Category Archives: In Memoriam

In Memoriam: Bill Losse

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My brother, Bill Losse passed away yesterday. I’m the youngest of six kids and he was number two in birth order. He was responsible for introducing me to most of what I enjoy in life.

He put a camera in my hands when I was five. He let me ride along in the car while he went out to chase trains. He introduced me to a lot of the locations that I would travel to later when I would go out on my own adventures. He encouraged me to build models, first with airplanes and later with trains.

The image I posted is from the early 80’s. We were trackside up on the former NYC along the Hudson River to photograph the Amtrak FL9’s.

This is the memory of my brother I keep going back to today. I will miss him.

In Memoriam: John Dunn

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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 storyteller.

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. 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.

In Memoriam: Dave Richter

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Dave Richter

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.

In Memoriam: Lee Stabb

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I received a sad email today notifying me of the passing of long time O scale modeler Lee Stabb.

I couple of years ago I had the pleasure of visiting Lee at his home to purchase a model from him. He was a great host and gave me a tour of his layout which filled the second story over the very large garage. We never did find the models I had come over to purchase, but I did purchase a different locomotive from him that day.

Here are some views of his layout. Including a few of the Reading N-1’s that were built from the IHB 0-8-0. I saw at least four on the layout that day.

It was always nice to talk with Lee at the trains shows, I will miss him.

In Memoriam: Larry Kline

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Joe Giannovario and Larry Kline talking at the 2012 RPM Meet in Malvern, PA.
Joe Giannovario and Larry Kline talking at the 2012 RPM Meet in Malvern, PA.
Sadly they are both gone now.

Sadly, I received an email today announcing the passing of Larry Kline this morning.

I only met Larry a few times at the RPM Meets.  I had seen his name often on the prototype modelers boards and in print many times with modeling articles about the P&LE, WM and the PRR. He was always willing to share knowledge and information.

Larry modeled the Pittsburg area on his home layout which had been featured in a number of articles. He was also the co-chair of the recent series of RPM-East meetings, held in alternate years in the Pittsburgh and Philadelphia areas.

In Memoriam: Joe Giannovario

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Joe Giannovario and Larry Kline talking at the 2012 RPM Meet in Malvern, PA.
Joe Giannovario and Larry Kline talking at the 2012 RPM Meet in Malvern, PA.

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.