Gentry the Barber Spent Sold Train Set for $55,000, Could use Some Customers

Gentry (no last name given), a barber, said business is slow at at 8627 Gravois Road in Affton.

"This has been the first quarter I've seen for a long time, that customers I've seen for years and years, I don't see them now," he said. "Normally on a Friday like this I'd be busy all day."

A young couple walks by his shop and he says it's too bad they're not working.

“People just don’t look happy today,” he said. I don’t know if people don’t have the money or if they just lost interest. “You never see anyone laughing anymore.”

Gentry started collecting model trains when he was five.

He belongs to a model train club, and its members used to come into his shop and argue about trains.

"It's just nutty," he said. "It's just a train club! One even wanted to knuckle out a guy."

About 20 years ago he sold his collection for $55,000, then turned around and spent it all on pre and post WWII model train reproductions.

"Model trains aren't worth so much anymore, unless they're in mint condition," he said. "Usually the box is worth more than the train."