It is not a new store there about 40 yrs.but it is new to me. It is down the basement of another store so it was not very neat lots of trains though.It is on w45th st. in manhattan ny.Its called the red cabose only the sign on the street caught my attention. Does anyone else know this store and what do you think of it? rambo1…
Been there, seen it done that. The guy who runs the store used to be located on the 5th floor of a building across the street. He had a lot of old out of production stuff for awhile. Wasn’t too impressed with his prices though. Speaking of 40 years, there’s definately stuff there that looks as if it has been there for that long… especially some of the brass stuff. I remember seeing some of that equipment when i was a young teenager almost 20 years ago. I drop into the store 2 or 3 times a years to check things out. It was nice when there use to some other hobby shops on that block. I definately prefer making the subway trek out to Train World in Brooklyn. As a New Yorker (Manhattan), the Red Caboose is the best thing we have. I’m still trying to figure out how he is able to afford the Midtown/5th Avenue lease prices especially since i keep reading about how hobby shops in places where rent is much much much cheaper are closing down.
I remember that basement store going back over 50 years. It has had several owners and names over that period and is now the Red Caboose. It is just as much of a mess now as it was across the street. The owner can be very testy and short with customers. Since he is one of the only shops left in the area he can probably make the rent and more. He also does mail order or at least he used to. I usually get down there about every three years or so. Next trip i’m going to try to get to Trainworld too.
A friend of mine told me about a train shop in Cold Spring, NY.(Putnam County). I went up there with him a couple of weeks ago. The shop closed a week later. I guess cause I didn’t buy anything.
I don’t think the prices were that cheap either they were at canadian prices and I can buy a littel cheaper here in toronto. rambo1…
A rapido coach that sells for 59 I can buy for 39 or less. He asked 59. rambo1…
I worked on 45th between 5th Ave and Avenue of the Americas from 1975 to 1987 when my company moved to Memphis. There were actually three great hobby shops there all of which were within that same block. The Red Caboose was across the street from the place it is now along with the third one. Every single day at lunch I would visit all three and getting up to the fourth floor to the Red Caboose in the tiny elevator was a real adventure. I learned something new everyday and they would actually let me measure the dimensions of some of the brass logging locos so I could recreate them in HOn30. The Hobby Shop owner of the shop which now is the Red Caboose went way back and the lady owner then was a legend. Sam Posey wrote about these hobby shops in his book " Playing With Trains. Peter Smith, Memphis
The original store at 23 W45th Street in Manhattan goes back a lot more than 40 years ago. It was Carmen Webster’s Model Railroad Equipment Corporation, probably the best stocked model railroad store in the United States back in its prime in the 1950s and 1960s. The clerks who worked there then were active modelers who provided a wealth of information, not only about what they sold but almost any aspect of the hobby. The red-haired owner, was as someone else noted, a legend; along with Bobby Hall of Texas (owner of Hallmark Models), Carmen was one of the few women working in the hobby. For awhile she even put out an annual catalog of hobby items that predated Walther’s. Patrons and staff from those days grow misty eyed recalling the store as it was then. One former clerk has even created a testimonial on his web site:
http://www.theworldofcomputron.com/Work_Hist_Pg_012.htm
Though I was frequent customer when I lived in New York through the '60s, I was shocked when I later returned and discovered that the location was taken over by a former rival from across the street who was famed for his rudeness–and failure to keep up stock or offer useful help. That he still remains in business remains a mystery, as no one who shopped in the original store seems to have returned after more than one experience dealing with him.
Frank
Once I got use to the quirky guy at the Red Caboose, I found the old elevator and the messy attic conditions of his shop to all be part of an unforgettable NY experience and paid a visit there almost every day. To search through his shop and always find something new and useful was worth the effort. It was something like visiting Northlanz. Sam Posey devotes more than one page of his book on his Christmas visit there. ( Playing With Trains page 42) Peter Smith, Memphis
At one time there was a window but he told my wife the land lord took it away . My wife found him a little hyper but sill very nice to my family. My daughter loved his cat. rambo1…