Michael Rahilly passed away tonight. He was my friend and we often traveled to shows together sharing a table. Above is an image of Michael behind the table enjoying selling supplies that we all needed.

Michael was also a very good modeler, having won a number of awards at the O Scale Nationals for models like what is shown below.

Most folks will remember Michael in his usual spot at the Strasburg Show across from the kitchen window on the end of the first isle. Here he is behind the table with his oldest daughter Lauren helping him during the show.

Michael was a father of three daughters, a former train conductor, a locomotive engineer, a rules examiner for NJ Transit, a fine modeler and also my friend. I will miss him.

I heard yesterday that Bob Heil had passed away. Bob was a fixture in the O Scale community in the East for a very long time. I first meet Bob at shows like the Timonium shows in Maryland before I knew many people in O Scale back in the 90’s.

Besides being an excellent modeler, he was also the East Coast dealer for Sunset and Golden Gate Models. He was always happy to share his knowledge with anyone who asked a question. I always enjoyed talking with him at the different shows.

He will be missed.

John Dunn who most know as one of the promoters of the Strasburg O Scale Shows died peacefully at home on Friday Dec 12th after battling several serious health issues over the past month.

I’ve known John for over 20 years, he was a friend. If you ever attended a show or event with John you would have seen, John knew everybody. I was always amazed how many people that knew him and greeted him warmly. Not only did he know them, but he always remembered their names and had stories to tell about them. And John was a very good story teller.

I had the pleasure of driving to the Chicago Show a couple of times with John. He was one of the most upbeat people I’ve ever met. When it came to trains, John liked them all, HO, O Scale, Lionel, and prototype trains. They all brought out the little kid in him.

The above image was taken at Chicago. It was the Saturday late in the afternoon. After a good day of buying and selling, I asked John if he found everything he was hoping to see at the show? John mentioned that he was hoping to see an Overland Ferdinand Magellan Presidential Car. I smiled and told him to turn around, there was one on the table behind us. This was John’s reaction to opening the box to examine the car.

I will miss my friend.

Sorry to hear of the passing of Dave Richter.

Dave was the promoter of the  “Eastern O Scalers” series of train shows. Under his guidance it expanded from a small show in Easton, PA, to three shows a year, a Spring and Fall show in Wind Gap, PA and the August show in Denver, PA. Dave also was a dealer for Weaver Models, Sunset 3rd Rail and others. In retirement, he moved to Virginia to be near his family.

For those that didn’t know, he was a former long-time member of the Cherry Valley Model RR Club. That was where I met him.

I got a call today from a friend who told me that Joe Giannovario had lost his battle with Lung Cancer. As I went onto my computer to read more about this, an email from the P48 board from Gene Deimling arrived with the same sad news. My thoughts and prayers go out to Joe’s family.

Today has brought back memories of the first time I met Joe just before he released his magazine. We had a small group of local modelers that got together every couple of months to show each other our current projects. John Dunn brought Joe to one of those gatherings. Joe fit right in showing us all a recent scratch built N&W hopper car project.

Most people will remember Joe from the shows, he went to almost all of them promoting O scale 2-rail and his magazine. I’ll remember the smile he always had for you when he greeted at those shows.