PRINCETON, W. Va. -The Emporium in Princeton’s Grassroots District is a hobby shop that focuses on diecast and RC cars and model railroading. It was the local interest in railroading that inspired their annual event ‘Coffee and Choo Choos,’ the Emporium’s biggest train sale of the year, that let guests get a closer look at the O-scale trains that normally run above their heads and possibly plan a track layout for themselves.
“This is a random layout; it doesn’t specifically model any one thing, but it’s got Norfolk and Southern and CSX on it, which is what’s local to here, CSX being from Beckley north and Norfolk and Southern being from Princeton down,” says Chris Pierce, the owner of The Emporium.
As the event’s name suggests, there was plenty of coffee for the train enthusiasts, thanks to Aubade Coffee, a new local coffee business that roasts their own beans and makes their own syrups.
“It’s a little bit different, so I get all my beans from Ethiopia, that’s single origin. I roast them myself, so it’s a little bit different; it’s a brighter, florally type of coffee, kind of different than a Columbian, so it’s unique. And then with our syrups, they’re all, like I said, in-house…” explains DJ Coburn with Aubade Coffee.
Pierce says these trains have been popular in the community, with the area owing much of its history to the real trains that came through here. It was that railroading history that encouraged local teacher and model train collector, Angela Shrewsbury, to stop by, hoping to find train-related books to encourage her students to take the ‘reading railroad.’
“Being a teacher, any books with literature that had trains in them, I’m very interested…” says Shrewsbury, “…as a child, they’re magical; as an adult, you have a great appreciation for them and what they really do for us as Americans.”
Shrewsbury encourages others interested in trains to come to next year’s Coffee and Choo Choos and to check out the Emporium the rest of the year as well, calling it an “escape back to your childhood.”
While you can see part of it from the first floor, the store train layout room is only available during events. You can find out when those events will be on the Emporium’s website and Facebook page. You can find out where Aubade Coffee will be set up by following their Facebook and Instagram.
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