Remembering Gary Schrader

Sorry to hear. I really admired his top notch work and learned a lot from his writings:

https://oscalecentral.com/gary-shrader/

His Santa Fe early 5000 series 2-10-4 O Scale models were the best I have ever seen. Amoung the details he captured were all the connections between tender and locomotive.  Truly inspirational

Sorry to hear about Gary.  I visited his layout on the O Scale West tours.  Absolutely amazing to see.

Thanks for posting that link Norm. A lot of information about Gary I was unaware of fantastic information if you model in O scale.  

I had the pleasure of benefitting from some of his expertise. I heard about it two weeks ago also.PSC did not offer the C&O J3a w/smoke lifters and I really wanted one since I had the ''Key'' model in ''HO''. I contacted Gary and he did his usual GREAT JOB!

@up148 posted:

Since it hasn't been posted here, I thought I would let the OGR community know that Gary Schrader passed away almost 2 weeks ago.  I know many of you don't know him, but he was "THE" O scale 2R guru who could do virtually anything with a brass or plastic model train. He rebuilt, re-powered, corrected, updated, painted and weathered hundreds and maybe even thousands of model trains during his life. He also has(d) a phenomenal O scale layout in his basement.

He also was the reason the KEY AC locomotives were built several years ago. He communicated with the builder and was THE quality control person in charge.

May the signals be green Gary and we will all miss you. You've left a hole that no one can fill.

I have an AC-8 and an AC-11. They are the best in my collection and I have trains from ALL the importers. I was really hoping he would get to put his touch on the upcoming ''Key'' Santa Fe 4-8-4 locomotives. That would have been fantastic!!!

A sad moment for O scale.

Gary’s contributions are incalculable. To say that he was simply a master is an understatement, in my opinion he was one of those uber rare individuals who not only mastered modeling, but found through modeling and consulting a form of self expression that puts him in the category of Author.

A true legend.

I thought it would be appropriate to give a link for a You Tube video of Gary's layout:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBcSz9iI7nY

ECI         

Gary’s work inspired me, …..his ability to produce spot on parts from raw materials is what drove me to do better,…..he remains the king!….

Pat

Gary was a master modeler who had the skill to take an expensive brass engine apart and make it better.  He was always willing to share his techniques with other modelers.  He tried to teach me to solder and failed.  I was fortunate to get the opportunity to run trains on his layout several times.  Fortunately, many of his modeling essays still exist to inspire modelers well into the future.

His passing is a great loss to the O Scale 2-rail and SF Bay Area community.   NH Joe

He had amazing skills, and was not at all snooty . . . just the ideal model railroader.  I liked the story of his conversion to O scale.

Are the articles on his detailing listed at the end of the article about him available somewhere?

I had the opportunity to visit his layout twice for OSW conventions. Wonderful displays of his collection and layout. What impressed me was during the open tours he would be having normal conversations while the trains would be racing around his layout at scale passenger train speed. Never a worry that anything would come off the rails, and it did`nt. I believe he was the son of an ATSF railman and a Kansas native. A real giant in quality 2 rail O scale.    jeff

@Dougklink posted:

Are the articles on his detailing listed at the end of the article about him available somewhere?

No, unless there is a compilation of his E-mails somewhere.  Gary had a mailing list where he sent E-mails to modelers/enthusiasts that covered the projects that he worked on. It would be a HUGE amount of material.

ECI

That said, I wouldn't be surprised if Gary kept/saved a record of his repairs.

Check the O Scale Central .com website this is the new name for the O Scale Kings, extensive postings from Gary of various projects he did.

Gary was a true inspiration, he could literally do anything, one of the all time best O scalers in history.  An all around fantastic guy.

He was a great mentor (though he didn’t realize) and his essays / emails helped thousands of folks. His projects, especially locomotives, were brass model train art.  

I will really miss him and the email updates. Always made my day.

An incredible loss to our community.

Gary was such a nice guy, I always enjoyed going to see his layout.

@New Haven Joe posted:

Gary was a master modeler who had the skill to take an expensive brass engine apart and make it better.  He was always willing to share his techniques with other modelers.  He tried to teach me to solder and failed.  I was fortunate to get the opportunity to run trains on his layout several times.  Fortunately, many of his modeling essays still exist to inspire modelers well into the future.

His passing is a great loss to the O Scale 2-rail and SF Bay Area community.   NH Joe

I got a PSC B&O EM-1 a few years back and knew there were problems with the finished product and he could correct them. First He repositioned the duct running in front of the smokebox door to route just below the door. Second he modified the hard lines between the two sets of drivers to be flexible lines. Lastly he removed the one extra overfire jet on the left side of the firebox to replicate the prototype. These were mistakes that Westside Model Co. and Precision Scale copied that importers got wrong.

I don’t get on this forum much anymore, I apologize for my tardy reply. I got word of Mr Schrader’s passing from Roger Lewis the day after he passed. I always leaned on Mr Schrader’s work and his charming emails of his progress to show others in the other lessor scales just how good O scale is compared to the puny plastic stuff (1/160-1/87). His improvements to existing models that were already nice always inspired me and from what I read here it inspired you as well. I am fortunate enough to have several of his masterpiece works in my collection and some of his other handy work as a master class modeler and historian. Mr Schrader will be missed greatly and unfortunately I do not know of anyone else that can fill his shoes in our community, a sad reality that I’m hopeful will turn around, I hope. Long live O scale and Mr Schrader’s beautiful creations and incredible skill I will miss him. 🙁

Gary was so generous with his time.  I called him a couple time regarding some of his mods and he would slowly and deliberately clarify the issue.  I also saw his layout at least 3x at OSW and it was always awesome.  His photo essays on mods to the SS SP Berkshire, WSM ATSF Mike, and USH ATSF steam were wonderful.

Hi Guys ,

              When the Key AC's were being developed there were videos of the first running models sent to Gary for inspection and I was blown away with both the model and Gary's layout . I then searched You Tube and found more layout videos which were just awesome . It's amazing that one guy had such an influence in the hobby and built so many friendships over the years . I couldn't justify an AC to just sit in the box no matter how badly I wanted one , but recently came across one new in the box and thought maybe I should go for it . My guess is the last person who touched it was Gary as my understanding is he inspected each model before Key delivered them .  I've owned many brass locomotives in several scales , but this AC is on a different level altogether . I still don't have a ''use '' for it and half regret having to decide on it or a CCM 1/24 Cat D9h I was looking at ( only so much money to go around ) , but the link to Gary is nice to know .  So from someone who didn't know you thanks for all you did for the modelling community .

                                                                                       Bryan

@Bryan D. posted:

Hi Guys ,

              When the Key AC's were being developed there were videos of the first running models sent to Gary for inspection and I was blown away with both the model and Gary's layout . I then searched You Tube and found more layout videos which were just awesome . It's amazing that one guy had such an influence in the hobby and built so many friendships over the years . I couldn't justify an AC to just sit in the box no matter how badly I wanted one , but recently came across one new in the box and thought maybe I should go for it . My guess is the last person who touched it was Gary as my understanding is he inspected each model before Key delivered them .  I've owned many brass locomotives in several scales , but this AC is on a different level altogether . I still don't have a ''use '' for it and half regret having to decide on it or a CCM 1/24 Cat D9h I was looking at ( only so much money to go around ) , but the link to Gary is nice to know .  So from someone who didn't know you thanks for all you did for the modelling community .

                                                                                       Bryan

A picture of the AC would be nice

@Mark V. Spadaro posted:

A picture of the AC would be nice

I wish I had snapped a few when I unpacked it . I was so nervous that it would arrive damaged that after the time it took to unwrap it I inspected it and wrapped it back up . There were so many foam blocks in various places protecting fragile bits and paint that I wouldn't remove them unless I could put it on display and unfortunately I don't have anything suitable . Probably will live in the box so maybe the D9h would have made more sense . It's an AC-11 in late paint scheme.

Here is a YouTube video done by Gary for the Key AC12 Pilot Model:

https://youtu.be/V3Uk1xiheao?si=nMVlQkYeiKFC6i9_

Scott

That's an amazing museum-quality model of an AC12!!!  If I had one, I would keep it in a display case, because I doubt I still have the eyesight and dexterity necessary to actually operate and repair/service anything so delicate. I can't imagine even trying to pick it up, much less turn it upside down for access to the gearboxes. It's beautiful, but I still like my USH engines for operation because they are so rugged and easy to maintain.

On second thought, the model probably has ball bearings on both the axles and gearboxes, so perhaps lubrication is not an issue.

Sorry to hear the bad news. Does anyone know how old he was?