That is cool! Where was this?
Originally Posted by John23:
That is cool! Where was this?
Scranton, PA, 1950
Awesome photos. What department store were the photos from?
At the National Christmas Center in Paradise, PA (12 minutes from Strasburg) a Woolworths 5&10 is re-created in a 1930s Christmas season look. Marx trains are part of this wonderful display.
when kids had imagination you can see it in their eyes.
Originally Posted by B+M FAN:
when kids had imagination you can see it in their eyes.
Boy ain't that the truth. Operative word above is "had". Now a day kids only imagine whats on their Ipad/phone/tablet etc, it seems to me.
Originally Posted by Mill City:
Which reminds me of Eaton's in Toronto when I was growing up. Each year Eaton's Toyland had a miniature train right in Toyland. The equipment was built by either Canadian Pacific or Canadian National at their shops in Montreal and appeared first in Toronto and then Montreal stores. I think the train was a bigger highlight than Santa Claus! This is a very special memory for me.
It just shows how big trains were in post-war department store toy retailing.
Their is a history of the Eaton's Toyland trains in November-December 2005 issue of Canadian Rail. One train still exists at Expo Rail near Montreal. You can find the article online here.
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I sure remember the Department store windows at Christmastime. It was the Outlet Company and they had a fabulous window display of Lionel trains. This was something we looked forward to after Thanksgiving Day. It was and is a lasting impression.
This blog is a must for fans of the old department stores. Christmas time or other time:
My father worked at the outlet store in the 60's. In fact I have a copy of the Outlet Clock on my layout.
Small world, Spence. I worked there as well after school.
GREAT photo's everyone, Thanks. Trains and displays for me when I was young were in Hess Bros. Dept. store, Allentown, Pa. OHHHH the good old days.
I grew up in Bayonne NJ, home of Johnny Carsons tailor; Raul of Bayonne. I remember many of the dept stores having a display of some kind but do not remember the name of the stores. Some were just a loop in the window, others especially at the Christmas store were full on displays of everything Christmas. Then there was Dobbs hobby shop which always had something going on in the window. If we managed to drive to Jersey City the Two Guys from Harrison store had a large display along with a very active hobby/train dept. Never made it into NYC.
Little off topic:
Wonder how much business a store would get if it used its valuable floor space for train display now, and of course actually HAD the merchandise to back it up?
Originally Posted by JC642:
Certainly one of greatest, Joe. Hudson's was an amazing department store. Sad last moments...
I don't have any pictures, whish I did. I have memories of this HUGE train store as a kid, looking back I was small and sure the perspective of things where that of a 8 year old. The store is Box-Kar Hobbies in Cedar Rapids Iowa. It have moved a few time in town and the stores have gotten small over the years but the one I remember was on the corner of the block, you when UP to get in the front door and the train stuff went all the way to the ceiling! Might be a lot of kid imagination in that but I love the memory! BTW that was like 41 years ago.
Dan
Lining up to see Santa at JL Hudson
Originally Posted by Mill City:
Lining up to see Santa at JL Hudson
Reminds me of the line at the Christmas Story department store waiting to see Santa (You'll put your eye out")
Originally Posted by Captain John:
Awesome photos. What department store were the photos from?
Various.
Originally Posted by drodder:
I don't have any pictures, whish I did. I have memories of this HUGE train store as a kid, looking back I was small and sure the perspective of things where that of a 8 year old. The store is Box-Kar Hobbies in Cedar Rapids Iowa. It have moved a few time in town and the stores have gotten small over the years but the one I remember was on the corner of the block, you when UP to get in the front door and the train stuff went all the way to the ceiling! Might be a lot of kid imagination in that but I love the memory! BTW that was like 41 years ago.
Dan
You're right Box Kar is still here just smaller. Place to go is Caboose Stop Hobbies in Cedar Falls IA. Has permanent MTH layout in store center and always something to browse and hopefully tempt you to pry your wallet open.
great pictures. i do not have any form my childhood era but do remember going to Macy;'s NYC and seeing Lionel displays
Originally Posted by rrman:
Originally Posted by B+M FAN:
when kids had imagination you can see it in their eyes.
Boy ain't that the truth. Operative word above is "had". Now a day kids only imagine whats on their Ipad/phone/tablet etc, it seems to me.
I would be careful about that, kids are growing up today different than when I did, when some of the older members did, but kids and creativity have always gone together, as does imagination (quite frankly, it is us old farts who lack imagination, probably because we had adults as kids beating it out of us, telling us it was impossible). There are kids looking at that window who see the trains and imagine having a layout, there are kids looking at that window and want the BB gun to go and shoot at birds with. I am sure the kids of that generation were told by elders they had no imagination, that in their day they made their own toys out of sticks and such, or read books rather than spend their time listening to Dick Tracy and Little Orphan Annie on the Radio *lol*.
Seriously, don't put the kids of today down, they are different than we were, there is no doubt, but there are a lot of them who have just as much imagination as we did, and in some cases because of those devices can do more with it than we could. I also will add that the kids of today face a lot more pressure than we did from an early age, the pressure with school and the future is hitting kids younger and younger, we had the luxury of a childhood for the most part that let us be kids, we didn't have the pressure of GPA in the lower schools (stupid, I know, but it is there) or parents, worried about the future, that make it seem like imagination play and such are luxuries the kids can't afford, even when young, and that is sad. I see those kids, I see what many of them do, and want my opinion? The type of kid I am talking about, and they aren't rare, put most of us to shame in what they have to deal with.
One wonders how many department stores had train rides. This one was built for Eaton's in Toronto.
Originally Posted by bigkid:
Originally Posted by rrman:
Originally Posted by B+M FAN:
when kids had imagination you can see it in their eyes.
Boy ain't that the truth. Operative word above is "had". Now a day kids only imagine whats on their Ipad/phone/tablet etc, it seems to me.
I would be careful about that, kids are growing up today different than when I did, when some of the older members did, but kids and creativity have always gone together, as does imagination (quite frankly, it is us old farts who lack imagination, probably because we had adults as kids beating it out of us, telling us it was impossible). There are kids looking at that window who see the trains and imagine having a layout, there are kids looking at that window and want the BB gun to go and shoot at birds with. I am sure the kids of that generation were told by elders they had no imagination, that in their day they made their own toys out of sticks and such, or read books rather than spend their time listening to Dick Tracy and Little Orphan Annie on the Radio *lol*.
Seriously, don't put the kids of today down, they are different than we were, there is no doubt, but there are a lot of them who have just as much imagination as we did, and in some cases because of those devices can do more with it than we could. I also will add that the kids of today face a lot more pressure than we did from an early age, the pressure with school and the future is hitting kids younger and younger, we had the luxury of a childhood for the most part that let us be kids, we didn't have the pressure of GPA in the lower schools (stupid, I know, but it is there) or parents, worried about the future, that make it seem like imagination play and such are luxuries the kids can't afford, even when young, and that is sad. I see those kids, I see what many of them do, and want my opinion? The type of kid I am talking about, and they aren't rare, put most of us to shame in what they have to deal with.
True what you write. I am guilty of what the wife calls the "all" and "everyone" blanket statement syndrome. 
Been working on me for 44 years trying to break me of it without much success. 
Hi everyone hopefully everyone is doing OK? When I grew up we never went down town to Pittsburgh to go shopping. We had the Monroeville Mall and Sears in Wilkins Township. None of the stores had train display's in any of the windows so the only place to get train stuff was Clabers Hardware in North Versales or Loreskies hobby and camera shop in Monroeville. Choo Choo Kenny
Originally Posted by Dave Warburton:
Boxcar Bill. the Hobby House in Cleveland closed around 1994-95.
Also...the photos which started this post of Higbee's department store windows in Cleveland were the very same windows used in the classic film, "A Christmas Story," with Ralphie and his family standing in the same spot as the kids in these photos.
I thought so, thanks!
