Norm Cole's passing

Thanks for sharing, what a great craftsman.

Steve

sad day indeed. loved hls layout. seemed like a true gentleman.

just watched the vldeo. all l can say ls magnlfacent. that gentleman truly had talent. lt's a shame hls layout had to come down but lt shows what kind of man he was not wantlng hls famlly to have all that to deal wlth.
wlth all the "what would you like to see from Lionel MTH etc" threads how about a series of rolling stock honoring railroad craftsmen such as Mr Cole?

My parents, sister and I traveled on the Lehigh Valley RR, "The Route of the Black Diamond", from Grand Central Terminal to Wilkes Barre PA in the 40's. Norm was probably the conductor on some of those trips.

Thanks to Rich Yoder and Dave Eisinger for the original post.

Beautiful layout and workmanship/craft exhibited. Great that it was recorded on tape. Sad to think of it as has been and that he has moved on. Sharp looking streamline Prospector.

The thought that occurred to me while reading his obituary was that it sure seemed that he lived a full life.

Norm and his fine work will we remembered for a long, long time.

TEX
Steve

Good by and God Bless Norm. You enjoyed a nice life and did some good work in the process.

All my paryers sir.
Mario E.

Will,

Thanks for the post.
He was an amazing model railroader.
That kind of modeler is not often seen anymore.

Eliot

Very sad. Condolences to Norm's family. He was a very accomplished man, according to the obit.

I must pull that back issue of OGR (Run 141) to look at his layout.

I did not know Norm nor had I ever even heard of him before today but I am sorry to hear of his passing. I watched the video and he had a very nice model railroad. I was impressed how he had many scratch and kit built items on the railroad along some other stuff that 2 railers sometimes don't like such as a Lionel/Plasticville switch tower and a MTH Railking building. All put together he had a wonderful layout. My sincerest condolences to his friends and family.

PS:The video was very well done too. You can even watch it HD.

Thanks Will - great video.

Hi Will
Thank you for sharing this video.
The hobby looses another great modeler.
My condolences to his family and friends.
Bill

Norm Cole was a magnificent craftsman.

That was a fabulous video. Thanks a lot for posting it here.
.....
Dennis

Neat layout to say the least. Charming man with interesting stories and so very talented to build so much and so well.

I was saddened to read of Norm Cole's passing. He was truly one of the most interesting and inspiring O gauge modelers I've ever met and I had the opportunity a number of times to visit his home and layout when I was in Easton on OGR business.

The thing I remember most about Norm was how he switched from outside third rail power in the early 1990s so he could run Bob Weaver's RS-3s. That required a tremendous amount of work re-doing the track as well as all his engines and rolling stock with insulated wheels for 2-rail operation. I still think of him and his willingness to do that work when I contemplate some minor change in my WSR layout. He even talked about starting all over with a new layout, but I don't think he ever did. But being willing to take down the layout in his '90s was also amazing. He was that kind of meticulous, thoughtful, concerned man. The thought of tearing down the WSR gives me ulcers.

His statement in the OGR article (Run 141) we did says it all about his true understand of our hobby:"I enjoy all aspects of model railroading and I have just as much fun operating Lionel trains on a friend's 3-rail layout as I do from operating my own 2-rail trains. What I've learned (which I'm sad to say, some of my fellow modelers haven't learned) is that it doesn't matter what kind of trains you like or what kind of layout you have. It is all model railroading and it is all fun."

That kind of comment was what mnade Norm Cole a truly great model railroader as well as a truly great person. My life has been enriched by my having been even a small part of his.

Fred Dole