ERIE — Doug Green had always planned to set the old Lionel train up again. But more than 30 years of good intentions ended Monday when the Millcreek Township man walked into Train City with boxes full of engines, cars and track.

Green, who left the shop $150 richer, showed up just in time.

After 27 years in business, owner Charlie Siegel is closing Train City’s doors for good at the end of the month to relocate his family and business to Cape Canaveral, Fla.

It’s anything but a sign-of-the-times hard-luck story.

Instead, it’s a testament to the value of adapting to the times — and the portability of an Internet-based business.

Siegel, a 57-year-old Erie native, got his start back in the early 1980s as a coin dealer, but quickly decided the market for his wares was modest.

He added trains and eventually dropped coins from his inventory altogether.

And he also learned something about the limitations of foot traffic.

Customers in search of new sets, engines, cars and track kept him busy as Christmas approached. But for much of the rest of the year, the pace could be painfully slow.

For years, train shows were the solution. Siegel, who deals primarily in used model trains, would pack up some of his most valuable items and travel to shows around the country.

It was an approach that worked, despite steep travel expenses and the cost of leaving his business behind. Siegel didn’t sell everything he took to shows, but he sold enough.

By the mid-1990s, however, he was ready to try something new and began listing trains on the Internet.

The move met with modest success at first. The real benefits of the Internet would come later, when he began selling through eBay and on his own auction site, www.choochooauctions.com.

“Auctions are much more fun,” he said.

They also account for most of his business. Siegel estimated that only about 3 percent of his sales are made over the counter at his Millcreek Township store.