Hi All,
Pieter, I know that this has very little to do with S scale and that you
wanted the thread ended but I thought I'd share anyway.
I was very fortunate to work in North York Hobbies part-time during my
University years, 1971 - 1975, for one of my jobs. I played the piano in
studios in my other off times.
In 1978, when I lost my teaching job because of teacher surplus, I worked at
George's Trains.
These two were THE model train suppliers of Toronto from 1960 - 1990.
George's is still around but had to move to Markham last year because city
hall upped their taxes so much.
My experience was that there was only Flyer offered at George's. In fact
both stores told me that there were no S scale manufacturers at all. This
could have been ignorance or the fact that S was not available from Walthers
where both shops got their merchandise from. Probably the latter.
Interestingly, when I was there, George's had a Flyer CNR reefer which I was
mildly interested in. I guess I should have bought it as the last two I saw
on EBay went for over $200 USD!
As for my working experience in these places, Bob Werre got it right.
Nothing much happened during the week unless it was after 4:30 pm. Fridays
and Saturdays were panic time. North York was open on Thursdays until 9.
We would get the odd individual who would come in at 8:55 and decide to read
at the magazine rack. We devised various ways to discourage these
individuals. In those days, we could smoke in the shop;->
George's closed on Fridays at 8:30 and Saturdays at 4:30. Since North York
was open until 9:00 on Friday and 6:00 on Saturday, we would get an influx
at the last minute on both days.
I never saw any S scale in those days, only Flyer at George's.
When I first got into S scale, in 2001, George's had a lot of scale stuff
in. There were Mainline kits, Kinsman kits and lots of SHS. Apparently an
S scale basement dealer decided to get out and sold his lot to George's. It
was beauty because I got to negotiate some pretty good deals for my HO brass
since I was the only S scaler around who was interested. Unfortunately, the
Flyer CNR reefer was long gone:-< It would have been neat as a memento from
my 1978 experience.
The owner of North York retired about 10 years ago and the business ended.
I still go into George's occasionally to show them my S scale stuff and
deliver whatever HO products I produce that they need. What is really neat
is that anything S scale that comes in, they save for me and usually let me
have at an offer I can't refuse. The last thing I got was from their
manager. It was a NWSL Jones and Lauglin tank car. It was painted with
really thick silver enamel and varnish for weathering. The paint gelled
when I tried to remove it at first. Eventually, I did succeed.
Since Bill Lane told us all that this car only ran about 8 miles between
factories in PA, it will become a beer car! Sorry it's already been
repainted. Bill, if you really need to know what I got it for, I will tell
you offlist.
Another hobby shop in Mississauga, called Credit Valley, is willing to
showcase my S scale kits and take orders. I will probably take them up on
that offer.
When I was working at these shops, I was in HO and the HO Canadian steam
brass was coming out in droves from Van Hobbies. It was like being a 'kid
in a candy store'. I really appreciate the time that I worked at those
places and really do try to support George's and Credit Valley for paint,
scenic materials and anything else I need.
cheers,
Andy Malette
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