JUST knowing something of interest is there can be enough, even if you never have the opportunity to see it. A lengthy storefront at Church Avenue and Dahill Road was unmarked for the most part, except when it was open on weekends. Then it was known to Kensington kids, and enthusiasts around the world, as Buzz-a-Rama, the world capital of slot car racing. The mecca was operated by Frank “Buzz” Perri (1935-2021) since 1965. For those unaware, slot cars are guided by miniature 12 volt D.C. motors set in the underside of model cars along a central groove in the track in which they run. Racing buffs, young and old, brought in their own cars, or rent them here, and rented space by the hour.
After Frank Perri and his wife Dolores died in 2021, his son, also Frank Perri, closed up the venue and sold off the slot tracks and slot cars. The venue was expensive to maintain and according to Frank in Gothamist, cost $50,000 per year in taxes, never mind the rent.
I don’t know if anyone remembers, but there was a group of model train buffs (known as the Bay Ridge Model Railroad Club) located in western Bay Ridge near Shore Road; if I’m not mistaken it was on Marine Avenue, and once a year around Thanksgiving, they’d open up their basement where I witnessed the largest model train layout I ever saw. As a matter of fact they are still going strong, but no longer in NYC; the club was evicted from its longtime home in 2019 and subsequently moved upstate to Kingston.
Seeing the model trains inspired me to acquire my own model trains. We acquired a set of N gauge (the smallest) “Postage Stamp” trains manufactured by Aurora, which usually made model planes and such. We enjoyed the set, but we had trouble keeping dust off the set, even though we covered it in canvas when not in use (Model train buffs: how do you deal with dust?) Eventually the old man packed up the set and moved it to our apartment house basement, from which the local youth reappropriated it for neighborhood use.
Know who’s a major model train buff? Rod “Maggie May” Stewart.
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3/10/25
20 comments
I;ve always been fascinated by the guys who build and run their own live steam
locomotives that you can sit on.Their steam locomotives costs thousands to make.
The ones that are powered by lawn mower engines dont count in their book.Some
of them are used to take passengers on public park excursion rides.A lot of model
train people look down on them though,they call them “machinists” and other curse
words.
Oh, me too! I lost mum n got divorced within a month of each other in 2021. In January 2022, I got back into Thomas the tank engine as a middle aged adult. This made me get more into trains in general. I have model trains, but havnt set them up yet. I’m a train lady tho!
Half century ago I was into model railroading, had my own set of “N” Gauge trains. Then stopped for many years. In the last ten years I started buying trains again, but this time “O” Gauge trains. Now have a couple of dozen, concentrating on streamlined steam. The prices of train are enormously higher now. “O” gauge trains routinely sell for up to and over $2,000 for an engine. The quality and details are much better now, too. NYC, once home to several train clubs, now has none. The Train Collectors Association runs biannual enormous train shows in York, Penna. There are also many smaller train shows held all over the country, including in the NYC Metro area.
I have an original Lionel Trains 3456 coal ramp in mint condition but nothing else. I bought it in 1958. Where can I sell it or donate it?
Dust: I’ve given up, just dust the trains every now and then with a fine paint brush. Even with double-glazed windows, I’m downwind from the BQE and the Brooklyn Bridge. Gets into everything.
I find it interesting that Buzz-a-Rama opened for business in 1965. The sport/hobby was spreading nationwide. I bought my first slot car, a replica of Jim Hall/ Hap Sharp Chaparral, which was then dominating the SCCA Group 7 category. I used a small track in a local hobby shop on White Plains Rd. My sixteenth birthday arrived & I was eligible for a NYS Learners Permit. Coincidentally I heard that in Yonkers on Central Avenue a larger slot racing track featuring long straightaways & banked ovals. I persuaded my father to take me there on Friday evenings. This allowed me to use my Learner’s Permit. My father would exit the Bronx River Parkway at the first Westchester exit (Mt Vernon). From there we’d trade places & it was a brisk sprint to the Central Avenue exit in Yonkers. I had also sold the Chaparral to an acquaintance & used my birthday money to buy a Chevrolet Mako Shark replica slot car featuring the new “rewound” technology electric motor. Between the long straightaways & the banked curves, that thing was fast & furious. How great to be driving my father’s Olds Dynamic 88 to the track & then having the satisfaction of a very fast slot car. Eventually, maturity intruded & I moved on from a learner’s permit that was valid anywhere in NY State except for NYC, to a real license valid anywhere in the USA. I acquired my first real car (sorta) at the same time. How sweet it was!
There’s a slot car center in Lake Ronkonkoma that seems popular.
Are you kidding me? I lived in Ronkonkoma most of my life, until 20 years ago- never knew of it. I did know of the model train place though- “The Wrong Island Railroad”….
I used to remember a place in Elmsford known as Elmsford Raceway, which was known for slot car racing as well until it closed down while much of that complex was taken down for what’s now a Shop Rite, though KFC and Taco Bell are still there as a remnant of what was there originally.
Just noticed your comment on “N” being the smallest sized model trains. That’s wrong: “Z” is the smallest. N is 1:160, while Z is 1:220. You can have an entire layout on a card table!. BTW, Trainworld on McDonald Avenue is still in business, has a store and mail-order business. They’re at 751 McDonald Ave., Brooklyn, NY 11218, 718-436-7072, http://www.trainworld.com,
I’ve ordered from them. They’re lovely folks!
Don’t forget Neil Young, he has a huge layout and was a part owner of Lionel Trains at one time.
As the original Lionel Trains factory in Hillside, N.J. closed in 1967 I wonder when he became a part owner of Lionel Trains.
I remember the big Lionel train store I think it was on 23rd st.
There was an old german guy on 2nd ave. and 83rd st. who
only dealt in high end stuff.Marklin or better.Some of his locomotives
were real.You had to fire them up and raise steam on them to make
them go.
Wow! When I saw the lead photo, I immediately recalled that there had been a similar, and somewhat anachronistic, place offering up the same oversized-type track and cars (compared to the “in-home” versions anyway) down in the Village, a block or so east of Washington Square Park, back maybe in the ’90’s. Might have been right near where the “Swenson’s” used to be, but where ever it was exactly, the spot was hard by the “NW” corner of the intersection. Don’t recall that it lasted too long, as it was probs overpriced (even then) for the college kiddies, and perhaps too early to take fullest advantage of the hipster era.
There was a slot car track on Ralph Av, near Av L in Brooklyn in the late 60’s
I think that was one of the Peter Pan Raceways. There was another on Nostarnd and Quentin Road. Its a Knights of Columbus now
There was also a slot car place in Astoria at Vernon Blvd. and 21st. Street.
I remember one or two Peter Pan Raceways in Brooklyn in the early 70s.
All I can say is that I was 11 when I first went to Buzz-A-Rama in 1965 I remember it all so well. Taking the train 3 stops to get off at church Ave. Waiting for ever to get track time but well worth it. My children and my grand children also have been there I have know Buzzy & Dolores many years and the last time I seen them was 2020 I will miss them dearly. ( Rest in peace my friends )