Meier & Frank Department Store, Portland, Oregon

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Courtesy Robert Bruennig

By Terry Cornelius  

I remember going into the Meier and Frank department store in Portland. Oregon each holiday season to see the toys in Santaland on the 10th floor, and especially the toy trains.  I cannot remember the exact display setup, but they had trains in a window on the street floor and a larger layout up in the toy department.  The toy department had a monorail train that went around the ceiling perimeter and riding in that monorail, you could look down and see all the toys on display.  I was a Flyer guy and disdained Lionel.  

One Christmas as we viewed the trains at the M&F store one of my folks snuck off and bought me a passenger loading accessory.  In my youthful fervor I ripped open the package Christmas eve and in shock I exclaimed "this is a passenger train station - I have a freight train".  Boy oh boy, what an ingrate I was.

Toy Department Monorail
Toy Department Monorail