Model Railroading > K-Val Hobbies in Buffalo NY closing up shop

End of an era for Western New York model railroad enthusiasts. Log on to Buffalo News website for some great photos of his home HO layout.

http://www.buffalonews.com/city-region/last-stop-nears-for-north-buffalo-model-train-shop-but-owners-passion-carries-on-20150105

Thanks for sharing the link. That's a great story. We are led to believe he was still making money?

I liked this quote about his model of the El Paso Station:

'Schuh points out the El Paso train station.

“One of the times the P fell off,” he laughs heartily. “Of all the letters to fall off.”'



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/06/15 08:54 by wabash2800.

Anytime I stopped in to K-Val it seemed to be busy. Only real hobby shop in this area that catered to model railroaders so I would think they were doing ok. I think father time just caught up with him. It was a good run!

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wabash2800 Wrote:
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> We are led to believe he was still making money?

That's what I took from the article. Sounds like he's
probably made the decision that he finally want's to be
able to wake up and go back to bed or whatever he wants.

It was never mentioned in the article but what kind of
neighborhood was the shop in? Maybe that played a small
part, I don't know just thinking what factors may be in play.
It did say the layout was dismantled and moved.

Building repairs and all kinds of other things could have
played a factor in his decision as well.

Sad to see the shop close as it seems like it was well
liked and he certainly could provide a mountain of memories
and information that is not found in books or on the internet.

I wish him all the best in the future.

Kris

The neighborhood was a commercial/industrial area and was relatively safe. Not a lot of options left in this area for a full line hobby shop for model railroaded.

I've bought a few things from K-Val over the years, more recently, I would pick up a copy of Railpace Magazine or something like that as I got out of model trains several years ago in favor of being a passenger on one of the 12 inches-equals-a-foot-models! Bob would always have a nice conversation with you. There used to be a lot more hobby shops around here as others have said and many over the years have closed as this hobby just doesn't draw as many people as it used to (plus the internet has well changed everything). I'm 37 and I can remember as a kid in the late 80's, there were probably half a dozen or more model train shops around Western NY!

Amtrak288 Wrote:
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> I've bought a few things from K-Val over the
> years, more recently, I would pick up a copy of
> Railpace Magazine or something like that as I got
> out of model trains several years ago in favor of
> being a passenger on one of the 12
> inches-equals-a-foot-models! Bob would always
> have a nice conversation with you. There used to
> be a lot more hobby shops around here as others
> have said and many over the years have closed as
> this hobby just doesn't draw as many people as it
> used to (plus the internet has well changed
> everything). I'm 37 and I can remember as a kid
> in the late 80's, there were probably half a dozen
> or more model train shops around Western NY!

Well, that's the problem in a nutshell: too many old guys giving up the hobby or just deciding that they have enough stuff and don't need anymore. Couple that with the fact that most serious modelers buy their expensive items online to get a discount & save the sales tax. If "Bob" didn't own the building and the lease was up for renewal, he gave a lot of thought to the fact that he was selling more magazines than locos and that virtually no young guys were coming along to pick up the slack, so he decided to fold. One huge disappointment to old hobby shop owners is the cold, hard fact that their business is not salable. So many guys always thought that they would work their shops until they didn't want to anymore and then sell out for a fat price & retire. These days, they are lucky if they can get ten cents on the dollar for their inventory and to get out of their lease with their landlord. If you have a local hobby shop, do your very best to support it and enjoy it while you can. It probably won't be there in the not too distant future.

I met him last year for the first time, and as I was the only customer there at the time he had lots of time to talk. I wish I had recorded the conversation about his time on the aircraft carrier, absolutely fascinating!
He made me a deal on a nice sunset Santa Fe steam locomotive, told me that he had too many in his collection and wanted it to go to a good home. He sold it to me for $200 and was smiling as he packed it up for me. A real gem of a man.

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