The Carriage House - Northwest Indiana - Did anyone take photos?

Used to drive through and gas up in Merrillville every month on way to Wheaton, and never even HEARD of that!

Derek, sorry, I can't help with your request, but I did visit many times and bought a few things from him.  I have a pretty good idea of the layout and as you stated, it was a great multi-level layout with lots of action. Good luck with the photos.

Charlie

Is that video the sequel to the Blair Witch Project?  Or will Jason jump out any minute wearing his hockey mask?

I tried watching it, but it was jerking and moving to fast for me. 

I bought a lot of trains there when I was going to school and was a  frequent visitor as I grew up in the area.  The nicest store layout I have ever seen.  It was a large L shaped layout with great landscaping all the way to the ceiling and a fantastic water dam scene.  The landscaping on it reminded me of the layout at Lionel headquarter when it existed in Michigan.  The entire layout ran off of TMCC.  I think there was 4 or 5 separate loops.  Most of the building were custom painted.  Keep in mind this was back in the late 90’s.  Brass railings around the layout with Lionel bar stools around it for visitors. I also thought they were one of the first people selling Lionel bars stools to folks.  When walking in initially, you would never guess there was a large awesome layout in there, but you needed to walk to the back.  The video shown here is pretty sad considering what it used to be.  I will follow up with my dad, as I think he may have pictures of it.

Funny because I don’t remember any one named Harry there.  It’s been a few years, but I thought Jeff was the owner.  
Megan being there mostly during the week .   I also remember Chuck and Jim filling in on the weekends. 

Another cool place close by was Illiana Short Line just west of Munster, Jimmy was the owner there and also had a cool store layout with long runs.

Both of these places were almost exclusively o gauge, pretty cool time in the hobby.

Mike,

I think Illina Short Line was on Ridge Road in Lansing, Illinois. Forum member Richard Perrott was the very knowledgeable man behind the counter.  John

I remember Richard, very nice.  Huge UP guy.

@Hump Yard Mike posted:

Brass railings around the layout with Lionel bar stools around it for visitors. I also thought they were one of the first people selling Lionel bars stools to folks.

I bought a couple Lionel bar stools from them around 2000ish.

@Hump Yard Mike posted:

Funny because I don’t remember any one named Harry there.  It’s been a few years, but I thought Jeff was the owner.  
Megan being there mostly during the week .   I also remember Chuck and Jim filling in on the weekends. 

 

Hi Mike, 

Glad I'm not the only one who remembers. You're absolutely right that Harry was not a regular fixture around the store. Jeff is Harry's son and I believe he was running day to day operations in the train store. I also remember Chuck and Jim, but my dealings were mostly with Jeff.

I was able to salvage a few of the bridge piers from the dam, and you're absolutely right about it being one of the focal points on the layout.  

Hopefully your Father took some photos, would love to see the layout in all its glory again. 

@rattler21 posted:

Mike,

I think Illina Short Line was on Ridge Road in Lansing, Illinois. Forum member Richard Perrott was the very knowledgeable man behind the counter.  John

It was on Ridge Road in Lansing. I was the UPS driver there 25 years ago. The O gauge layout was very nice. The hobby store didn't last long though,too bad.

@Dan986 posted:

It was on Ridge Road in Lansing. I was the UPS driver there 25 years ago. The O gauge layout was very nice. The hobby store didn't last long though,too bad.

Dan,

Please contact me off list about UPS KWs.

John

Very sad video. I could imagine what was...Miketg

I lived in Hammond in the late 90's up till 2005 and used to go there often and bought a fair amount of trains there.  In addition to the trains, it was an antique store and he seemed to have collected a bunch of large store and resturaunt signs.  I think he had a SHoney's Bog Boy there in the yard.  And yes, I did get to see that layout run.  If memory serves, he had done a lot of work on it in the early 2000's to get it to the final state.  They were super nice, the kind of place you could walk in and honestly just hang out and BS for as long as you wanted and they were happy to talk about anything.  I always wanted to go back up there but sadly missed out obviously.  Very sad to know that it is being bulldozed now.  I do wish I had some pictures but unfortunately I do not.

Dang, I was finally able to watch that video, that was kind of sickening really, knowing I had been in that shop probably 50 times and purchased a lot of trains there.  Anyone one know how it came to be abandoned?  did the owner pass away suddenly or or was there possibly debt issues that allowed it to become abandoned?  I forgot until watching that the guy also did  stained glass work as well, he had a full room of those activities going on as well.