The late Austintown native Bernard Check’s model train collection is worth almost $130,000

NORTH LIMA, OH (WKBN) — Acquire a beloved and valuable model railroad collection.

Austintown native Bernard Check has been collecting trains since the 1970s and has amassed thousands of trains.

A year after his death, his family is now parting with a collection worth over $130,000.

When Check’s daughter Brenda Rose thinks of Christmas, she thinks of her father’s train.

“I remember when I was young, there was an old Santa Fe train around our tree,” said Rose. We have installed 12 tracks.”

Bernard Check turned his store into a Christmas Train Village for people to see.

“Even customers will tell them, ‘Come to my store at Christmas, my train is running, and you should see them,'” Rose said.

Bernard’s wide Janet Check said his interest in trains all started when he served as a GI in Japan during World War II.

“He went from our area to St. Louis, [had to leave] To California – and it was all by train,” Janet Check said.

The influence of the checks used in the Youngstown area steel mills can be seen in the collection.

“Youngstown Sheet and Tube — steel mill stuff … closed steel mill stuff, etc. We have cars for a lot of them,” said auctioneer Jay Paul Basinger. rice field.

Basinger Auction will have a special open house on Monday from 3pm to 6pm at its Market Street location.