Stephen Nelson, aka Mr. Muffin, is the owner of Mr. Muffin’s Train in Atlanta, Ind. His model train business is a labor of love that has long since outgrown being a basement hobby and now both employ several people in northern Hamilton County.
Nelson teaches business at Butler University and he laughed as he told The Reporter, “I teach people how to make money, which I’m not that good at, but I can teach it!” What belies his humor is the fact that Mr. Muffin’s is an unofficial hub of economic development which is profitable enough to give Stephen and his wife, Liz, the economic influence to purchase three buildings, run a café and a light manufacturing business employing only local citizens, and to cross-promote other successful northern Hamilton County businesses.
“We are trying to create things for families to do up here in northern Hamilton County,” Nelson told The Reporter. “We promote Lisa’s Pie Shop, Mercantile 37, the Atlanta Music Hall as well as our business here in Atlanta and the Nickel Plate Express railroad. We want people to come up and spend the afternoon in Atlanta.”
Mr. Muffin himself (Stephen Nelson) agreed to pose for a photo only if new model railroad fan Monique Rivero would stand in the frame with him. (Reporter photo by Stu Clampitt)
There are multiple parts of the Mr. Muffin’s economic engine in Atlanta.
Mr. Muffin’s Trains layout is a free location for families and model railroad fans to come see one of the largest layouts in the country. Mr. Muffin’s e-commerce and light manufacturing business makes model railroad building kits and sells and repairs equipment. Mr. Muffin’s store sells a variety of products to the general public in a brick-and-mortar location in Atlanta. Next door to the store, the Choo Choo Café offers some truly delicious breakfast and lunch options.
Part of the Nelsons’ success is directly tied to moving from Carmel to Atlanta.
“We really enjoyed being in Carmel, but it was very expensive,” Nelson said. “The train layout itself doesn’t make any money – it’s like we invite you into our house to enjoy the trains. It was a very expensive place to be and we wanted to continue expanding, so we thought, ‘Let’s find a place in northern Hamilton County where we can buy some land and build a building.’ That’s what we started to do. Then my wife, who is much smarter than me, saw there were existing buildings for sale in Atlanta and suggested we do something there.”
Stephen and Liz bought their first building in Atlanta and went through the lengthy and labor-intensive process of taking the train layout down in Carmel and setting it up in northern Hamilton County. Although Mr. Muffin’s arrived in Atlanta before the Nickel Plate Express, Nelson told the Reporter that was not just serendipity.
“One of the reasons we came was that the Nickel Plate track was here,” Nelson said. “I started having conversations with Hamilton County Tourism about doing something on the northern track. I was involved from the beginning. I helped get that organized and get everybody involved.”
The Nelsons see their businesses as a place where people can celebrate railroading and an activity for families.
“When we had our layout in Carmel open to the public, several hundred people came every Saturday and enjoyed the trains,” Nelson told The Reporter. “That is what it is about. We were trying to create community around railroading.”
Since Nickel Plate Express has a number of family excursions, both businesses help create success for the other.
“Families want to do something while they are waiting for the train so they can come down and look at the layout,” Nelson said. “I have a national reputation in this hobby. We have people here every week from out of state. They learn about Nickel Plate Express because they come to the layout.”
In addition, the people who come to visit the layout or to ride the Nickel Plate Express need a place to eat.
“We used to serve lunch here once a month and we did some catering,” Nelson explained. “It was expensive and the food wasn’t very good. I said to my wife, ‘We ought to do our own thing up here.’ The Choo Choo Café building was in terrible shape. It used to be Fletcher’s Restaurant. So we got the idea that we could buy the building and rehab it to turn it into the Choo Choo Café. It is a labor of love to give a place for people who are nearby or who come up here to have a place to eat.”
Liz Nelson, the driving force behind The Choo Choo Café, offers a truly delicious menu of homemade dishes every weekend in downtown Atlanta. (Reporter photo by Stu Clampitt)
Just as Stephen is always tinkering with the train layout to make it a little better, so is Liz working on the menu to make the café better.
“We keep adding things to the menu,” Nelson said. “I was down there today to try the new cheesesteak sandwich because they wanted my feedback. We are adding things all the time and experimenting. We have really talented chefs who work up here. We have a new breakfast item called the Atlanta Sampler. It’s like, ‘Why choose? You can have everything on one big platter.’ We have been selling a lot of Atlanta Samplers!”
The e-commerce business supports the layout and to a large extent it also supports the restaurant.
“My online customers know they are supporting these things,” Nelson said. “We did a Kickstarter campaign with the restaurant and raised $25,000 in donations from people who buy trains from us in order to help us build the Choo Choo Café. It is incredible. It is part of the family orientation of the hobby. I spend a lot of time promoting the hobby and promoting the idea that parents need to put down their electronics and play with their kids. That’s what we are all about.”
Nelson said his number one customer in is the grandparent who wants to show their grandkids models trains. He says many of the kids who come to the layout have never seen a model train before.
Nelson has over 6,000 trains in his collection.
“It is one of the largest privately-owned collections in the country,” Nelson said. “I have a very large layout. You would have to go to New York City or San Diego to see a bigger one, and we are right here in Atlanta, Indiana.”
Reporter photo by Stu Clampitt)
Nelson sees a number of advantages in moving to Atlanta.
“We do a lot of presentations on rural tourism,” Nelson said. “The advantage of coming north is that it is very affordable. You can build an e-commerce business, which we have up here, without the expense of Carmel. Ninety percent of what we sell is sold online. Up here we can create jobs for people and we can afford to own a lot of square footage. Anybody who wants to build an e-commerce business should go to a more rural setting. It’s just a lot more affordable.”
Nelson called his businesses a hobby that has grown out of control.
“Who knew? I was just trying to get it out of my basement and get it into a bigger space where people could enjoy it,” Nelson said. “I had no idea that it would grow like this! I was just at a national convention and they asked me to talk about what’s going on in Atlanta.”
Stop in on Main Street in Atlanta any weekend. It’s free to come see the trains at Mr. Muffin’s.
The Choo Choo Café is located at 185 W. Main St., Atlanta, and Mr. Muffin’s Trains is just down the street at 165 E. Main St.
Learn more online at facebook.com/thechoochoocafe, facebook.com/MrMuffinsTrains and MrMuffinsTrains.com.
The Choo Choo Café is open from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Friday through Sunday, and they host Second Saturday Supper from 6 to 8:30 p.m. the second Saturday of each month. See their ad in this week’s Reporter for more details.
Reporter photos by Stu Clampitt