" old toy shops"

Hi Friend, read with interest your story of old toyshops. Thats one thing I miss from the old days (1950-60). There used to be a wee corner shop here in Coleraine (N.I.) and you could get matchbox cars and tri-ang trains aplenty. Then one day he said he was retiring at the end of the month. He is still sadly missed. His shop is now an off-licence.
Hope you get a return journey with plenty of cash to buy some goodies.
Regards ......... Brian

Hi Brian,off to somerset next month so I'll pay them a visit,its my 40th also so lots of presents

when i was young, we had a shop in south side glasgow called mcmillan models. typical toy shop that had a large model train dept. they always had a layout in the window. when mum went to the butchers shop next door, she'd leave me outside staring in awe at the model trains going around on the layout in the window. then she'd want to go to the bakers, the fruit & veg shop and as i got older was allowed to wait outside the model shop for longer as she went off to get her shopping. and occasionally, she'd take me inside and buy me a wagon or a station building or something else small - i remember the excitement of choosing a wagon. i still have them all in my model railway cupboard in their boxes. i luv bringing them out to look at every now and again and i get reminded of the moment of being bought them!. as you, they were special days.

its one of the reasons i so enjoyed my time in the model shop in kansas - an old time shop - like the ones i knew as a kid - stacked hi - bit chaotic - boxes of things everywhere - but nothing was hidden away or out of reach!. was just magical being in there!

nowadays, i still get the thrill of buying a new train set - i like to buy the german start sets!. ... that excitement of opening the box has never gone away for me!. lol. maybe my next one will have to be a marklin start set to keep and cherish before they are no longer around as we know them!

QUOTE (madon37s @ 7 Mar 2009, 17:38) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Is that like a good old fashioned hobby/model shop Neil as I have never been there.

Kind regards

Paul
Yes Paul, they do all sorts of stuff, die cast and dolls house as well as model rail. They have a website which shows their store front.

cheers Neil

QUOTE when i was young, we had a shop in south side glasgow called mcmillan models. typical toy shop that had a large model train dept. they always had a layout in the window. when mum went to the butchers shop next door, she'd leave me outside staring in awe at the model trains going around on the layout in the window. then she'd want to go to the bakers, the fruit & veg shop and as i got older was allowed to wait outside the model shop for longer as she went off to get her shopping. and occasionally, she'd take me inside and buy me a wagon or a station building or something else small - i remember the excitement of choosing a wagon. i still have them all in my model railway cupboard in their boxes. i luv bringing them out to look at every now and again and i get reminded of the moment of being bought them!. as you, they were special days.

That took me back! I never got to the shop(Macmillans), although we used to pass it while going on our summer holidays to England (no M8 then, our route was Paisley- Busby- East Kilbride -Strathaven- A74!). Although I usually bought the Hornby catalogue from them at their stand at Model Rail Scotland, which at that time was in the superb MacLellan Galleries.

Great memories!

In Paisley, there really wasn't much in the way of model trains. We had the Variety stores toyshop which had a shelf of railway items in the window . The railway section was right at the back of the shop with all these lovely red boxes. My mother bought me treats whenever I had been to the dentist, so I do remember getting a Triang Mk1 SR brake (on the basis that it was the same colour as the green dmus in the area) and a Blue Pullman dummy motor car with full yellow ends - the closest I could get to what I now know were Class 303 emus - well it was blue and yellow! There was Hughes the ironmonger in Neilston Road . I remember getting a B12 freight set from him when he closed down in early 74. Apart from that there was Browns sweet shop which started to stock some Hornby in the mid seventies.

There was a thrill opening red boxes back then - which I don't really get now. Probably an age thing!

For serious purchases it had to be Argyle Models in the heilandmans umbrella!

Russell

QUOTE wow - id forgotten all about argyle models! ... what happened to them?

They had the small shop under Central Station with the construction kits upstairs and railways downstairs . Magical place! I remember they had display cases with Trix and Wrenn stuff which as a Triang Hornby boy I thought was very exotic. Always wanted a blue Wrenn Sir Nigel Gresley. They used to have lots of catalogues as well. I remember getting a Minitrix one there probably around 1969. It had the rheingold coaches in red /cream and E103 loco.

Moved to a much larger shop just along the road (still under Central station) in 1978, but I think had gone around 1982. I don't know if it was the higher overheads. There seemed to be a period around 78/79 when model shops sprang up in Glasgow only to disappear around 1982. SMS set up in Wellington Street, Railmail was round the corner in St Vincent Street. You had Argyle Models and a shop in Cambridge Street. I think there was one in the High street too. Railmail eventually became D & F and moved to Parnie Street . But the rest have gone. Not to mention Lewis's and Menzies that had a large Hornby section in the mid 70s

Russell

I spent quite a few lunch times in Argyle Models when I was an engineer cadet at Glasgow Nautical College in the early 1970's. Mark you a lot of the other cadets thought it a bit strange I didn't spend the time in the Pub!
Macmillan's was a bit further away so I didn't get there very often, but I did buy a complete Trix Transpenine unit from them; still got that. I seem to remember they had two shops, though I think one was more a newsagents.
Occasionally visited the shop in Cambridge Street [Glassfords?] when we were up at Stow College for workshop training. The owner [I assume] was a bit of a strange character, if you asked "do you keep&#8230;&#8230;.?" His immediate reply was "No, I don't keep things, I sell them"!

Being an Edinburgh 'boy' [still am] I've know Harburn Hobbies for years, firstly at the foot of Leith Walk.
The other shop I remember from the 60's was up by the Kings Theatre on the corner of either Gilmore Place or Gillespie Crescent.
Railmail also had a shop in Morrison Street for a few years and there was a short lived one out Clerk Street way.

Must be getting old reminiscing like this!!!!

Jerry

The only time I've visited Scotland was with my dad in the lorry when I was a child,perhaps a visit is due as I'd like to go on the Kyle/Lochalsh line and a friend has a restaurant up there and a visit to some model shops is a must. Regards Andy.
PS,bored of driving so a train journey is the way to get up there...