one guy's hands, and told us all to leave. I was pretty shocked, but my brother laughed it off as a rite of passage.

I purchased many MPC area trains from Glen's Train shop up until 1977 when I went on active duty in the Army. Before I left for Fort Gordon I purchased a 681 form Glenn. I also purchased two loops of used O 72 track from Glenn, before KLine started reproducing O72 track. I did not see the track or the 681 until 1981 when I returned to the states from Germany. When I opened the box of track, not only were two loops of used  072 curves in the box, there was also a huge amount of O 72 staight track. I think O 72 straight has not been made since befor WWII.

My brouther in law was married in Akon in the late 80's. We took AMTRACK from Memphis to Akron. I made it a point to make a visit to 587 Grant Street and see Glen's Train shop. I recall the store had mostly K Line products. I spoke to Glen for a few minutes - and yes, he was a man of few words.

Most of the MPC I purchased from Glen is long gone, having been bit by the three rail scale bug. Memphis had only one or two hobby shops back in the 70's that carried a vary limited inventory of Lionel. Mail order was the only way to buy trains. Glen Uhl was a great dealer, he had good prices, and inventory.

Richard

GREAT POST everyone!

I have a couple of Glenn's items and I'd love to know exactly:

-What all did Glenn had made up (ie the 6464 Boxcars)?

-Were they actually done by the Lionel factory or elsewhere?

-And please provide part numbers along with an accurate description or better yet... PICTURES!!!

Thanks!

Best,

Dave

I visited the Unauthorized Train Shop many times.  For some reason Glen was good to me and made efforts to direct me to what I needed that was not displayed in his warehouse-like Train Shop.  His prices were OK.  I always bought quite a few items each time I visited my sister in Akron.  He was quite a corker.  I discovered and purchased all the passenger cars from Lionel's Norfolk and Western set well after they first came out.  I still remember how excited I was to find them.

What is "072 straight track?"  Isn't straight track...straight track?

No. Lionel made 072 straights (#762) to go with the curves (#761). They are approximately 15 inches long. They are the same length as a 072 (#711) switch. I think that they are still available (or were more recently than 1942). K-line also made them.

Lionel also made a "long" 90 degree crossover #720

Oh, now this is an interesting question!

I've heard with the 6464 Timken cars Mr. Uhl bought left over PW decals from Lionel, then had the shells stamped (but no white stripe added). I think I've also seen or read something about K-Line boxcars that looked similar too.

With the Auto Loader, I heard he bought left over red auto's with gray bumpers, left over red flats, and undecorated metal structures, then had the parts assembled with decal lettering.

I could add pictures today after work. I have

Timken solid yellow 6464-500

Timken solid orange 6464-500

6424 Auto Loader, but decal lettering on the black metal, and I don't think the flat car had the 6424 number.

There is also a 6446 (I think is the number) N&W hopper with PW lettering, but in MPC blue.

Isn't there also some kind of 634 cheapo Santa Fe switcher variant that was put together with PW and MPC parts mixed?

Sam 

I forgot about Owen Upp. Whatever happened to him and his store? Back in the early 80's my brothers and I got back into Lionel, but we needed new track. My brother ordered something like 300 pieces of regular O tubular straight track, but the boxes arrived with O27 curves. I called to straighten things out, but Owen Upp didn't want the O27 curves back. I traded the whole lot to my local hobby shop for a 1033 transformer. Some ten years later that shop closed and the guy who bought his inventory still had those Owen Upp O27 curves for some time at his shop.

Sam

“Those fellas didn't take crap from anyone, but once you were in their good graces, you were A-OK in their book.”

Not sure this is a good thing or a bad thing considering all three are now out of business.   Should any of our existing dealers use these three (Glenn’s, Own Upp and Madison Hardware) as a standard to measure themselves against?

I only have experience with Owen Upp and if the tradeoff was that “he didn’t take crap from anyone” verses my leaving any money on his counter than I guess I’m not really sure what this business of being in business is all about. Good bye and good reddens…

Charlie

I have no idea what became of Dwight and his store, although I understand the store has long since closed.  When I lived in the Milwaukee area, I was a regular at Sommerfeld's Hobbies (one of my favorite train stores in the world) and Dwight's establishment.  There also was a superb Marklin oriented store not far from Sommerfelds.

I imagine Roger, Kent, or one of the other fellows at CTT would know what happened to Dwight.  He was a regular advertiser and often hand-delivered his ads to us in Waukesha.

Knowing Roger, he'll likely read this post and send me an e-mail. 

All three are out of business because they either retired or died, not because they failed in business (quite the opposite, in fact).

I like guys who are not afraid to be their own man, and who are not afraid to have distinctive and somewhat unique personality attributes.  I'm not a big fan of those who feel that all must conform to some one-size-fits-all mold.

From what I hear Dwight is living with his daughter in the Milwaukee area. He has a room at a nursing home but never stays there. Owen Upp is long gone but Dwight can still be seen attending train shows in the Milwaukee area...and on a good day he smiles!  

Good to hear that, Chuck!  Thanks for the update!

quote:

I've heard with the 6464 Timken cars Mr. Uhl bought left over PW decals from Lionel, then had the shells stamped (but no white stripe added). I think I've also seen or read something about K-Line boxcars that looked similar too.

According to what has been published, the cars were made exclusively for Glen Uhl by Lionel. From what's been written, they did use original postwar Timken decals, which limited the size of the runs.
There was also a very small quantity of unique quad hoppers. I don't recall the details.

If Aaron from Aaron's City Trains, or for that matter any of the manufacturers are reading, a remake/special run of those Glen Uhl Timken boxcars in all 3 colors would be awesome. Who doesn't need a Timken boxcar?

This thread is great. I'm enjoying the stories/insights about Glen & Robert Uhl as well as those regarding Dwight from Owen Upp.

Allan,

Thanks so much for clarifying that point.  I think most of us suspected that was the case anyway, but I'm glad you made the post you did.

Also, I couldn't agree more regarding "personalities".  They may not be likable to everyone in this world... but that's seldom the case when folks take a stand on certain issues or otherwise have generally strong opinions on "how things should be done".    Gotta respect folks who live life -- sometimes in a larger than life way vs. conforming to other people's "expectations".  Makes for interesting reading, too!!!   

David

Back in '74, Glen told me about a factory sealed FM Virginian 2322 that he was going to dig out for me.  Well after about six months of bugging him about it, he finally broke down and said he couldn't locate it....but if I went to a place over in Canton, called Schaeffner's, I 'd find the elusive prize.  And so off I went to Canton. Low and behold, Glen was right. This Schaeffner guy had everything PW you could imagine! He had TWO factory sealed Virginians, a 2331, and a 2322!  They were priced at $200. and $175. respectively.  I came away with the 2322, and it was so mindt, the horn blew with a New Jersey accent!  Bought a lot of stuff from Schaeffner that summer, but also got a bunch from Glen. It was a great time to be into Postwar, and there's a ton of great memories associated with it. Too bad I got rid of that awesome FM a while later.  Not to fear, I got zillions of great ones now!

Jaygee - It was Dale Schaeffner who sent me to Glen's the first time maybe around '99. Since I grew up going to Schaeffner's in the 80's and loved it, his shop was the first place I'd stopped after getting back into the hobby (didn't time have time as a teen I guess) and looking for a particular MTH item. He told me to go see Robert at Glen's Train Shop in Akron. I remember asking him if he thought Robert would have it. He smiled and said something to the effect of him probably having it, but me finding it might be a different story (little did I know what awaited me, and yes Robert had the caboose in his mountain of shipping boxes - never would have found it without him).

I loved going into Schaeffners back in the 80s with the wall of classic Lionel trains, and all sorts of accessories, and other toys. So many of my early train memories are from going in there to look with my Dad, and then getting excited to go home and run my carpet central.

Here are the two Lionel Timken boxcars.

And here's the 6414 Auto Loader.

Sam

Oh Dear,,, there are NO PICTURES Sam 

... and who's got a picture of that RED 6464-500???

What about the Hopper car and the Santa Fe switcher???

Come on guys we wanna see "the goods" !!!!

Thanks,

Dave

Here is a brief article on the boxcars:

http://www.tcaetrain.org/articles/collecting/timken/

Here is the 6414 Automobile car:

http://www.train-station.com/P.../PW-6414GLENUHL.html

6446-25 N&W hopper

Sorry fella's, Glen Uhl was a first class A-hole.  I know that's harsh but I'll tell you my Glen's story. Being born and bred Akron I feel I am qualified to weigh in.

My father took my older brother and me to Glens with a cheap caboose that needed some sort of repair.  As mentioned above by Boxcoupler, Glen's solution was to place it on the floor and stomp it into bits.  He and my father (also ex navy) then proceeded to loudly exchange some choice words, words my brother and I didn't know my father used, I'm talking about all the big ones.  It's probably a good thing Glen didn't try to throw my father out.

Please keep in mind this was 1965, I was 7 my brother 9.  The fact that a grown man would do that in front of two young boys is inconcievable for any standard.  Long story short, my father demanded that Glen make it right which he did by replacing the crappy caboose with a Lionel 6557 Smoker (which is on my layout right now and will always be).  It's just lucky that my father kept my brother and I interested the hobby after such a bad experience at a young age.  We are both active collectors / operators.  We continued to go to Glen's only because he was the only game in  town, lucky for us he also had a great inventory as mentioned many times above.

His son Robert was a little quirky, but if you knwe his dad it would come as no surprise why.  He was always a gentlman and helpful.  Now that Aaron has the place, in my opinion it has never looked or been better.  If you were in the shop when Robert had it, you'll know what I'm talking about.

You can say Glen was "colorful" or a "character".  I'll stick with my description.