The Alexandria Times

u 'LUSEWednesday, September 7,2005

.Business Profile

:Selling memoriespast and future

By MARy CLAIRE KENDALLAlexandria Times Special Writer

Some people never grow up.But when they do, sometimes thekid in them tags along anyway.Such is the case with Frank Kozuch.

'As a child, Kozuch enjoyed:trains and engaged in many hob-:bies. Now grown up Kozuch brought.the kid in him along for the ride intoadulthood and with it, an old-time'hobby shop to Old Town. .

, Kozuch, owner of the newly,opened Whistle Stop Hobbies shopat South Royal and King streets hassought to create a 19th centuryplace where sGaled-down modeltrains capture the imaginations of,children, bringing the larger worldto them. The small shop harkensback to a time when the whole fam-ily would get into the act of buildingthe train set, with its small townlandmarks and charm.

"I sell memories, past andfuture ," he said, "the memory of atrain under a Christmas tree."

His prized item? It's the 1909Bing set, for the true train aficiona-do. For $10,000, it could find its wayunder the tree this Christmas.

There's no shortage of toys to set'the mind free in this place: WorldWar II model kits, miniaturePorsches, Ferraris, Corvettes and

Mini Coopers, slot cars at 1/43 rdscale, mahogany tanks, planes andships, remote controlled boats andbattery-operated planes.

Power-propelled, water-pow-ered, air-powered - they're allhere, as are the remote-controlledmice and spiders, which are big sell-ers because, as he noted, "theykeeps pets acti've."

By Christmas, Kozuch hopes togain approval to install a sidewalkstep-up and park bench so smallchildren can press their nosesagainst the glass to peer at theseasonal train display. NormanRockwell could .not have painte.d itbetter. .

Frank Kozuch .has his ownmemories. A collector of trainssince pre-school days, he beganattending hobby shows with hisfather a decade or so ago to parceloff pieces from his collections. "It

. grew to the point where I decidedthat what I really wanted in life wasto open a hobby shop," he said.

So last year, Kozuch traveledfor 10 months up and down theEastern seaboard building hisinventory,. which, he enthused, wasgreat, because "everyone has astory." The only downside was,"you never get to finish the story."

The transformation of h~s vision

IF YOU'RE GOING '"

Whistle Stop Hobbies

130 South. Royal StreetAlexandria

M-Sat., 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.Sun., Noon to 5 p.m.

(703) 549-4912

www.whistlestophobbies.com

to reality - a hobby store withplanes, trains and automobiles, andall manner of model kits - got anessential boost last winter .whenTom Hulfish, a commercial realestate broker with McEnearneyAssociates in Alexandria, helpedWhistle Stop Hobbies find the per-fect home at 130 South Royal Street- with its fire station across thestreet and proximity to .play-grounds. With a bank loan andaffiliations with the Chamber ofCommerce, the Visitors Center andthe King Street Metro EnterpriseTeam (KSMET), he was off and run-ning.

Then, after knocking out theinterior walls of the former. antiquestore, applying a fresh coat of pain~,and installing a shiny new woodenfloor, the realization of his visionbecame possible.

On a recent hot summer day,Kozuch gave a visitor a cool tour ofhis delightful, if not dizzying, arrayof inventory, including the HarryPotter Lego sets, the Corgy die-castmiljtary planes, the World War IItanks, the vintage trains from threeeras -from 1900 to 1940, from 1945to 1969, and from 1970 to p'resent.

His; train collection, predomi-nantly from the '50s and '60s,

includes Silver Clouds, Santa Fe's,Commodore Vanderbilts and Bostonand Albany freight sets.

Then there's the 1909 Bing, pro-cured from the family of a McLeandoctor, who received it as a birthdaypresent when he turned 9 years old.As he often does, Kozuch urged thedoctor's son to keep it in the family -he even offers repair services for oldLionel's and American Flyers.

But the owners of this set -amazing for its completeness, com-

Frank Kozuclong timeobsession wtrains led hinto open,ashop.

TimesStaffPhotolBobLanno)

ing with the original set box ashipping straw -ultimately decicit was time to sell.

Besides being an inveterate clector, Kozuch is equally devotedthe community - his first two pjects for coming months fPinewood derby clinics for the CScouts and Christmas gift wrappiby the Girl Scouts in which the P'ceeds would be theirs to keep.

And no doubt, every child Vihave his eye on that 1909 Bing.