It may have been something else - I know the Western Auto store in La Salle, IL, had Lionel in the late '60's, maybe early '70's. I remember a couple of 5&10 stores in Ottawa, IL, that had AF displays in December. Then, of course, there was Sears, and Penneys, and the list goes on.
There was a store in La Salle, IL, called O'leary's. Whenever we hit town, I would head for the 2nd floor. You could here the rumble and the roar of the Lionel trains raising the dust on the floor before you even walked in the front door! They carried AF, too, but the Lionel layout was the big draw. I remember drooling over an AF Santa Fe PA/PB set of Alco's Conversely, the Packard dealer in Ottawa, IL, had a large space in one corner of his display floor for an AF layout and a huge selection of AF products. The AF trains didn't have the rumble and roar, thanks to the rubber roadbed under the track, but, "oh, that smoke and choo-choo", plus comparing the appearance of AF to Lionel was like comparing a graceful race horse to a plodding water buffalo. AF was always pleasant to watch in action, while Lionel looked like it could do some serious damage if anything got in tis way! The key here was high visibility of quality and attractive products (yes, even Lionel). There were one or two hobby shops in the area, but they focused more on HO and advanced model railroading. I don't think I ever visited one until in my early teens. Bob Nicholson ______________________________________________ --- In [email protected], JGG KahnSr <jacekahn@...> wrote: > > > As I recall, my Western Auto had only Lionel; could have been that another > [hardware and plumbing] store in the small city had the AF franchise? > > Jace Kahn > > General Manager > Ceres & Canisteo RR Co./Champlain County Traction Co. > > > > > > > Completely different market. I wanted an AF train set from the first time I > > saw one run at a Western Auto store in the late 1940's. I finally realized > > my dream in 1953. > > > > There was another difference, too. J. Lionel Cowan and A.C. Gilbert built > > stuff that pleased their market, not their marketing "experts". > > Bob Nicholson ________________________________________ > > > > It was readily available at York this week, loads of Flyer on tables, > > > probably not priced to sell to the average person and that may be the > > > issue. > > > Just not affordable???? Too collectable???? > > > Jim Lyle > > > > > > > Good point - look at how American Flyer flew off the shelves when it was > > > readily available. > > > Bob Nicholson ________________________________________ > > > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] > ------------------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/S-Scale/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/S-Scale/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: [email protected] [email protected] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [email protected] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
