Remember Shopping at Railroad Salvage in Connecticut and Massachusetts?

Long before Dollar Stores were on almost every corner of Connecticut and Massachusetts, a man by the name of Ruby Vine invited us to shop his Railroad Salvage Stores.

Reuben 'Ruby' Vine was born in New Haven, and started his Railroad Salvage Stores empire in 1950. Vine passed away in Ft. Lauderdale in 2011 at the age of 86. His stores were not unlike his competitors K-Mart, Bradlees, and Caldor, all featured a wide selection of home goods, but Ruby's merchandise was a bit cheaper. Railroad Salvage Stores today would look like Ollie's Bargain Basement, Ocean State Job Lot, or even a Goodwill thrift store at times. We used to go to the Railroad Salvage Store on Thomaston Avenue in Waterbury, and my wife's family used to frequent the Chicopee store outside of Springfield, Massachusetts.

I had a flashback the other day when I noticed a post on social media mentioning Ruby Vine and his Railroad Salvage Stores that were in Connecticut and Massachusetts back in the day. That little train whistle is still right there in my mind. Here's a classic Railroad Salvage Store commercial starring Ruby that Chris Hattings posted on YouTube -

And here's another classic Railroad Salvage video of the Groton location from YouTube that was posted by 166th Productions almost 10 years ago -

As of today, an online search of 'Railroad Salvage" brings you to Railroad Stores Furniture and Mattress Store at 1131 Campbell Ave in West Haven, and a couple of random memories from folks who are like us.