IN MEMORIAM - BILL MORLITZ a.k.a. PRRBill

Bill was a great guy.  He used to come to our club a lot.  He used to wear this huge driving cap that always reminded me of the little Rascals.  Bill passed in 2017.  He was how we met our fellow club member Gerry who is bills brother

I have fond memories of conversations with Bill on many topics.  We had a common interest in history, and of course, as a history teacher he had a wealth of knowledge and was always willing to share his expertise. 

-Greg

Thanks for posting Ben. Bill certainly loved trains and the NJHR. Bill turned 60 on 2/1/2010. I wanted to do something special for him and I knew he would come to Trainstock. I wasn't yet a member of the NJHR and I reached out to Ben who put me in touch with Vinny. They made Bill a really neat birthday cake for Trainstock and boy was he surprised! It was really a great thing to do.

A couple of years later, because of Bill and Marty, I joined the NJHR and became an active member. Undoubtedly the best thing I ever did with model railroading. I now spend winters in FL and am less active, but truly value the time I spent at the club and with club members.

Bill and I had trains as kids. I was 4.5 years older so mine came first. I had a Lionel 2 motor GG1. Bill had a New Haven F-3 with one motor. We each had loops, but we used to play "tug of war" with the trains. I don't know how long it took Bill to figure out he was never going to win.

Bill had a lifelong interest in trains and as a history teacher he loved to research it. As his neuropathy got worse and he became less mobile he did more and more. One of his last projects was that Marty Fitz was interested in train bridges and viaducts in Philly in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Marty spent a lot of his earlier years NW of Philly and had a thing for the Reading RR. Bill did a lot of research on that for Marty.

Gerry

Gerry

I forgot all about that cake   We had one for him and Elliot