|
|
Post by dennym57 on Sept 15, 2019 14:30:18 GMT
Yesterday (Sat) some club members and myself drove to Mr. Muffin's in Atlanta, IN from Southwest Michigan. What a fun trip. He owns an entire block of the town which consist of the layout which is in one building and the store and restaurant which is in another building. Plus there is a train ride that is a full size passenger train. I think the engine is a 44 Tonner, but I'm not sure. Steve is a fantastic guy and loves to talk trains. (He remembered me from York) The layout is mind blowing and fills up the entire room. The store is down the block and across the tracks and is stocked very well. Next to the store is the Choo Choo Cafe. It's not very big, but the food was good. All in all not s bad day trip. |
|
|
|
Post by ptc on Sept 15, 2019 15:37:42 GMT
Steve is an excellent ambassador for our O-Gauge hobby. Did you happen to mention the OGF to him?
|
|
|
|
Post by dennym57 on Sept 15, 2019 17:54:23 GMT
No Brian, there were several people talking to him and I didn't get a chance to really chat with him it was mostly hi and bye. Plus I was mostly distracted by his amazing layout. When we sat down to eat at his cafe, I saw him running from building to building. He is a busy guy.
|
|
|
|
Post by thebigcrabcake on Sept 15, 2019 18:13:30 GMT
That looks like fun Denny! I will check it out next time I'm in that part of the Country. Your photos show excellent examples of the different building/sections you described. It has too be one of the biggest, if not THE biggest Hobby Shop in America. At least from a square footage point of view.
Emile
|
|
|
|
Post by rockymountaineer on Sept 15, 2019 19:35:53 GMT
Steve has quickly become quite the mogul in the toy train hobby, and he's an all-around nice guy too. In a few short years (or so it seems), he's developed quite a following of customers. To no surprise, Steve was one of the first dealers to have a very user-friendly website where he could sell his inventory online as opposed to just having a static website presence with informational pages. So I'm sure that gave him a leg up on the competition. He's also jumped in big-time with custom-run, exclusive product offerings in an effort to combat the waning interest in Lionel's BTO offerings. I'm sure to us mortals, Steve appears to be having lots of fun, but it's lots of hard work too being a dealer these days.
David
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Sept 15, 2019 19:56:14 GMT
Denny it looks familiar. Paula and I made a special trip there last summer just to see the place. Choo Choo Cafe was under construction then.Steve was a big help to us with track and turnouts and continues to be with wire, engines, and rolling stock.
He has created a revival in Atlanta and often has a crowd there on weekends.
Thanks for posting.
|
|
|
|
Post by Country Joe on Sept 15, 2019 21:07:51 GMT
Denny, thanks for the post and the photos. Of course I'd heard of Mr. Muffin's but I had no idea it was so much more than a train store.
I don't think that locomotive is a 44 tonner though it does resemble one. I'm amazed that such a small engine can pull all those passenger cars.
|
|
|
|
Post by kstrains on Sept 16, 2019 4:59:42 GMT
Steve's layout is great layout to see! He a very big collection of Atlas Refeers. I think he has all of them! I have been to his shop several times but has been a coupl years since I was there last. Need to plan another trip!
|
|
|
|
Post by rockymountaineer on Sept 16, 2019 6:16:01 GMT
Steve's layout is great layout to see! He a very big collection of Atlas Refeers. I think he has all of them! ... That may very well be true! I can recall when Atlas-O first started the 40' reefer series way back when. We all thought they'd be the modern-day 6464 "collectibles". So I started grabbing them. For a few years, secondary market prices of the first handful of reefers jumped into the stratosphere as everyone and their brother was trying to collect ALL of them -- thinking they'd be like the 30 or so Lionel postwar 6464 boxcars. Little did we know Atlas-O had different ideas about their reefers, and they ended up producing DOZENS and DOZENS -- perhaps even HUNDREDS -- of 40' reefers... some of which were only available as special-run exclusives through dealers and clubs. I bagged the idea of collecting ALL of them pretty early on when I saw the writing on the wall -- namely, you'd need an ENORMOUS warehouse wall to display all of them. But Steve was one of the few "faithful ones" who hung in there. He might even have all of the multiple-numbered reefers too. Not sure of that though. But if anybody does, Steve would be the guy. David |
|
|
|
Post by kstrains on Sept 16, 2019 22:10:01 GMT
Steve's layout is great layout to see! He a very big collection of Atlas Refeers. I think he has all of them! ... That may very well be true! David Steve said at one point he sold most all of his Refeers to fund one of his children's college education. Later he rebought them again. He said he had a hard time finding some the more difficult ones to find but with the help of friends he got each one back that he sold. |
|
|
|
Post by Joe Saggese on Sept 17, 2019 13:34:47 GMT
Hopefully I can make it out there soon. Its hard to find a train shop with inventory.
|
|
|
|
Post by dennym57 on Sept 18, 2019 20:36:20 GMT
Picked up this MTH Pioneer Valley Ham and Bacon reefer. Attachments:
|
|
|
|
Post by dennym57 on Sept 18, 2019 20:37:01 GMT
Picked up this MTH Pioneer Valley Ham and Bacon reefer from the store. Okay this completely did not post right. |
|
|
|
Post by dennym57 on Sept 18, 2019 21:10:14 GMT
|
|
|
|
Post by laz57 on Sept 18, 2019 21:21:44 GMT
DENNY,
Looks like a great place to visit. I have purchased quite a bit from STEVE. Awaiting the new Lionel Hudson specially made for him.
|
|
