A good friend of mine was Bob. One of my earliest modeling memories was of Bob hiring my brother and I to build a tugboat for him. When it was finished he paid us not with money, but with modeling tools. That was a wise decision, because I'm sure that paid off more in the long run than a few bucks would have.
Over the years Bob volunteered at the Muskegon Railroad Historical Society, first with helping to build the model layouts in the early 1980's, and later as the open house greeter. It seemed he would always be there. But of course, one day he was not. After almost 90 years, his time on earth was done. But he left a wonderful legacy behind, and his service as a Merchant Marine in World World 2 will always be remembered by a grateful nation.
This week was his estate sale, which included all of his model trains that ranged from N and HO scale, to O gauge Lionel. He did not have a layout of his own, but he did have an extensive display case full of, among other things, many refer billboard beer cars. Yesterday I picked up a few of them (all Athearn blue box) which were in wonderful condition, They are now running on my Pere Marquette railway, reminding me of Bob every time I use them.
Also purchased were a couple of commemorative museum boxcars, a snowplow caboose, and a Great Northern EMD SDP-40 locomotive. I'm sure Bob would be happy knowing his collection is still riding on the rails.
