I recently purchased a rather large train collection. while going through the collection I came across this hat. it is a Carhartt engineers hat. nothing special except for the large sewn on material in the front. a large Lionel circle L with "Treasure House Garfield NJ" on the left and on the right " New Jersey's leading Lionel dealer". To me this is an incredible find. A fantastic piece of local train collecting history. for those of us collectors who live in Bergen county and northern NJ are familiar with Bill Vagel's Treasure House. many people and collectors bought or had their trains repaired there. to quote the late Pat Scuorzo from a METCA waybill :
It was the "Madison Hardware", of New Jersey, so to speak. It was located, where else but in Garfield NJ. "Treasure House" was the place to go for trains, parts and repairs. It was also a Friday night meeting place for many members of METCA.
After Bill Vagel closed shop on Friday nights we gathered at a local pizza place. We talked about trains, what new items we picked up and so forth. Many of those who attended were Bill Vagel, Joe Ranker, Doc Robinson, Joe Francis, Matt King, Fred Weber, Jerry Van Dyke and I. On some of those Friday nights we had the presence of Mr. Lenny Dean, from Lionel. He would tell us about new items coming from Lionel, out of the Irvington, NJ plant. Some of those people are no longer with us today and I will always remember those Friday night get-togethers, with other collectors and friends."
on a more personal part of the Treasure House my father(Ed) and Uncle Jerry took the bus as kids to Garfield to visit the great train store. my father ,now 76, remembers walking into the store around 1950 and seeing display shelves on both walls and circle of track in the window. he also remembers the work counter on the right hand side of the store. my mothers friend also married his son Bobby. I remember as a young boy Bobby having a Pepsi delivery truck with not just soda in it, but trains in it also. Bill Vagel and his Treasure House left his mark on many train collectors and operators. It doesn't take much to reminisce about good times. in this case all it took was a hat. if you have any stories or fond memories of the Treasure House and Bill lets hear them.
Kevin Quinn
METCA
Progress? 
