Just a memory - Phibsboro Modellers Shop

[Sulzer201]

Hi lads, just a question - do many of you remember the old modellers shop in Monk Place (I think it was) Phibsboro. The Mater Hosp was on RTE news this evening and brought back distant memories of going out to the North Circular with my Mum when I was young - must have been 1980/81ish. I remember scourging her to take me up to find the little Model Shop that was hidden somewhere down a side street. My mother eventually brought me and in the end I bought a silly looking platform canopy which I think may have been for a continental layout. If my memory serves me correctly a little old man ran the shop at that stage? Thanks all.

[Garfield]

Sounds like Leinster Models...

[Sulzer201]

Thanks garfield the memory came flooding back with the news report on the Mater but I could not remember the name of the shop and I think I only visited it once.

[heirflick]

thats where my darling wife bought me a hornby black 5 as a surprise before we got married...all of 22 years ago! (bless her little cotton socks!)

[Weshty]

I lived in Phibsorough from '90-93 but never heard of this place.

 

On a related topic, did his shop sell a basic O gauge Maebh kit that I have vague recollections hearing about at some stage?

[Glenderg]

I lived in Phibsorough from '90-93 but never heard of this place.

 

On a related topic, did his shop sell a basic O gauge Maebh kit that I have vague recollections hearing about at some stage?

 

Were you a thirsty student be any chance, and were your interests, let's say, diverted elsewhere? You might have been too distracted to see the shop?

[heirflick]

Were you a thirsty student be any chance, and were your interests, let's say, diverted elsewhere? You might have been too distracted to see the shop?

 

dont you know that westy was a saint back then....i say he was going to the church up the road!

[Tarabuses]

Yes, I remember the shop on Monk's Place. It used to open on a Sunday, which was convenient for me.

[Garfield]

On a related topic, did his shop sell a basic O gauge Maebh kit that I have vague recollections hearing about at some stage?

 

I think it's the same guy, Des. He also made some of the O gauge locos used on the Fry Model Railway...

[patrick]

I visited the shop once in the late seventies. Did he also made o scale coach kits?

[burnthebox]

Hi lads, just a question - do many of you remember the old modellers shop in Monk Place (I think it was) Phibsboro. The Mater Hosp was on RTE news this evening and brought back distant memories of going out to the North Circular with my Mum when I was young - must have been 1980/81ish. I remember scourging her to take me up to find the little Model Shop that was hidden somewhere down a side street. My mother eventually brought me and in the end I bought a silly looking platform canopy which I think may have been for a continental layout. If my memory serves me correctly a little old man ran the shop at that stage? Thanks all.

 

Hi Sulzer, yes I do remember that shop in Monks Place, visited it many times, the owner ! owners (wrenneire may know more) if you bought something & changed your mind a minute later outside the shop it was considered used, that said I have happy memories of my visits, there is a reference to this shop on an earlier tread,

[jhb171achill]

I remember that place well. Got 00 gauge hornby wagons thereabouts 1971....... It was in one of those former MGWR workers cottages adjacent to Broadstone Station. Wonder was it up and running some 7 years earlier while the loco depot was still open?

[Weshty]

Were you a thirsty student be any chance, and were your interests, let's say, diverted elsewhere? You might have been too distracted to see the shop?

 

Very thirsty, quite distracted, and beyond the student stage so well able to indulge

[ttc0169]

The McGowan brothers and a sister if I'm not mistaken,

I was first brought there in 1984 and bought the CIE 'Hymek' and some CIE Mk1 coaches-my first 'Irish' set

The following year Lima released Class 37-37 012 Loch Rannoch and Class 73-73 108, and both were bought in Monk place-they were lovely people to deal with at that time.

[burnthebox]

As I remember one of the owners bought his Sunday paper across the road from the shop & closed the model shop that Sunday morning and never opened again !!!

[heirflick]

well, i was there in 1991 and the lads were senior in years. what year did it close?

[burnthebox]

Don't know exactly, but it should have been in the '70's wrenneire would / should / may know

[Warbonnet]

Don't know exactly' date=' but it should have been in the '70's wrenneire would / should / may know[/quote']

 

Later than the 70s. I was in it a couple of times and I was born in the 80s!

[burnthebox]

I don't know who was running the shop, or supposed to be running the shop,but I remember going up to Monck Place on a Sunday morning and low and behold the shop was closed !!!! I later learned the shop would not open again !!

[Blaine]

The shop closed around 1992 but the Leinster Models side of the business lasted a little longer

[Mayner]

I used to visit the shop quite frequently in the 70s when I seldom had money to buy anything , the counter was like a jewellers display case full of scratch builders parts.

 

The main money spinner seemed to be around importing Liliput, Piko and Trix direct from the continent, they had a loyal customer base among the continental modellers and ran a kind of savings club where you could place and order and save up for what were then quite expensive models.

[ak425]

I got my first set in Monck Place. My dad worked in the Broadstone and my beloved Bohs played around the corner so I was very familier with Leinster Models and as Mayner said you could put in a few bob each week until it was fully paid for. It was a little black 0-4-0 engine and a couple of tank wagons with a cirlcle of track. I would count down those weeks until I could finally collect it. Not long after I went in to the ' big time ' and got the Lima supertrain set. It was 3 mk2s and was hauled by a class 33 - all in the Supertrain livery. How we have progressed regarding the Irish stuff today ! Anytime I pass Monck Place I still think of that great little shop. Of course Phibsboro was a long way away from where I lived in Ranelagh and I had a model railway shop much closer to home. I think it was the early days of Marks Models and was located in a basement in Lower Leeson Street. My main purchase was a Hammant & Morgan Duette controller. This was back in the mid 70s and still operates perfectly controlling the main running lines on my layout today.

I used to visit the shop quite frequently in the 70s when I seldom had money to buy anything , the counter was like a jewellers display case full of scratch builders parts.

 

The main money spinner seemed to be around importing Liliput, Piko and Trix direct from the continent, they had a loyal customer base among the continental modellers and ran a kind of savings club where you could place and order and save up for what were then quite expensive models.

Edited November 23, 2013 by ak425

[IrishModelRail]

I got my first set in Monck Place. My dad worked in the Broadstone and my beloved Bohs played around the corner so I was very familier with Leinster Models and as Mayner said you could put in a few bob each week until it was fully paid for. It was a little black 0-4-0 engine and a couple of tank wagons with a cirlcle of track. I would count down those weeks until I could finally collect it. Not long after I went in to the ' big time ' and got the Lima supertrain set. It was 3 mk2s and was hauled by a class 33 - all in the Supertrain livery. How we have progressed regarding the Irish stuff today ! Anytime I pass Monck Place I still think of that great little shop. Of course Phibsboro was a long way away from where I lived in Ranelagh and I had a model railway shop much closer to home. I think it was the early days of Marks Models and was located in a basement in Lower Leeson Street. My main purchase was a Hammant & Morgan Duette controller. This was back in the mid 70s and still operates perfectly controlling the main running lines on my layout today.

 

A fellow Gypsie! My dad is from Glasnevin and he would be very interested to look at this thread...

[burnthebox]

Something tell's me we are talking about two (2) different shop's, cause the one I remember closed in the '70's, it may have reopened again sometime later, years later !!

[RedRich]

I remember going to the FAI Cup final in 1986 and on hearing about this place I thought I would make a quick diversion before heading into Dalymount. Alas the shop wasn't, or seemed to not be open for business anymore.

 

On a similar note did anybody ever visit the model shop in Fermoy. It was a lovely place to spend a few hours and the owner (I think it was Tom) was a lovely man.

 

Rich,

[spudfan]

They were big Lima stockist.Bought lots from them in the early eighties. Kieran (or Ciaran) was on counter duty a lot. My father used to walk over with the dog from Drimnagh.The dog used to get a bowl of water in the shop before the trek back home.They were big into kit building including Irish locos to order. You could get an 00 121 class on a Bachmann chassis. I remember being shown drawings for some 0 gauge GM diesels that were to be built. They also had a cabinet with Lima n gauge stuff in it.Counter was on the left as you went in and the Lima n gauge was straight on and to the right as you went in the door. Always had second hand 00 and ho stock. Did'nt take much to crowd out the shop! Used to test run your loco on a piece of straight track on a shelf behind the counter. Always enjoyed going there. Used to cycle from Drimnagh to save enough money to buy stuff! Anyway the shop, my father and the dog are now no more but happy memories remain.

[heirflick]

They were big Lima stockist.Bought lots from them in the early eighties. Kieran (or Ciaran) was on counter duty a lot. My father used to walk over with the dog from Drimnagh.The dog used to get a bowl of water in the shop before the trek back home.They were big into kit building including Irish locos to order. You could get an 00 121 class on a Bachmann chassis. I remember being shown drawings for some 0 gauge GM diesels that were to be built. They also had a cabinet with Lima n gauge stuff in it.Counter was on the left as you went in and the Lima n gauge was straight on and to the right as you went in the door. Always had second hand 00 and ho stock. Did'nt take much to crowd out the shop! Used to test run your loco on a piece of straight track on a shelf behind the counter. Always enjoyed going there. Used to cycle from Drimnagh to save enough money to buy stuff! Anyway the shop, my father and the dog are now no more but happy memories remain.

 

good story spudfan....isnt it great to have those memories?

[spudfan]

Yep, forgot to mention the pipesmoke!

[UP6936]

Did you ever get a 121?

[fishplate7]

Yep..the aroma of tobacco wafting through the shop from the pipe he was smoking is the abiding memory I have from this wonderful shop.

[Mayner]

Something tell's me we are talking about two (2) different shop's, cause the one I remember closed in the '70's, it may have reopened again sometime later, years later !!

 

Monck Place seemed to be on the go from the early 70s, on Saturdays and school holidays used to get the 23 bus into town check out Southern Model Railways in the Grafton Arcade, Terry's Toy Shop in Henry Street and then walk across to Monck Place.

 

There were a lot of changes in those days, got my first proper train set in Terrys Toy Shop the "South African Goods" a Triang Hornby M7, 4 wagons and an oval of track all in BR colours! Southern Models Railways was still on the go in Lr Leeson Street beautiful Trix Intercity DMUs bought a Trix E2 and a Triang Hornby CKD coach kit before they moved to Grafton Arcade. Traded in the M7 for a Hornby diesel shunter in Monck Place.

 

Terry's had shops in Henry and Georges Street large stock of Triang Hornby and Hornby O gauge wagons. Bicycle and electrical appliance stores stocked Traing Hornby Mc Hugh Himself under the Loop Line Bridge Talbot Street, a similar shop opposite M&S in Mary Street. A bicycle shop under Arnotts in Liffey Street stocked a lot of raiulway stuff including lots and lots of Merit figures and accessories, most tantalisingly a shop on the corner of the Green and Grafton Street had a huge stock of Triang Series 3 track and Block Instruments.

 

Southern Model Railways used to stock a lot of British Trix and commissions by Harry Connaughton including an O gauge GNR Compound, The assistant Eddie Elliott was extremely tolerant and helpful, the business was later sold to Mark and moved to Dolier Street.

 

Out in the burbs John Byrne was involved in a model shop in Rathfarnham Shopping which became a showcase for Irish Lima, Dennis Lonergan the MRSI secretary helped out on Saturdays and sometimes brought along his kit built locos. John Byrne later set up a hobby shop in the office block at the back of Clerys.

 

George Hannon Malahide art and model shop was a Saturday afternoon retreat for modellers, sometimes George would show off some of his scratchbuilt locos often got the train out from Connolly and a lift back into town.

 

In those days I was mainly a window shopper with regular subscription to the Modeller and Model Railways. I am not sure what the shopkeepers though, but they always seemed to be friendly and tolerant of my comings and goings and rarely buying anything.

Ah the pipe smoke in Monck Place I can still taste it!

[heirflick]

George Hannon Malahide art and model shop was a Saturday afternoon retreat for modellers, sometimes George would show off some of his scratchbuilt locos often got the train out from Connolly and a lift back into town.

 

george was the first modelshop i ever dealth with as a nipper. it was a mail order hornby signal box....God - THAT was a long time ago!

[spudfan]

Did you ever get a 121?

No. At that time it was beyond me financially. I used to work three hours overtime to pay for a Lima diesel!

[ger711]

God that brings back memories. My Father used to send me up to Monck Place on the bicycle from Ringsend. Got my Lima J50 0-6-0 repaired when the funnel screw holder snapped. Think it cost IR£5 (EXPENSIVE BACK THEN) to repair. Anyone remember McBirmeys on Aston Quay? Bought my first CIE Class 33 there for IR£10 and as it was near Christmas they had this huge layout upstairs and I got to try out the Loco before taking it home. Also Easons Toy Dept. on the first floor was great for Hornby accessories.

 

Ger.

[UP6936]

a worthy cause indeed, spudfan!

[Riversuir226]

I remember going to the FAI Cup final in 1986 and on hearing about this place I thought I would make a quick diversion before heading into Dalymount. Alas the shop wasn't, or seemed to not be open for business anymore

On a similar note did anybody ever visit the model shop in Fermoy. It was a lovely place to spend a few hours and the owner (I think it was Tom) was a lovely man.

Remember it well Rich, I think it closed in the early 90's. Cork had a few shops over the years till Marks opened, O Mhurchus in Innishannon, Clonakilty had one, one by the railway station and the one in the Mattehews centre spring to mind plus Kilgrews.