Category: People

Posts and articles about people in the model railroad industry, friends and influential people. Sometimes obituaries.

People, RPM and Modeling EventsLeave a comment

No. 188: Chicagoland RPM

Golden1014

Chicagoland RPM wrapped up last week and it was a great success and a lot of fun. The meet was hosted by Resin Car Works on Friday, 27 October and Saturday, 28 October 2023 at the Northern Illinois Conference Center in Naperville, Illinois. Around 400 modelers from around the US and Canada attended. The NIU Conference Center, below. It was a gorgeous fall weekend. The two-day event featured 35 clinics, 115 vendor and historical society tables, home layout tours, modular layouts in-house, a fun Friday evening social in the NIU atrium, and lots of camaraderie and fellowship. At right is … Continue reading No. 188: Chicagoland RPM

People, RPM and Modeling EventsLeave a comment

No. 182: The 2023 O Scale National and 2023 Savannah RPM

Golden1014

Two weeks ago I attended two modeling events back-to-back. First, on March 17th I drove up to Chicago from St. Louis to attend the annual O Scale two-rail Train Show and Meet at the Westin Lombard Yorktown Center Lombard, Ill. I was only there for three hours, but I had a nice time and ran into a lot of old friends, and met some new ones, and also bought a few hard-to-find things. You can read more about that event at http://www.marchmeet.net. Naturally the O scale community does things a little differently. This Milwaukee 2-6-2 was entered in the model … Continue reading No. 182: The 2023 O Scale National and 2023 Savannah RPM

Freight and Passenger Car Modeling, People2 Comments

No. 148: Modeling Missouri Pacific 50-foot Auto Cars

Golden1014

Back in February 2020, just about the time people in the West started talking about something called COVID-19, I began an unusual box car rebuilding project that took eight months to complete. The project was the complete rebuilding of an old Model Die Casting shake-the-box MoPac auto car kit. The prototype photo above is from Joe Collias’ photo collection, courtesy Ed Hawkins. The photo has an interesting story which I relate a little bit later. These cars have always been among my favorites, and the introduction of a top-of-the-line decal set by Ted Culotta of Speedwitch Media, specifically made for … Continue reading No. 148: Modeling Missouri Pacific 50-foot Auto Cars

Freight and Passenger Car Modeling, People1 Comment

No. 141: Greg Martin

Golden1014

Last week I received the sad news that our friend and modeler Greg Martin passed away due to a short illness.  Apparently his passing was Covid-19 related. Greg was a giant in the prototype modeling field, and pioneered new standards in freight car modeling.  His articles in Mainline Modeler in the 1970s were epic.  Here is one of my snaps of Greg, above, photographing models at the 2009 Cocoa Beach RPM event.  Here’s another from that series, below.  TGreg, as I called him–a reference to his e-mail–is taking photos at my model display. Greg and I met at one of … Continue reading No. 141: Greg Martin

Freight and Passenger Car Modeling, O Scale & Proto 48, People1 Comment

No. 128: Russell Tedder…and Progress on Proto48 Models

Golden1014

In 2008 I was bitten by the O scale bug. That summer I spent three weeks at Little Rock AFB with some Air Force ROTC cadets, and because they couldn’t drink, I didn’t either…so I spent a lot of evenings and weekends building models over in officer billeting.  It was on this trip that I met Russell Tedder, and my friendship with Russell and his crew made it a truly, truly memorable trip.  I’ll write a little more about Russell later. Anyway, one of Russell’s friends ran a great hobby shop just outside the air base, and in addition to … Continue reading No. 128: Russell Tedder…and Progress on Proto48 Models

People3 Comments

No. 125: Al Buchan

Golden1014

On June 5th I received word that one of my longtime friends in the hobby, and in life, has passed on.  That friend was Al Buchan, who was one of my first model railroad mentors.  I first read the news on the IO Groups PRR Modeling site.  Al’s son Bob was kind enough to follow up with a personal message the following day: This is Al’s son, Bob Buchan.  Just writing to inform you of my dad’s passing.  He had been struggling with health issues the past couple years and now his suffering is over.  He is now with his … Continue reading No. 125: Al Buchan

People1 Comment

No. 110: Tim Stout

Golden1014

Our friend and fellow modeler Tim Stout passed away on December 19th.  He was 52. Above.  Here is Tim, on the left in the blue shirt, with Dave Roeder at the 2014 St. Louis RPM meet.  Tim was the Gateway Division Superintendent at that time. Tim was an active member of the NMRA Gateway Division, serving in many positions over the years, including Division Superintendent.  He was a very active and enthusiastic modeler and railfan.  He was a lifetime member of the Litchfield Train Group and helped maintains the club’s large HO scale layout in Litchfield, Ill. Tim helped with St. Louis RPM … Continue reading No. 110: Tim Stout

PeopleLeave a comment

No 4: Stan Rydarowicz

Golden1014

My buddy Stan Rydarowicz passed away suddenly in December 2015 and I’d like to devote a post to him. I met Stan at Naperville in the mid-2000s.  Stan was buddies with Clark Propst and Chet French and Mike Moore, among others, who were also regular Naperville attendees.  In 2005 Stan attended St. Louis RPM for the first time and we talked a lot there, and thereafter I started meeting up with Clark and Stan and Chet at Naperville, Cocoa Beach and St. Louis on a regular basis.  I believe I also saw him a few times at the neat Marion, Ohio RPM. Stan was a great … Continue reading No 4: Stan Rydarowicz