We oft forget to celebrate a good, vibrant life and your decision to celebrate your life is brilliant!  It is much more fun to celebrate than mourn.  I have harvested more rivets under your inspiration than I ever did in all the years before seeing your technique.  For practical purposes, you uncovered the FGEX and its kin BREX and WFEX from obscurity and helped bring their fleet to life in models.   Truss rods forever!   I have benefited greatly from your labor of love and I need to thank you for that.  Life is an adventure that we are blessed with and you have made the most of yours.  Thank you, God bless and do not go quietly into that good night.

Gary Laakso

North of Mike Brock

Hi Bill,

First, you are in my prayers.

Second, thank you so much for your contributions and continuous sharing of techniques and information and the motivation and inspiration you provide on a consistent basis..

While I struggle to learn about only one railroad, I truly appreciate your efforts as well as those of others, who dig into the “big picture”.  The information you’ve shared on the FGE/WFE/BRE/NX System, my opinion, has been a godsend; saving me a lot of mistakes and educating me at the same time, and allowing me to stay on the path to research the NHRR even more.

We’ve never met, but on another railroad-topic group a fellow informed me of the detailed construction of a specific prototype.  While thanking him, I told him I had neither the patience nor fortitude to count that many features from a photo. His response;

“Meah, our motto is “We count the rivets…., so you don’t have to.”  <g>”

That is also how you seem to me!

Peter Ness

Some of the common CP scale locations were:

AN  Angus shops, Montreal

CQ  Coquitlam, BC

CY  Calgary AB

FM  Farnham QC

HO  Hochelaga yard, Montreal

LA  Lambton yard, Toronto

NS  New Shops, Montreal

OA  Outremont yard, Montreal

ON  Ogden shops, Calgary AB

RK  Revelstoke BC

SF  Smiths Falls ON

SL  St. Luc yard, Montreal

TC  Transcona yard, Winnipeg

TO  Toronto John St. Yard, Toronto

VR  Vancouver BC

WP  Winnipeg MB

WT  West Toronto, ON

WW Weston shops, Winnipeg MB

John Riddell

Some CN common scale locations are/were

BN Moncton yard NB

GV Trenton ON

HA Belleville ON

HQ Point Ste Charles shops, Montreal QC

JB Turcot yard, Montreal QC

JL Taschereau yard, Montreal QC

GO McMillan Yard, Toronto ON

LU London shops, ON

LV London repair track, ON

PK Ft. Rouge yard, Winnipeg MB

PR Symington yard, Winnipeg MB

PU Transcona shops, Winnipeg MB

PV Transcona repair track, Winnipeg MB

RG Edmonton (south) AB

RH Edmonton Calder yard, AB

SH Port Mann, BC

TI Sarcee yard, Calgary AB

Central Vermont

XA St. Albans VT

XC  St Albans Italy yard, VT

Grand Trunk Western

VT Port Huron shops MI

WD Battle Creek repair track, MI

John Riddell

Sent from Mail for Windows 10

Now that Bill has let the cat out of the bag, so to speak, let me say when I meet with families at the time of a death to talk about the deceased, stories abound, the good, the bad, the indelicate. Then I conclude with the following statement “are there any stories I should not share during the service?” sometimes there are. If you know of a story about Bill that would not be appropriate at his service, please share it now (after all we are family and know all the warts), so I can be sure to note that it should not be shared.

Now where did I put that rivet. Hope I didn’t swallow it during this break.

Praying for you, my friend. I will miss your infrequent visits to Nashville. When you know where and when, I will be there.

 As some of know by now about 3.5 weeks ago I was diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer, which is almost always fatal. I have not been told as yet what my longevity may but I am preparing for a short time. My executive function is at a high level and shortly after I received my diagnosis I began planning my Memorial Service. As some of you know I am an Ordained Unitarian Universalist Minister having received my M.Div. Degree from Vanderbilt Divinity School in 1990 after a rewarding career as a Photojournalist at The TENNESSEAN in Nashville TN. My ministerial colleagues are encouraging me to have this service while I am still alive so I am proceeding to do it while I am alive and plan to keep people informed as to time, date, and Zoom Info. A few close Model RR buddies—Ted Culotta, Eric Hansmann, George Toman, Lester Breuer and The Reverend Doug Harding–will have a role in pulling together the Hobby Related segment of the Memorial Service in case you have anything you want to offer up to them. Friends from my news photographer days will show some of their favorite photos from that rewarding part of my life.

I want everyone to feel comfortable—agnostic, atheist, nonreligious, believers and members of all religious traditions. I am a political liberal and intenstly patriotic and examples of leadership from the life of General and President US Grant will be offered up as well as some martial music. Ministerial friends will give me grief as they share much of what they find humorous or profound about in my religious journey and leadership.

Musically there will be some Buddy Holly, Gene Pitney, Joe South and Blues inspired Mississippi Hill Music with 12–String guitar. 

Medically I began Chemotherapy last Friday and this went well, perhaps because it was the first one. My adjustment to my new reality is no doubt aided by my love and interest in Zen Buddhism that does help me adjust to my new reality. My primary teacher is Thich Nhat Hanh: https://plumvillage.org/about/thich-nhat-hanh/biography/

  *                *                *

Regarding my Two Volumes about the FGE/WFE/BRE/NX System, Ted Culotta will eventually take it over with several other friends pitching in to help him. Our intent is that this set of books will among the most beautiful and luxurious books if their kind ever published. They will have a lavish number of photos and if the posse we intend to assemble is able to find a capable and creative artist and illustrator, it will have many charts, tables, and maps to amplify the text and photos. Be patient, it will be worth it.

Model On Ya’ll

Bill Welch