Losing the Legends...

Derek,

I was practically raised by my grandparents during the WWII period. I lost my father early on in the Pacific. My mother worked in the arms plants throughout the war. The war years were terribly hard on the home front.

 

My grandfather had the greatest influence on my life. He sparked my interest in Std Gauge Lionel trains. He and his friends became my best friends. My grandfather past in March of 1955. In his death, I lost my dearest friend. Since then I've lost the rest of my grandfather's friends. Yes, they too were my best friends.

 

To this day I still have each and every one of my grandfather's trains. I even own a few that his friends gave me through the years. To keep the torch burning as you say, all I have to do is think about each and everyone of these special persons.

 

God Bless,

"Pappy"                                                                       

Jack Witmeyer, Lowell Jeans, Ward Kimball were all very influential in the hobby to me as well as good friends.

One of the things that makes me look forward to waking up before sunrise every morning is knowing I have time to spend alone under the stars drinking the first cup of coffee with frends and family who have moved on. This time of year especially sociable with them, as after the first cub of coffee, we move into the living room and operate the Christmas display together.

When I first joined this forum and went to my first forum get together, I was very shy and quiet. Owen Sturm (Paulinskill) was one of the people who that day went out of his way to make me feel welcome as part of the group. After that, every time I went to a train show and he'd see me, he would come over and strike up a conversation, either asking me what I was up to, or telling me about what he was up to on his layout.

 

We lost him probably about two years ago. After his passing, RMT came out with a WP boxcar with markings dedicated to him, and I made sure I bought one in his memory.

 

There is still part of me that seems like it's expecting to see him around the next corner at York, smiling and happy as can be.

Although I never met him, I always enjoyed the late night TV pioneer Tom Snyder, who always managed to talk about toy trains. He was funny, but better yet, he made toy trains sound cool. Somebody just mentioned Ward Kimball. One of my favorite TV interviews was when Tom Snyder had his Tomorrow show and interviewed Ward Kimball about his toy train collection as well as his real trains. The interviews (6 different segments) from the 1970's can still be found on YouTube. 

 

Tom

When it comes to legends there are a lot of names mentioned here of famous people.  These really aren't the legends to me.  The legends are the people that you know that made this hobby so much fun that aren't with us anymore. Those famous people were strangers.  Here is a list of my legends

 

My good friend Ed Zarelli   Today is his birthday and he has been gone for a year now.

 

 

Another good friend Marty Horning

 

 

 

My Buddy Owen Sturm  As Michael said above he made everybody he met feel comfortable.

 

 

 

And Big Loco Louie

 

 

 

 

All of these guys were legends in the hobby.

IMHO, Ben hit the nail on the head.

 

The biggest legend that I know is now 83 years old. Dave McDonald has been a friend to me since 1969. As a young man, I so fondly recall my trips his "The Golden Spike" to purchase model railroading items and then the great BS sessions while there. Over the decades we have become like family, with my wife and I being at their side during the untimely loss of their middle daughter. We have gone on trips together, drank coffee together by the 55 gallon drums, even our wives are friends. Dave has ridden with me in the cabs of engines, served at a "Host Conductor" on the passenger trains I run, and I hope that I can pull the needed strings to get him onboard in the cab this passenger train season so Dave and I can enjoy one more ride in an engine together.

 

Dave has been my best friend and is one of the best quality people I know.  I am so dreading that time that he must leave us behind and move onto his reward.

 

Value the friendships you have now while you can.

Three cheers for Jack Gilbert! He ran an electrical appliance and train shop on Third Ave in Manhattan NYC a few blocks south of 86th St. He let me have the run of the store in the late 1960's. Imagine a 12 year old with access to all the parts drawers and trains on shelves in the stockroom! For the three or 4 years I knew him it was like a dream come true. He was a real friend and role model for a kid who might want to run a business someday. Jack was on in years and he had a physically challenged son who would work the shop with him. About 1970 Jack had to close the shop due to heart troubles and newly imposed high rent. Impossible to imagine that he lived too long afterwards. 44 years later and I remember him every day.

In the past two years, I've lost three club members, Eric Burr, Fred D'Aquilar, and Lowell Jeans, and a long-time mentor, Ed Reutling. It has been rough, but we move on -- we have to for the sake of the hobby.

Paul Scoles.

 

Jeff C

The legends I have actually met are Bob Hegge and Mike Wolf and worked with and corresponded with Alan Armitage.  Most of the other legends in my own estimation were listed in a 1953 Fawcett book titled "Prize Winning Model Railroads".  There I was introduced to Jack Alexander, John Allen, and Hugh Boutell.  I remember Ulrich B. Graff, Bill Schopp, E. L. Moore, Eric LaNal from the pages of Railroad Model Craftsman.  And of course Frank Ellison.  All of these authors made railroading a way of life and inspired me in my visions of model railroading.  I wish I had the stature to inspire younger modellers.   Odd-d

On a personal note, my uncle Andy Bakken was the one who started me in HO trains in the mid '60s.  After seeing his small layout, I saved my money to buy a Tyco HO set.  He gave me his Kalmbach books (HO Railroad That Grows) and a lot of building kits.  He passed away in 1991.

 

On a hobby note, my biggest influence was John Allen!

Great post.

Michael - Owen did the same thing for me as well.  Even made a copy of a CD on scenery unsolicited by me and gave it to me at a subsequent Allentown  show. 

All are missed.

-Greg

Gentlemen,

   Here in the Pittsburgh, Pa area we had many among them my buddy Frank, who owned the Iron Horse Train Shop, Frank was a WWII Military Investigator and solved

many military train crimes during WWII, I was a member of his Iron Horse Train Club and because I became a US Army CID Special Agent, Frank would spend special time with me when I was home on leave, so that I could run trains in his upper office, on his fantastic layout.  We watched a lot of train movies and drank gallons of coffee as he told me about his criminal investigative train work during the war, he truly was something else.   CID made Frank a special Mug with an old #7 Steam Engine showing thru his WWII Investigators badge, myself and 2 other CID Agents presented it to him

one evening at the Train shop, it was the only time in my life, that I saw him in tears.  Many years later just before his passing, I remember seeing it in his train room at home, as clean as the day we presented it to him.  His respect for the military was that great, President Reagan called Frank the night we presented him with his service mug.

When the call came into the Train shop, some of the employees thought it was a practical joke of some kind, you could have heard a pin drop in the place when they figured out the call was for real.    Frank referred to that call as the greatest 20 minutes of his career.  The Iron Horse and Frank are gone now, but his memory here in Pa is still vivid, especially at Christmas time, to this old runner.

PCRR/Dave 

 

Frank W talking to us at the Iron Horse Train Club, as we ran trains on his club layout.

Wonderful thread......I think about Owen regularly when I'm doing something train-related...a great fellow......had many a dinner with him at Friday's......a true gem.

 

Peter

Haven't really lost anyone who I could say greatly influenced me in the hobby.  But I will echo what Greg and Peter said about Owen.  He was probably the first guy who, when he saw me years ago at a train show, greeted me and acknowledged/recognized me as part of the O Gauge Forum.  It may not seem like much but it was the first time I had any appreciation for the fact that people in this hobby will reach out to you even if you're total strangers to each other, simply based on your mutual love of trains, or because of something you said or wrote on this website.  It probably sounds goofy or corny, but he made me feel like I was part of something,  a community of sorts.  And hearing his enthusiasm in just ordinary chit-chat about trains made me more willing to do the same with people I had previously never met.

 

Thanks Owen.  

 

- Mike

"Gentlemen,

   Here in the Pittsburgh, Pa area we had many among them my buddy Frank, who owned the Iron Horse Train Shop, Frank was a WWII Military Investigator and solved

many military train crimes during WWII, I was a member of his Iron Horse Train Club and became I became a US Army CID Special Agent, Frank would spend special time with me when I was home on leave, so that I could run trains in his upper office, on his fantastic layout.  We watched a lot of train movies and drank gallons of coffee as he told me about his criminal investigative train work during the war, he truly was something else.   CID made Frank a special Mug with an old #7 Steam Engine showing thru his WWII Investigators badge, myself and 2 other CID Agents presented it to him

one evening at the Train shop, it was the only time in my life, that I saw him in tears.  Many years later just before his passing, I remember seeing it in his train room at home, as clean as the day we presented it to him.  His respect for the military was that great, President Reagan called Frank the night we presented him with his service mug.

When the call came into the Train shop, some of the employees thought it was a practical joke of some kind, you could have heard a pin drop in the place when they figured out the call was for real.    Frank referred to that call as the greatest 20 minutes of his career.  The Iron Horse and Frank are gone now, but his memory here in Pa is still vivid, especially at Christmas time, to this old runner.

PCRR/Dave"

 

Thanks for sharing this with us all Dave. This is truly a wonderful story and I can easily see why you hold him in high regard.

In the last year the TMB lost three members, none of which are known here on the forum but influenced our club, its members and our community. Richard Whitaker, Tom Boltz and Mario Guerri all of whom are greatly missed

 

As our club has a great relationship with the HiRailers we truly missed Marty, Ed and Owen who always made us welcome on Trainstock and other club visits.

 

Rest in Peace gents

Joe Davis of Davis Trains in Milford, Ohio. I was in grad school at Xavier and someone told me about Davis Trains. From 1997 on I was there all the time and he got me back into the hobby. It was a great store and I met Jim Barrett there when he was doing repairs and Lee Kaufmann who worked for Lionel. Thanksgiving weekends were so much fun there. Joe, asked me to run his layout for the store so his employees could be on the floor..Joe died, and his son just got out. I then left Cincinnati for NYC..

Wow, Davis Trains. A store I had totally forgotten about.  I used to order from them when I first got back into O gauge in the 90's. Weren't they the dealer that would put candy mints -- lifesavers -- in every mail order?

My Father, who in the late 1940's and early 50's would retreat after Thanksgiving into my playroom, which would become off limits to me until Xmas morning, when the 4x8 layout would be ready.  To this day, I have some old pieces of wiring labeled via masking tape with his distinctive printing.  At my present age of 72 looking at it still sometimes brings a tear to my eye.  Love ya, Dad.

          JPR

 

We have lost a number of people on the scale side as well, including John Armstrong, John Allen and Hal Carstens. Fortunately their ideas live on to influence new modelers. I should mention the first real innovator in this hobby I was aware of...A.C. Gilbert. I started out with American Flyer trains...my father didn't like the look of a 3rd rail running down the middle of the track...and he bought the trains.

 I became a US Army CID Special Agent, 

PCRR/Dave 

 

 

so...you must have known this man then.......(sorry Dave..couldn't resist!) great story, thanks for sharing. I had heard of The Iron Horse but never made it up there.

in the seventies I ran a hotel in Beverly Hills, and Tom Snyder stayed with us. I share the same last name as Tom. I ran into him in the elevator and introduced myself. He said "Now I know why someone keeps calling my room asking for more towels." He was a funny guy.

Two people come to mind as I read this thread. I had a great uncle, who I considered to be an Uncle in my life. His name was Marion but everyone called him Pappy. He hailed from Montana and loved trains. He bought Lionel for me when I was young and I still hold and cherish that today. He also loved the Milwaukee Road and told me stories about it when I was growing up. He passed away when I was a senior in high school, and I was a pallbearer at his funeral. His influence on me is deep, and the reason in part why I love the Milwaukee Road so much. I think of him often when I am running the Milwaukee at the National Capital Trackers. His daughter gave me his book collection and I have held on to it and cherish it. 

 

There is another person who I miss who was a giant. He was a Trackmaster at then National Capital Trackers and was trackmaster at about a quarter of our shows. His name was Rich Myers and he was a great guy to be around. Fun, pleasant, laid back, and just an all around great guy. There are so many people in the Trackers who I appreciate and admire, but the loss of Rich is felt - even today.  He crosses my mind when I run at College Park at the Aviation Museum there. 

My grand daddy gave my very first trains.And because it was a steam locomotive that might explain.Why I like the steam locomotive of the 1930 and 1940s.He passed away in 1993 and that hurt me alot.I have always thought he left the party to soon.However I know that hes in a better place.And I have him in my memory and heart.

Biggest influences? My dad and grandfather had the biggest impact. Grand Pap worked as a passenger conductor on the PRR for most of his 45 1/3 year career. He loved his job and his Union/ Brotherhood/ Insurance Company...The BRT....Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen. Dad made sure all his boys had electric trains to play with. He never had a toy train as he grew up during the Great Depression. Even though his Dad had work.... there was no spare money as Pappy was the" Family Welfare Agency"....taking in relatives who 'fell on hard times".