Electric Train Outlet draws hobbyists from across the Midwest
By Kim BellST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
12/19/2006
OVERLAND — "The land of misfit boys," Bruce Brown says from his perch on the stool at the train store.
"Look at them," he says. "They look like little kids."
Brown motions toward the group of men over 50 who spend Friday mornings in the Electric Train Outlet, which boasts the Midwest's largest inventory of model trains.
Every Friday, over doughnuts and coffee, they talk trains, watch trains and have their own train sets repaired.
One of the regulars, a lawyer from Chesterfield, manipulates a remote-control switch that makes smoke puff, brakes squeal and little voices inside a little crane car yell things such as, "Swing the boom!"
The men stand over the sprawling display table, towering over miniature trees and hand-painted people the size of thimbles.
Colin Jersa, 4 is held by his father, Michael Jersa as Bob Jacobson, owner of the Electric Train Outlet shows the younger Jersa how to work the controls. (F. Brian Ferguson/P-D)
Misfit boys? Brown, 59, is one of them, of course. He is a customer who drives 90 minutes from his home in Chester, Ill., to get here. He has 400 feet of track in his basement at home. He and his wife, Mary, operate the trains every evening for an hour before going to bed.
"I have enough routes and scenery that it doesn't get boring," Brown says.
The camaraderie at the Electric Train Outlet keeps him coming here. And the antics of store owner Bob Jacobson.
"He's Santa Claus with an attitude," Brown says. "I really enjoy being around him."
And Jacobson knows trains.
Jacobson is the proprietor of the Electric Train Outlet. He has been at the new, 5,000-square-foot building at 9517 Page Boulevard for about 18 months. Before that, he spent 12 years at a smaller facility further west on Page. Before that, he ran a train store in St. Louis.
The website features a happy lion with the phrase, "Service with a smile."
But regulars scoff at that. They good-naturedly anointed him, "Service with Abuse," and he wears the label with some pride.
He doesn't suffer fools — especially when it comes to those who ask questions without ever bothering to read the directions.
"People come in, they're doctors, lawyers and Indian chiefs, but nobody can read," Jacobson says.
Operator error, is what Jacobson calls it.
This time of year, it seems, Jacobson spends half of his time fixing new trains. Regular customers love knowing that if they buy something from Jacobson, he'll fix it without charging for his labor.
Experts say $500 million is spent annually on model railroads. And Jacobson has a corner on the Midwest.
"This is serious training, not just toys," says Rich Edwards, the lawyer from Chesterfield who is a regular at the Friday gatherings. "They have close to $1 million in inventory. Go to the east or go to the west, and you won't find anything like this."
Brown says: "I've been to Chicago train stores, and they have nothing like this. This fella is top-notch."
A man from North Carolina calls Jacobson several times a week to talk trains. A man from Houston sought Jacobson's advice on repairing American Flyer trains. "Guys call me from all over," he says. A man and his son visit the store regularly from Poplar Bluff, Mo.
Jacobson owned body shops and an advertising company for years and did trains on the side. A dozen years ago, a friend had an electronic and computer parts store and devoted a small area to model trains. He asked Jacobson to help.
Jacobson's father and grandfather had trains. When Jacobson was a boy, it was a family tradition the day after Thanksgiving to move the living room furniture into his parents' bedroom, bring in the train table from the garage and have it running by Saturday.
"When I got to be 15, the women got in my way," he said. "At 25, I got back into trains again. By 30, I was married and started filling up the basement."
His home on Neosho Avenue has a 58-by-25-foot train setup in the basement. The trains run on the elevated track that skirts behind the furnace and hot water heater, behind the washer and dryer.
"I go to the extreme and put little headlights in the cars," Jacobson says.
His wife, Donna, used to paint little shutters and miniature people in the scenery. "As soon as we got married, that was over," Jacobson says with a laugh.
Donna Jacobson remains supportive. "I never have to worry about him hanging out in a bar," she says.
Some husbands don't have that kind of backing. One man in the store was showing off his new $1,800 Hiawatha passenger train that had just come in. He'd had it on order for a year, and that's all he had been talking about while waiting for it to arrive.
"How you going to get that in house?" Brown asked the lucky owner.
"Take it apart and sneak it in one car at a time," the man replied, sheepishly. He explained he also has a secret fund that he keeps from his wife for model train expenses.
Bob Jacobson still has the mountain that his son, Jason, helped build and decorate for the train layout when he was 5. Now Jason, 31, of Charlack, comes to the shop and still gets a kick out of things like the talking crane car.
Trains are still a draw
Jason Jacobson said not every teenager these days is hung up on computer games. He's seen a lot more teens coming in by themselves buying track. "That blew me away," he said. "I haven't seen that in a while."
Modern-day trains, after all, have digital computers built in.
Bob Jacobson said he's impressed when the 5- and 7-year-olds come in with their grandpas and already know the makes of trains.
"They know this is a General locomotive, this is a Hudson, this is a Challenger."
Starter sets are $189 and up at this store. Jacobson might steer grandparents toward these if their grandkids have a tendency to destroy things.
Big pleasers around Christmas include a Lionel set where Santa Claus comes out of the caboose with a lantern, and the Polar Express train with its puff of smoke.
"Almost everybody in here is over 40, they've stayed in the hobby, and the kids are really coming back into it," Jacobson said. He attributes that renewed interest to the popularity of Thomas the Tank Engine and Polar Express.
Gene Garofalo, a retiree from Florissant, figures he's sunk $30,000 into his train setup. It spans 17 sheets of plywood. His favorite features are the miniature carnival, merry-go-round and restaurants.
"It took me two years to do the decorations," he said.
He's been to several train stores, but lingered at Jacobson's store, at the old location, five or six years ago. "I went nuts when I saw that big layout," he said. "I came here with $7,000 and spent it all the first day."
Another regular is Fred McCoy of Town and Country, who started building his 350-square-foot train layout in his basement as soon as he knew his grandbaby was going to be a boy.
"He's nuts about it," McCoy says.
But McCoy acknowledges it wasn't built entirely for the grandson.
"Half for him, half for me."