Today I heard that the owner of Glen's Train Shop in Akron passed away last night. I tried to call there a few minutes ago and get no answer. Anyone in the area that can provide any more details or confirm this? I understand that he owned and basically ran the place by himself. I understand that he is a great guy and I would hate to see another LHS go out. Scroll to see the details posted down below.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: VaGolfer1950,

quote:

Originally posted by VaGolfer1950:
Today I heard that the owner of Glen's Train Shop in Akron passed away last night. I tried to call there a few minutes ago and get no answer ... I understand that he owned and basically ran the place by himself.

Hmmm ... beats me. I cannot explain why he would not answer the phone.



What, me worry?

***Deleted reference to old obituary***

Glen's Train Shop is owned by Robert Glen Uhl.

I was at the store a few weeks ago and there was a sign on the door that said to call a number and Robert would come open the store.

Glen died in 1999....

Chuck Uhl, 52, passed Jan. 7, 2003.....

If he passed away last night I don't think it will be in the Obits yet....

Didn't catch the date. Knock at door as I was typing.

Robert is the son of the original owner.

When I was back home in January, Glen closed up early the day I was there to head to the doctor. A few weeks later I heard he'd been hospitalized, but had since reopened.

I wasn't sure what to make of Robert or his shop when I first visited back in the late 90's. But, over the course of time, I really came to appreciate him and his shop (it's a unique shopping experience). Certainly hope everything is okay with him.

Small apples to life and death, but I certainly enjoy my annual trek home, and to his shop.

Hey Paul,

I just got a e-mail from one of our members at the O gauge Club I belong to. It stated that Robert passed away. I am not 100% that it is true yet. I will follow up. I do know he was ill again when I talked to him about two weeks ago. I know He was having problems with his health and that had put a strain on his shop and dealing with model train companies. If this is true, it is very sad. Robert I found to be easy going and very helpful. He surely will be missed. I will update when I find more out.


Chris

Not really a good kind of post to start without having
details? The person in questions may have passsed, and
if so this is not a good thing - but this is how rumors get started
that could actually hurt the business if the person is still alive??

Just my thoughts.

I just checked the obituaries on the Akron Beacon Journal's website. The only Uhl listed (as of 10 June) is Chuck Uhl who passed away in 2003.

quote:

Not really a good kind of post to start without having
details? The person in questions may have passsed, and
if so this is not a good thing - but this is how rumors get started
that could actually hurt the business if the person is still alive??

I was asking for folks that may live in the area for details and confirmation. The thread was a question looking for answers, hence the question mark at the end. I read the threads recently that he had been ill and had included him in my prayer list. Since I live in VA I can't drive over and check the shop to see for myself.

Just stopped there yesterday and didnt look too good. Had about a dozen delivery notices (UPS, USPS, Fed EX) stickers on the door. I hope its just a rumor. The little a knew him, he was very easy going and helpful.

I did not know that he was ill. I hope that all is alright. Robert helped me out with finding an number of road number specific diesels.

I had stopped in to see Robert in mid January to pick up a pre order. I made a few attempts 2 weeks prior. A note on the door stating He would be back in a week left me wondering what was going on. The day I picked up the order He told me he was in the hospital because his appendix burst. He said he felt pretty good considering what he went through. I too dont know any up to date information. Robert has a nice shop if you know what you want. I would love to be able to go in there and organize them shelves and get everything off the floor.

No one has been answering the phone for the past 3 weeks, at least. I did talk to Robert right before then and he did not sound good and that is the last I heard from him.

He told me he had complications from his illness a few months ago when he was hospitalized but that was supposidly cleared up.

He had an arrangement such that when the phone rang at his shop he could answer it at home or wherever he was. I had talked to him when he was in the hospital but it is troubling that there is no answer at all ever.

I hope Robert is doing well. Glen's is a landmark in NE Ohio for us hobbyists.

Not sure where his home residence is, but there is nothing in the Akron Beacon Journal or the Canton Rep. Let's hope he is under the weather and getting better!

Hope Robert is getting better, Glen's has always been a great shop. Even though I'm a former Akronite, that place is never far from my mind.

Robert Glen Uhl passed away on June 9, 2009 at the age of 65. He fought a long and courageous battle with cancer.

He graduated from Garfield High School and then served four years in the U.S. Navy. He acquired a B.S. and Master in Tax and Finance from The University of Akron. He retired from GenCorp. He also owned Glen's Train Shop.

Robert will be sadly missed by his children, Matthew Uhl and Sarah (Uhl) Dimengo, her husband Justin Dimengo and their children Jace and Logan. He leaves his mother, Lucile who now resides at Sunset Hills Nursing Home in Cuyahoga Falls. He also leaves a sister and brother-in-law, Margaret (Peggy Uhl) Marko and James Marko of North Royalton and a brother, James Uhl of Akron.

His body will be cremated and interred at the Ohio Western Reserve National Cemetery where there will be a private service.
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I never met the man. However, we spoke several times on the phone. He seemed like a wonderful person. When ever he needed something for one of his customers that he didn't have, he would check with me to see if I had it. My prayers and thoughts go out to Robert and his family. Lets all continue to pray that are Doctors will someday find a cure for cancer.
Jimmy

Very sad to hear this, his family will be in my prayers.

Yes, this is very sad news.

Karen and I both offer our condolences to Robert's family.

Sorry to hear of Robert's passing. I know his train shop was something of an institution in Akron and the Northeastern Ohio area. Sincere condolences to his family, friends, and long-time customers.

My condolences to the Uhl family. I will keep them in my prayers.

Robert Uhl was always pleasant to deal with, his unique store with a sort of wharehouse quality was one of those fun places to visit. Robert always greeted me by name and tried very hard to find or hold items for me until I could make the time to drive down to Akron.

One of Robert's favorite things to do each year was to ride Amtrak's now discontinued "Three Rivers" train to New York City. He and I would discuss Amtrak's positive and negative virtues while I would search through the stacks of trains.

Very sorry to hear of his passing.

This must be an especially hard loss for his mother. My prayers for both Robert and his family.

This is very sad to here about his passing.
My thoughts and prayers go out to his family.
One of my uncles(a WWII Vet) was laid to rest at Western Reserve National Cemetery. It is a beatiful place for our Veterans.

Robert will definitely be missed and condolences to his family and to his many customers across the country.

I felt fortunate to have considerable access to Robert and his store being a local institution. For those of you who know the store well, it was a unique experience and Robert was always very helpful.

He supplied me with most all my MTH locomotives and coaches and I'll always remember him asking when I first got back into the hobby "Are we talking Premier or Railking?"

The loss of Robert is going to make an big impact on so many hobbyists, especially those of us in the Akron area. Glens is an institution in these parts.

The first time I went the Glens was back when Robert's father was still alive. I was just a little guy at the time. His father gave me a stern lecture about how I shouldn't be modeling in HO. That afternoon the old man frightened me half to death.

After getting back into the hobby as a young adult, I moved up to O scale and timidly traveled back to Glens; fully prepared to meet the stern old man. But that time things were differen. As I walked through the second of the heavy metal doors, I was greeted first by the familiar ear piercing BUZZZZ of the door alarm. And then by a man I quickly came to know as one of the nicest train retailers around. Robert was not only nice, but also quite knowledgeable.

Roberts sense of organization was unique to say the least. What looked liked a disaster both in front and behind the counter was clearly laid out in Robert's mind. He could find just about anything at anytime amid the piles of boxes. That was all part of the adventure of visiting the store.

Robert, we will miss you. Thank you for all the great memories and for the help you gave each of us in keeping our railroad empires well stocked with the trains of our dreams. Your family, especially your mother, will be in our prayers.

Very sad news. I will keep Robert and his family in my prayers today.

Thanks to all who have contributed to this thread and helped me to know Robert a little better. He was always nice to work with on the phone........

As a former Akronite I am so saddened to hear of the news . Robert was such a nice guy, what was a nerve wracking experience before his takeover of the shop, was now a pleasant visit. I remember the time when Robert first took over the shop, there was this big dumpster sitting outside in the parking lot. I politely asked him if I could comb through it, after giving me the ok, he even came out to the parking lot to talk to me. I found some old Model Railroader magazines, a few TCA newsletters and Wall Street Journal article about Glen Uhl being upset over the takeover of American Flyer by Lionel. He also told me that he had the duty of driving his father back to the train shop the night it burned down back in the late 1960's. I hope Glen's Train Shop will continue to exist.

My condolences to the Uhl family.

quote:

The first time I went the Glens was back when Robert's father was still alive. I was just a little guy at the time. His father gave me a stern lecture about how I shouldn't be modeling in HO. That afternoon the old man frightened me half to death.

I can relate.

While I didn't know Robert's father, the stories are legendary. There was a photo of his father on the Lionel side of his shop and he told me a bit about him also being in the Navy, etc. I understand when he ran the store that he had a big desk at the entrance of the shop and if you didn't know exactly what you wanted he couldn't and wouldn't help you much. I can see him lecturing a customer on never ever going near HO! (Not sure what he'd tell Mike these days. Probably lecture him on how big of a mistake it was for Lionel to go into HO.)

Robert was just the opposite and now all the memories are flooding back to me and how helpful he was to someone getting back into the hobby. By the way, the ear-shattering loud buzzer upon opening the large metal entrance door was disabled; I believe in the past year. I bought quite a bit from Robert over the past 5 years and he treated me really well and knew me by name even on the phone. What he always always did and did not have to do was to walk me out to my car and helped me load whatever I bought even if it was only a couple of boxes. Then he'd always pause at my car like he wanted to talk more, truly appreciated my patronage. So, usually I'd ask him a question or two since there would have been a strange silence otherwise.

After I got back into O gauge some 5 years ago, my first order was with Robert who had loaded me down with MTH and Lionel catalogs. Since I was already heavily into Marklin and really was attracted to the realism, the order was the Lionel Acela. In the long period from ordering to having it shipped, Robert patiently answered my periodic phone calls, however, I found lots of other gems in his inventory spending sometimes hours wandering around in his shop.

He generally knew where everything was but on one occasion I identified an item that he had and didn't know it. The set was a Dealer's Appreciation Premier New Haven passenger set. I found it on his inventory listing and while he didn't know he had it, Robert nonetheless looked for it. He found it in about 5 minutes.

I still have his voicemail from weeks ago on my voicemail at work telling me the BNSF diesels were on their way to his shop. I'm saddened to hear it but right up until the end he tried to give customers the best possible service especially if he knew you. I'm so puzzled to learn he was battling cancer since he never mentioned it and only talked about his appendix bursting and having emergency surgery. Also, I knew he was smart but had no idea how educated he was and had worked in the corporate world.

I'm sure we all offer sympathies to his family and the best in this difficult time. Unwinding the store should be a formidable challenge since being independent Robert probably had most everything in his head or on his lists of legal pads. I hope the store continues to exist and operate.

God bless his family.

Although I've never met Robert in person, I've made some purchases over the phone. He was always very pleasant and helpful. Both my purchases were sight unseen and his suggestions never steered me wrong. Thanks Paul for the original inquiry, I am saddened for his family's and our loss.

Stack

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Smoke Stack Lightnin,

I remember Robert's Father, Glen very well. He was very lengendary here in N.E. Ohio. He used to dress up in an Engineers Outfit & Cap while in his shop at Akron. Here is some trivia for all here. Glen Uhl used to own and operate a Lionel Service Station in Guantamano, Cuba while he was in the Navy back in the 40s-50s. He had permission from Lionel & the Navy to do this & after he retired from the Navy, he moved his shop to 587 Grant St in Akron in the mid 50s & the present site where his shop is now housed used to be a Grocery Store before Glen turned it into a Train Shop. Another thing about Glen is that he lost his Collection of Antique Lionel,Flyer, & Ives Trains to a fire in his shop in 1968. I have heard that the fire was started by a discarded cigarette & after this happened, Glen posted "No Smoking" Signs all over the place to prevent another fire from happening again. Glen was also famous for giving Roy Cohn a hard time at the annual Lionel Stockholder Meetings in New York back in the 1960s as Glen had plenty of stock in Lionel then & was not happy with the way things were going at Lionel. One could not blame him for that. My condolences to the Uhl Family for their loss. Take Care.

I too will miss Robert. He was good at finding new releases from MTH when other MTH dealers would not even offer to hunt down what I wanted. He got sales from me that way. On several occasions I would call several MTH dealers only to be told they have sold out of the item and would never offer to try to locate it for me. Robert always offered, I never had to ask. I too hope that somehow the store reopens. It will be interesting to see if his son will be able or want to. I may be wrong, but I think his son helped him around Xmas time in the shop. Maybe someone else can shed some light on that. As mentioned before, yes he would walk you out to the car and help carry the trains. A nice touch.
My condolences to Robert's family.

My prayers are for the family and I am sorry what I heard turned out to be true. Let's hope the store does re-open as it seems to have been one of the good stores around

Robert introduced me to his son while he was working in the store helping his father. My impression was that he was in college and this was probably 1-2 years ago. Not sure what the future is for the store but I know some dealers in the area have an interest in taking it over if the opportunity and price would be right.

my best recollection of robert uhl was always going in the shop and looking at the stacks and stacks of those purple boxes on counters,shelves,anywhere you could think of. bob didn't mind if you looked 10 mins or 2hours. it was at times kind of a mess, but boy it was fun digging around looking for that engine or car.. last time i was there was in march -he had a huge stock of premier diesels,i counted 60+ boxes of sd-90's alone.robert always offered to me the latest catalogs free,whether i purchased any thing or not.

i kind of remember the house glenn p uhl had the shop in.my first visit was in 1966 when i was 13yrs old.it was packed with trains in orange boxes, basement to the 2nd floor. it reminded me of a mini- madison hardware. i was told he had the remaining lionel#2347 c&o geeps made for the sears set,one of which we purchased.his christmas ads in the akron beacon journal always included these words-"h o is not for children and some adults".
glenn rebuilt what is the present building-there is no burnable materials in its construction. [block cinder -no windows, heavy metal doors,again no windows.].i think we got escorted to the door twice when my dad[ he didnt realize the current prices of trains] said any comment about the prices in the mpc years -he was sensitve about that.next time in there,i was his best friend,and we were on a first name basics after that.

THANK YOU for the memories !- Robert G. Uhl and Glenn P. Uhl- jim

THANKYOU-RobertG Uhl and Glenn P Uhl for the good memories!-jim

I'd like to quote from "Lionel: A Collector's Guide and History, Volume IV" by Tom McComas & James Tuohy:

"Glen Uhl... (has) been a big-volume Lionel dealer since 1945 and is a direct-talking, no-nonsense businessman whose word is as good as a signed contract.

"When the first (MPC) GG-1s came out in 1977 and it was discovered they leaked grease, Uhl complained to Fundimensions President Jim Boosales.

"'We went to Lionel and saw Jim Finley, vice-president of production,' says Uhl. 'He showed me a plastic diaper they had developed which could be attached to the bottom of the red GG-1 and said they would send them to me. It was suppose to stop the leak. He said the same diaper would be put on the new black GG-1. But they didn't do it.

"'When I got my shipment of black GG-1s they didn't have diapers. I called Lionel and told them I wanted to return all my GG-1s. Ninety-three of them. They said I couldn't do it because they don't take back merchandise. I said yes you will because I'm going to drop them up on your doorstep because I'm not going to pay for them.'

"Lionel knew by this time that Glen Uhl was a man of his word. He had already sent the executives at both General Mills and Lionel empty boxes of disposable diapers to show he never received his promised plastic one. Lionel sent a truck and not only picked up the 93 GG-1s, they picked up all of Uhl's Lionel products.

"'Ninety four thousand dollars worth of Lionel trains,' says Uhl. 'I didn't mind because I got rid of stuff like telephone poles I could never sell and got credit for them. Now I buy through a distributor. They closed my account and sent me a letter saying I would have to take down my sign that said "Authorized Lionel Service Station." So I put "Un" in front of the "Authorized" and sent a photograph of the sign to Boosales. Now I'm an "Unauthorized Lionel Service Station."'"

"And a year later Glen Uhl, not a man to be ignored whether he's authorized or unauthorized, sent another empty box of Pampers to Jim Finley."

While I know this thread is about Robert, I thought to include the Glen Uhl excerpt to show the colorful legacy of the Uhl shop and what cloth Robert may have been cut from (no matter how far different he may have been from his father).

My best to the Uhl family.

Iron horse,

Thanks for the stories. Robert's Dad was indeed a colorful man. Listening to Glen talk about Lionel Trains was priceless. He was a Lionel man thru and thru. He was indeed a man of his word. He would frequent our Parma TCA meet on occasion, I can remember seeing him in his famous Engineer overall's and railroad hat. Glens Train Shop was indeed stuffed to the max with Lionel Trains. Robert certainly followed in his fathers footsteps in that regards. Walking in for the first time in many years(last Dec), I was in awe, while the shelves were organized quite well, there were stacks and stacks of trains, piled in every concievable allowable space, 8' high, sometimes filling walkways. The place was stuffed. I was amazed at the shear volume. Glens train shop has been a true legacy in the Cleveland / Akron area and it will be missed. Our condolences to the Family.

Hopefully he made some kind of continency plan(s) so that on his passing, someone can take over either by purchase or passing ownership to children. From the above postings it sounds like this store closing would be a big loss to the area hobbyists.

A familiar sight to those of you who were fortunate enough to visit Glens.

I also remember the wording "Unathorized Lionel Service Station" that was mentioned in the Tom McComas book above. It was on the front of the very building shown in the above photo. Its too bad Tom McComas never did biographies of men Like Glen Uhl, Lou Shur & Carl Shaw of Madison Hardware, Lenny Dean of Lionel & Louise Hertz. All of these men are gone now & took plenty of knowledge & history with them to their Graves. Their life stories & experiances with Lionel Trains & Joshua Cowan would certainly have made very interesting reading & could have filled many chapters in a Book. All we have now are the memories of these Great Gentlemen who many have never met or had a chance to talk to. Take Care.

Some of the above comments are interesting about the shop in that present day Robert was really not a big fan of Lionel and his store was primarily MTH although he would order Lionel.

He did his best to make model railroading affordable and the overhead of the building aside from heating was probably quite low. I'd rather he did what he did in terms of affordability than put money into a showy store.

I may be wrong but unfortunately believe the chances of the store reopening are about zero.

So if the store would not reopen, what would happen to all that stock? I used to frequent that shop quite often. I have never seen an open aisle that you could walk in. MTH boxes everywhere! Would MTH do a buy back with Roberts family? I suppose any speculation would be just that.....SPECULATION. It will be interesting to see what happens.

I was last there in January and I think he told me that his son was redeploying to Irag for the second time(he is an MP, I think). As hard as it is for all of us to lose a friend and a supplier, I can only imagine what it's like to lose a parent while you're so far from home and in harm's way.

I intentionally did not read this topic for days as I try to avoid sad subjects. But after seeing the count rise so high I decided to finally open it. All I can say is that this thread is inspiring, not sad. We will all pass on some day, but will we all leave this kind of legacy?

quote:

Originally posted by Larry3:
He did his best to make model railroading affordable and the overhead of the building aside from heating was probably quite low. I'd rather he did what he did in terms of affordability than put money into a showy store.

I may be wrong but unfortunately believe the chances of the store reopening are about zero.

Within the last ten years I recall Robert telling me how Lionel was trying to force Robert to "spruce up" the outside of the store, repaint the facade and such. Robert's comment to me about that matter was that if he could sell Lionel products he would consider doing what Lionel wanted as far as the facade of the building. I agree with Larry3 that the better prices and furthermore the legendary look of the painted steam loco on the front were worth not having a more manicured store. There is no doubt that we have lost one of those historic 3rail train outposts.

Although I have posted a few times about Glen's, I have to add this. I think it was impossible to go to Glen's Train shop without buying something. The vast quantity of rolling stock displayed around the perimeter walls always had several cars I wanted to add to my roster. Many times I would find add on passenger cars to MTH sets. Recently finding PRR baggage cars as individual sale items in the stacks. One afternoon I discovered an NKP GP-30 in the stacks, Robert said it was the last one available in his store and showed me the MTH product locator which had very few left around the country. I left with a GP-30 that day having had no intentions of buying anything that day.

There are not very many stores where you can find that level of merchandise. Most train or hobby stores seem sort of empty, having nothing on hand.

The first time I went to Glen's was after my Dad and I first got back into the hobby in 99 or 2000. We were looking for a particular NYC caboose, that no one seemed to have. Dale Schaffner (sp?) at Schaffner's Trains in Canton said to check with Robert at a shop called Glen's up in Akron. Sure enough, he gave me directions and off I went. I walked through the door, and just about went through the ceiling with that loud buzzer at the door. Once I got in, I realized I was in something of a train gold mine, as their were trains everywhere on shelves from floor to ceiling, in the aisles, behind the cases...everywhere. I must have spent a couple hours just looking at everything. But alas, I could not find my caboose.
Just then, a man I learned later to be Robert, asked me if I was looking for something in particular. I told him, and he said sure, went to a stack of boxes and dug one out for me. Along with my caboose, he sent me away a happy customer with a stack of catalogs I didn't even have to ask for. Thus began a regular trek for me to Glen's on breaks from college, and then later when visiting my family for the Holidays. I often still think of Glen's as my local hobby shop since I have no local hobby shop here. Certainly hope the shop lives on, but if not, like many of you I have good memories of the shop and Robert.

This is indeed bad tidings. It took time to get to know Robert and for him to know you. Once he did, you became a personal acquaintance and he never forgot your name from then on. The store was an irresistable draw despite the shabby appearance and totally anti-retail approach forced by lack of help and lack of storage space. We bought my son's first train sets from Robert and continued to buy a little over the years, though in decreasing amounts as I moved on to scale equipment from Weaver, THird Rail, or AtlasO. His children worked there a few times over Christmas vacations from school, but seemed to evidence little interest in the business or the hobby. We once offered to have my then high schooler son to help organize and straighten the place but Robert declined without even thinking about it. The last vestige of Glen's as a service station ended at least 8-10 years ago when his very part time serviceman left for reasons unknown to me.

Perhaps the future will change my perspective but I think the last chapter of Glen's Trains as a retail shop has been written but for the sale and disposal of inventory. There is only one other shop in Summit County, E&S Trains in Kenmore and I suppose he will take some of the remaining retail traffic. A postwar chapter in Akron retail history appears closed for good.