Collector aims to turn area school into a shop

Robert Godfrey already has about 1,000 trains to open his store.
By TIM YOVICH
Vindicator Trumbull Staff
NILES -- The former board of education offices on Warren Avenue will most likely become a toy train shop and perhaps a restaurant in the long run.
"I'm just a kid at heart when it comes to trains," said building owner Robert Godfrey of Warren.
The city's planning commission decided Wednesday to recommend to city council that the property be rezoned to allow neighborhood commercial use, such as a convenience store.
Since Godfrey intends to attract customers from outside the neighborhood, the city's zoning board of appeals, which is made up of commission members, granted a variance.
The variance would allow for the train shop and a restaurant if council approves the zone change.
Bought at auction
Godfrey bought the building that also once housed Jackson Elementary School from the school board for $2,250 during a May 2005 auction.
"I stole it," Godfrey said, noting he paid for it the same day he bought the 12,000-square-foot building that was constructed in 1912.
Godfrey has been replacing waterlines inside the two-story brick structure since last summer. He is looking to open the store in the spring at the earliest.
Godfrey, whose full-time job is at Delphi, has been collecting trains for nearly 35 years. He owns about 1,000 of them.
He bought his first train during Christmas 1972 when he looked at the family tree and noticed something missing. So he bought a train for his children and set it up under the tree.
Godfrey goes around the country on days off and weekends, buying trains from dealers at train auctions and shows.
How the idea came about
He got the idea for the store four or five years ago as a moneymaking venture. It will be named BG Trains.
"There's a huge market for trains out there," the collector said, explaining that a great deal of business is done through mail-order.
"I didn't want to rent from somebody. You know it's yours," he added.
Godfrey says he's hoping to receive a government grant to preserve the boarded-up building that has been vacant for eight years.
He plans to clean the outside brick, install new windows, refurbish the original wood-plank flooring and paint the interior that has 14-foot-high ceilings on the first floor.
The first floor will be one room after he removes the offices. He's already repaired the roof.
Long-range plans call for a restaurant on the second floor. It would be decorated in the style of the 1950s and '60s.
"They seem to be gone," Godfrey said of that type of eatery.
yovich@vindy.com