I am truly saddened to hear this. I wish Richard Kughn had remained head of Lionel to the end.
RIP Richard !! A belated thank you for the TCA open house at CarRail years ago . What an honor to meet you & Ward Kimball . The "S " Gauge community owes you a GREAT BIG THANKYOU also . It would not be a very good gauge to be if it were not for you .
Bob G
An astonishingly productive and very long life, well led. May the memory of his contributions continue to live on through those who had the privilege of knowing him. His legacy is this hobby we all enjoy.
A few stories from a while ago about a true gentleman......
Years ago eating at Tiffany's Restaurant on Roosevelt Avenue in York was the thing to do. Dick and his group arrived at the same time that the Right of Way gang did. We all knew Dick loved rare steak and I had just developed the digital sound boards for cattle cars, one of which was cow sounds (and I brought a sample with me). When Dick received his steak we waited for him to cut into it at which time I turned on the moo cow sound. Everybody had a good laugh. Linda told me some years later that she delighted in telling that story many times over.
On a more serious note I had gotten word Dick had a serious respiratory ailment. I gave him a call and he told me about having to get around in a wheel chair and using oxygen. There was a pause in the conversation and then Dick said, "Lou, pray for me."
RIP my friend.
Lou N
The man who saved Lionel and the Madison Hardware collection and had one heck of a car collection. May he rest in peace. He did good.
I did not know him but knew of him! May he rest in Gods Heavenly Peace and may God comfort his family.
I am shocked and saddened to hear of Mr. Kughn's passing. I certainly never met the man but I have to say that for me his presence in the hobby was nothing short of monumental. He obviously meant a lot to Lionel and Lionel lovers and I think we all are experiencing and sensing a very great void right now. He will definitely be missed.
Im sadden to learn of his passing, ...I choose to honor the man, and say thank you! For all that you did for the hobby ....and I choose to honor the man by enjoying the models he had a hand in coming to be.....THANKS RICHARD! .........
Pat
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Sending prayers!!!
Mr. Kughns contributions to the hobby & saving Lionel will never be forgotten. RIP & my condolences to his family.
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My sincere condolences
Alex
I heard about it this morning. A big loss to the train world.
This is very sad news. I met Richard and his wife Linda back in York in the early 2000s sat with them during the museum presentation and him and his wife were two of the nicest people in the world. He will definitely be missed. Rest in peace and my condolences to his family.
I agree with all the comments. Nothing to add. He was the right person at the right time for O gauge trains.
Mark
I am truly sadden to read that Richard past away. He is the savior of Lionel and probably our hobby in general. I had the honor of meeting Richard at his hobby building during the LCCA's century party for Lionel.
Many will remember how he graciously hosted buss lodes of club members to see his antique car and toy train collection. I was lucky enough to spend some time with him on his control platform running the layout. His love for the hobby and the people who shared it with him was obvious because you could feel he truly enjoyed hearing my stories of how I acquired a few of the same items he had on his shelves.
Those fifteen minutes I shared with him remain one of the highlights of my life.
What really stands out in my mind and heart is how he would say high to me when ever our paths crossed at York or other conventions.
Rest in peace old train buddy and may your memory live on forever in the hearts of all who share the blessing of knowing Richard Kughn.
May God forever bless your warm spirit and those who love you.
Mario Evangelista
(GG1MAN)
Richard was one of a kind. I was lucky enough to film a Christmas story for TV with him at the Lionel factory. They had just brought back much of their assembly to the USA. The ladies making track often said they knew they would have their jobs back, and they did. Richard was so excited just to show us around. A room full of old classic display layouts, racks of engine molds and selves of very collectable trains. He was as excited as a kid to run the new factory layout for us. We filmed them making Irvington cars, American Flyer New Haven electrics and more. He gave us each new G scale train sets and even signed my copy of CTT issue #1. I saved most of that BetaCam tape expect of one reel that I loaned someone and never got back. Don
Sad news indeed. Condolences to his family and friends.
Indeed we lost an Icon today and he will be sorely missed.
I met Mr. Kughn at CarRail with my family and have a great shot of him with my small children.
Mr. Kughn took us around that facility and pointed out the various vehicles he had on display and noted the unique features of each. Then we went for a tour of the back room where he kept several vehicles. I pointed out to him that one of the vehicles had a flat that should be addressed. Man, he jumped right on it and had one of his employees check it out and had it repaired on the spot!
I can honestly say that if it hadn't been for Mr. Kughn resurrecting the company when he did and bringing back the 700e, I would not be on this forum today. He was truly a remarkable gentleman.
On another occasion, I was at York visiting the Lionel booth. This event was well after Mr. Kughn had sold the company. While at the booth Mr. Kughn approached the booth, looked it over and then took out his camera to take a photo of the display.
Then out of nowhere a large TCA thug appeared and very rudely told Mr. Kughn he couldn't take any photographs. Mr. Kughn could have used his influence to do otherwise, but instead he very graciously apologized and put his camera away. To this day I'm still amazed how rude the TCA representative was and how inversely gracious Mr. Kughn's actions were in contrast. The man had CLASS.
On a separate occasion, myself and a few others were "temporally" employed by Mr. Kughn during his massive auction several years ago. He was a great employer as we got to keep the Auction Tee Shirts and were able to see the items for sale prior to the general public. If I'm not mistaken I did make a purchase that day but it wasn't for anything of great significance.
Mr. Kughn did save Lionel from oblivion as it had been run into the ground by General Mills. He had vision and determination. The little bit of cash he had helped as well I suppose. 
He will truly be missed.
May God rest his soul in eternal light.
Richard Kughn was exactly what the O gauge hobby needed when it needed him. He saved Lionel, and, by extension, the whole O gauge hobby through his dedication and his willingness to try all new products. I remember when Lionel brought out the covered hopper car, the KCS GP-38 and TMCC under his leadership. They had never moved that boldly to introduce new products since the fifties. These actions meant that Lionel was moving forward to build new products rather than just re-issuing old standards. Lionel had modern products for today's generation and the older re-issues for those that wanted them. I fell into both camps, buying some of each.
Kazar
I also purchased several items from his collection and I am thankful I did.
Something to remember an important individual by.
And not least, a great guy!
Lots of memories of Mr. Kughn but one that jumps out for me is his appearance in the Tom Snyder "A Century of Legendary Lionel Trains" video. His enthusiasm, depth of knowledge and the twinkle in his eye on camera were infectious and you knew that this man truly loved toy trains.
R.I.P.
Mr. Kughn, on a scale of happiness, would be given 100% for his personal and professional contributions to this wonderful hobby. He is a noble example of our American dream, take personal responsibility for yourself and work hard.
Allegheny posted:I met Mr. Kughn at CarRail with my family and have a great shot of him with my small children.
If you care to, send that photo of Dick with your kids to me as an email attachment. I might be able to include it in the brief tribute I am putting together for our August issue, which is already in the proofing stage. The Dick Kughn tribute will take the place of my regular Editor's Corner column in that issue simply because I do not want to delay in getting the word out to some of our readers who are not participants online.
We have lost a true legend, and a man of class and unmatched distinction in our hobby. Condolences to his family and friends!
Very saddened to hear this, I have no doubt that he saved Lionel and helped create the industry we have today, but my admiration goes beyond that. I think I appreciated his enthusiasm for trains (and cars, and other things), it very much was the enthusiasm of an eager child and it is very rare people keep that to adulthood IME and I got the impression that to him it was a lot more than about just making a profit from everything I have heard. My wish for him is may the winds be fair, the beer cold, and there always be a star to steer by (my poor version of an old sailor's send off for a lost colleague)
I look forward to the tribute mentioned above by OGR! I trust it will be substantial. In reading the many posts here of how Richard Kughn was the key turning point for O scale, it really demonstrates his importance. I always liked the post war trains, but I really wanted modern trains I saw up the street from my apartment on the Norfolk Southern mainline. I couldnt get that NS Dash-8 quick enough when Lionel offered it! The miles on the Susquehanna and NS Dash-8s were many! Running many hours on my apartment floor pulling eagerly awaited scale hoppers and boxcars and tank cars by the new Lionel under Mr. Kughn. Those first attempts to produce modern equipment have now been distanced by unimaginable realism of today. And while the Dash-8's get much deserved rest these days, they never leave my collection, and occasionally come out to recall those first fun years of something new and different in O scale. The Kughn era rolling stock still runs often in my freight consists. I recall the feeling back then of these cars filling a huge gap in the hobby. Each new prototypical car was like a cool drink of water in a dry desert of modern O scale trains.
OGR, please give Mr. Kughn the greatest of tribute articles. I see that it is common opinion that this man changed course for the O Gauge hobby. He certainly did for me, putting away the HO forever. He sparked untold developments that exceeded our imaginations back in those early years of this new era of O gauge.
Others like Mike Wolf, Atlas O, Williams, took the ball and ran with it in different directions. Williams created the first Amtrak Genesis locos which are still a favorite of mine. MTH went into production of amazing products as if a buffet of nearly anything we could want, and Atlas O created detailed models and products not offered by others. I believe, Mr. Kughn was the spark that set all of this in motion.
Reading all the post. I don't think I could add any additional thought except for my thoughts and prayers.
My Dad and I went to Carail when I was a kid. I will never forget it. Without Richard, Lionel would have only been a memory.
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My condolences to the Kughn family. Thank you to a man that brought life to the hobby of Lionel Trains when it was needed.
It's been a couple of days since I read about Mr. Kughn's passing and I still have no words to describe my sad feelings. I would like to offer my condolences to his family. He was a true legend and the savior of our hobby.
Dick made this world a better place. I am grateful for having know him and Linda. Linda and I while hosting a LCCA Soecial Event pulled off a surprise 85th BD party for Dick. We also honored him later at an event at the NJ Hi trailers club in Paterson NJ. He was truly touched.
I was fortunate to spend the day with him this past February and took him to a WGHOT train show in Novi MI. He had a blast meeting with people at the LCCA table within the Lionel display and running Lionchief Lionel trains.
We lost a great friend and ambassador of our hobby. We love you and will miss you. We offer our sincere condolences to his family and his staff at Kughn Enterprise 
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I sure wish Lionel would bring out the boxcar shown in one of the photos above as a general sale item. I would certainly buy one.
tncentrr posted:I sure wish Lionel would bring out the boxcar shown in one of the photos above as a general sale item. I would certainly buy one.
Agreed. Maybe a good project for the LCCA?
Not only was Richard an essential part of the O-Gauge hobby and Lionel in particular, he also played an instrumental role in the story of a REAL steam locomotive! With help from Bill Benson and Ross Rowland, he was able to buy Reading 4-8-4 no. 2100 and spend $1 million of his own money to restore the locomotive and put it back in service. The locomotive had previously been used as a parts donor for sister no. 2101, used in the Chessie Steam Special and American Freedom Train. As seen in the video below, the locomotive had some break-in runs, but following these there was nowhere to run the engine, and the idea of returning her to the high iron was scratched. The locomotive's ownership ended up changing hands about a half-dozen times, and is now in the hands of the American Steam Railroad, where her long unusual journey looks a lot brighter.
Richard's contributions to the world of railroading will never be forgotten, and he will be missed.
WOW: How do you say "Thank You Mr Richard Kughn". I was privileged to meet him at the 1993 LCCA Convention in Michigan. He autographed my Lionel Visitor Center Boxcar. When Richard took over Lionel, things happened--for the best. The very first thing he did was listen to us and act on many of the things we told him. One of the major changes was the Symmington Wayne Plastic Roller Truck which was changed to a very realistic Roller Bearing Truck with fantastic memory plastic. Infact, today his truck is still used on introductory set cars and still work perfectly. And then there was the fantastic Steam Locomotives that he brought to us--The Reading T-1, Chessie Steam Special, The Frisco and Southern Mikado, etc. Those engines were brought out by Kughn and Wolf working together--but time changed and both men went on there own ways. RIP Mr Richard Kughn, you are a true Icon of Lionel Trains. railbear601
Mr. Kughn, Thank you for all you have done for all of us, may you rest in peace. Our condolences to Mr. Kughn’s family and friends.
Raymond
Thank you for posting. It is my understanding the Kughn family is not planning to have a memorial service this week. They are trying to decide how to coordinate and plan an event at some time in the future.
Al Kolis
Sad news for sure--we owe him a debt of gratitude for what he did. I never met him, but I wrote him a letter about 10 years ago, and the letter he wrote back to me is something I will always treasure.
John
prrhorseshoecurve posted:My condolences to him and his family.
Imet him at the 2000 LCCA/LOTS convention in Detroit. I tooured his CARrail and had him sign many lionel items I won throught the convention. HE was a great and pleasant man to meet and talk to.
You are exactly right. Did the same and found him very gracious. A fine gentleman.
Mr Kughn was such a great man and will be missed for sure. Never met him but I was lucky enough to win a 1990 700E Hudson from his auction a few years ago. Now my favorite engine bar none. My condolences to his family.
