This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Business & Tech

Biz of the Week: Wrong Island Railroad

The Grand Central Station of model trains.

For 25 years the Wrong Island Railroad has been the Grand Central Station for model train enthusiasts.  Owner Frank Gscheidle has turned a hobby that began for him at age 5, into a life-long career. 

His model train store offers a wonderful ride into every child's past. Behind a delightful hobby store is a large rear room where Gscheidle has a layout of trains, small towns, snow covered mountain ranges and circus midways.  Just stepping into his store stirs fond childhood memories. Once he has turned on all of the trains, lights, cars, the amusement park rides and the other scaled down bits of reality, the Wrong Island Railroad takes you to another world.

"My clientele ranges from 2 to 82," said Frank, "but a lot of my customers are dying off.  They are the kids of the forties and now they are in their seventies. But Thomas the Train is bringing them back.  Lionel puts them out in four gauges; N, HO, O and Large Scale.  There is even a ride on, all electric."

Interested in local real estate?Subscribe to Patch's new newsletter to be the first to know about open houses, new listings and more.

Once a thriving industry, the model train hobby has fallen on very hard times.  This shop, just north of Portion Road on Hawkins Avenue is one of the last hobby stores in the metropolitan area. His walls are lined with every gauge, style and type of model train available, from Z to N to HO and S, Lionel gauge O, S and even a weatherproof LGB Garden railroad sets, meant to be set up outdoors. 

Recently business has been picking up.

Interested in local real estate?Subscribe to Patch's new newsletter to be the first to know about open houses, new listings and more.

"More guys are getting into O because of their age group," he said. "The kids are growing up and out to college.  There is a spare bedroom and if mommy doesn't grab it for a sewing room then daddy grabs it for a train room.  Some of my customers have bigger layouts than I do."

For those starting out, his biggest seller is the Lionel Starter Set, which usually flies out of his store during the holiday season.  These sell for $250 to $300.  The popularity of the children's book and movie The Polar Express drives the sales of those model sets.  But his line of Thomas the Tank Trains brings in the next generation of toy train hobbyists.

Any child who comes to Frank's shop is fascinated by the complexity, design and fun his huge train layout inspires.  He rents out the room for birthday parties, play groups and youth groups. 

"Sometimes grandma just wants to bring the grandkids down because Little Johnnie likes to see the trains run around."

The economic realities of today's hard times has many coming into his shop looking to sell the train sets of their past. As the case for everything else, the prices for old train sets have plummeted. Locomotives and cars once worth hundreds are getting pennies on the dollar. Frank's store is overflowing with used trains, some in amazing condition. He restores and incorporates them into his inventory and layouts. 

For those of you who have had a train set in their past, be careful when you enter the store. You find yourself thinking of where in the attic you left them and in which room you can set them up. For parents, taking your kids there will definitely result in a train set layout for the holidays.  For grandparents, you have a new place to take your grandchildren to show them the wonderful toys of the distant past.

Let the Wrong Island Railroad be part of your future.  Visit their website at and plan your trip.

Download the movie

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?