I'd guess that would have been the Bellaire Roundhouse, owned by the Weiss
brothers, John and Wayne (saw Wayne at the St Louis Narrow Gage Convention
goingon two years ago--greyer but not thinner). It was very well stocked for
serious modelers and worth the occasional trip over from San Antonio, where I
was stationedin the mid-1970's.
Jace Kahn
General Manager
Ceres & Canisteo RR Co./Champlain County Traction Co.
You are probably thinking of G&G Model Shop:
http://www.gandgmodelshop.com/
It is owned by Gus Freitag, brother of Gil Freitag (famous
HO-scale modeler). Although both brothers' names start with a "G",
the "Gs" in the store's name are apparently from the previous
owners. The store is small but very well stocked. If any of you
are ever in Houston, and especially if you need scratchbuilding
materials, that is a great place to go. They have about equal
space dedicated to plastic kits (planes and automobiles) and
trains, but unfortunately no S. I'm not aware of any store in
Houston carrying anything in S.
For other Houston model railroading activities, see this web page:
http://pmrr.org/Research/HAMRR.htm
Just a public service announcement.
- Peter.
On 04/10/2012 11:09 am, Thomas Baker wrote:
Bob,
Every now and again I see a post from you and reflect on the
two years I lived in Houston and attended Rice University. Of
course, I could not repress my interest in model railroading
but was stuck in the Lionel mode back then. There was,
however, a hobby shop in Belle Aire, if I remember correctly.
One of the men working there was named Gill or something like
that. Somehow I met up with Pete from Pete's Switchstand.
Those two men were the positive memories. Pete never flagged
in his proselytizing efforts to convert me to S scale, but I
didn't bite back then.
A less positive memory is of my visit to a gentleman who
advertised having some 0-gauge stuff for sale. I paid him a
visit and found out he was a Klansman. He also tried to
recruit me to that crowd. I politely found a way to get out
the door as quickly as possible. I never thought I'd meet up
with a genuine KKK-er.
It wsa an interesting interlude.
Tom
