Frank the Train Man
I came across a fantastic post by LVFan (a.k.a.Frank and no he is not Frank the Trainman) while browsing through the O Gauge Railroading forum this morning. The subject of the post was a response to a forum participant’s request for experiences with Frank the Train Man, a small hobby shop in San Diego. LVFan’s description of the shop paints a wonderful picture of what I’m sure everyone would considered the ideal train shop. Here is the post in it’s entirety:
I lived in San Diego for 19 years and for several years lived about
four blocks from Frank The Trainman’s original store ( it’s a credit
union now, or at least was the last time I was there ) My wife ( now ex
) and I would take walks in the evening and inevitably wind up at his
store and spend some time looking in the window. Frank had a number of
glass cases that held post war cars and locomotives that were nice
pieces but not uncommon so they were not too expensive. Something would
catch my eye and
that would mean a visit was in order the following
Saturday. When you went into the store, there was a beautiful charm and
ambiance about the place. Old glass cases, wood floors, shelves around
the walls filled with pre war sets and pieces, some for sale some not,
old paint on the walls and dust. And of course, always there was Frank
and his wife two of the nicest and friendliest people you would ever
want to meet. I would go to the case with the post war trains and ask
to see this piece or that and make my choices; tank car, box car,
hopper, Sometimes I would come away with three or four cars and I spent
maybe $25.00. I don’t know where he got the stuff from as the selection
always changed and the shelves were never empty. Glimpses into the back
room revealed orange and blue boxes from floor to ceiling. I often
wondered what he had down in the basement or up stairs. He did a few
repairs for me over the years tuned up a locomotive, replaced a broken
coupler. No charge “ Did the repair with stock on hand” he would say
with a smile. Sometimes he would talk of meeting with Joshua L. Cowen
on trips to NY or of having a dozen pink girls trains left after
Christmas one year because “nobody wanted ‘em”……. many great stories.
One of the other neat things about the store was the large neon sign
out front. It was a steam locomotive, in red with the words Frank The
Train Man in I believe green. As was the norm for old neon signs it had
“motion”, smoke would come out of the stack and steam from the
cylinders. When he closed the shop the sign was saved, declared an
historical piece and placed inside the new credit union building. When
he decided to retire, he offered to sell me the shop. He said, “Well at
least if you bought it you would not have to change the name” I was
very young then so I don’t know if he was serious about selling it to
me or not. I told him I did not think I could own a shop full of so
many nice trains as I would not want to sell them. His response…. “You
don’t get to eat much that way” I have about thirty cars and six or
seven locomotives that I bought there. Only many years later did I
learn that he was involved in the very early days of the TCA and was a
past president. Back then, I did not know anything about the TCA but
now I think it would have been cool to have him sign my application.
Last year one of the TCA quarterly magazines had a picture of Frank Cox
in 1946. Young man, full head of hair, same smile.Enjoy
Frank
Inspired by LVFan’s post I hit the web in
search of some more information about this shop. It turns out that
Frank the Train Man’s impact on the community must have been big one
because the shop’s original location is beautifully decorated with a mural
that was painted in tribute to the local institution. The new owners
of Frank the Train Man’s shop moved the shop across the street from the
original location. I was hoping that the new owner’s website
would have some reference materials posted about the shop’s history but
unfortunately it didn’t. A photo of the the neon sign that LVFan
mentioned can be found here.
View LVFan’s post on the OGR Forum
UPDATE:
As LVfan mentioned in his post, Frank Cox, owner of the shop, played
an instrumental role in starting the TCA’s Western Division the same
year TCA was founded, 1954. The TCA web site chronicles it’s history from the beginning and has a copy of the original letter
Mr. Cox wrote to Ed Alexander, one of the founder’s of TCA on the east
coast, about starting the Western division. It’s interesting because
it’s on "Frank The Train Man" letterhead and Mr. Cox, in the last
paragraph of the letter, give some details of his work load at the shop.
No related posts.
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2 Responses to “Frank the Train Man”
I lived next door to Frank The Trainman on Cleveland Ave just a few blocks from his store. We were neighbors from 1968 till I moved to Oregon in 1990. Frank had a garage on the alley where he stored boxes of trains and related materials, Occasionally he would clean house and put things out for the trash man. My son David would be in his glory trash picking Franks trash. There would be everything from transformers, track, trains and parts that would be jammed into my house. David’s younger brother Troy would get into the act also. Troy still has a jacket that David found that was loaded with railroad patches. That’s still a real prize. Frank and Helen Cox were really nice folks. When Frank died our neighbor Brend Shea and I were asked to be pallbearers at his funeral. Both Frank and Brend were Catholics but the funeral was otherwise. I quitely asked Brend to sneak in a Holy Mary for Frank but he politely refused. Frank The Trainman’s shop was a land mark for the University City neighborhood and I’m really happy to see this tribute. Larry Beaver
Posted by: Larry Beaver | Dec 30, 2007 at 11:07 AM
I am retired and have a 17 X 14 O guage pike currently running four trains. Looking for fellow train buffs who want to meet from time and time and get out all our childhood trains and think about the good old dsys.
We could do a club with meetings or have regular runs. I have room for two more medium long tuns. I despise fake scencery, My pike is desert scape that looks real. If interest call Randy at 619 461-8700. Looking for old fair to good condition rolling stock.
Posted by: Randy | May 26, 2008 at 2:00 PM