My Tribute to 1:1 Engineer Ed

August 31st was not a good day for our little group of friends as one of our own, 1:1 Senior Engineer Ed, has succumb to his illness and has moved on, as I would like to call it, that big train yard in the sky. 

I met Ed thru a mutual friend, whom is a train blogger as well, whom we know as 1:1 Sir John and owner of the N.Y.C.T.L.. For a number of years it was all online thru our blogs. Then in 2016, I had the pleasure of meeting Ed thru his friend who lives in NJ, 1:1 Sir Larry of Flemington, as we have named him. Larry brought him up to visit with me and see what my layout like up close and personal. While Ed seemed to be a little overwhelmed when he first arrived, as are many, I made both Ed and Larry feel right at home, gave them the royal tour, and proceeded to put on a little demo for them. We had a nice time and I was very happy to meet Ed and Larry. 

In 2017, Ed was visiting Larry, and I asked them to come over as I had arranged for them to meet my friend Steve. Steve is what I like to call our fearless leader of our monthly gatherings. To backtrack a little bit, prior to the starting of my blog, I had (and still do) send out weekend updates to my train friends about my layout and the gatherings. I sent some of the banter to Ed, and he replied to Steve. Well, that started another friendship for Ed, and I must say, that Ed kept up with the wit and lunacy to the point that while Ed lived in Georgia, Steve felt that he would fit right in with our crazy crew and added him to our mailing list of gatherers! 

Here's what transpired on that Sunny day on August 23rd, 2017.

After their arrival at my house and some small talk, I gave Ed a throttle, powered it and him up, and proceeded to let Ed run my coal train. I know he had coal cars on his railroad, enjoyed them as well, and ran them on John's layout. 

Larry was supervising, keeping a watchful eye on Ed...

At the end of the session, Ed had completed his run and headed back to the yard with the train 

Next stop was lunch at the diner, where we met Steve and his longtime friend, Jay. Some friendly and lively conversation lasted more than hour, before we headed to Steve's for an inspirational tour of Steve's layout. Anyone who has been given a tour of Steve's layout, and listened to Steve describe the railroad, will always leave with a smile on their face as well as some head shaking due to the stories that Steve tells about the railroad and industries on it. 

You couldn't have planned a better day out, and friendships like this are hard to come by. 

I do give thanks to John and Larry for introducing me to this wonderful man. I will truly miss Ed, his wit, and most important, his friendship. 

Rest in peace Ed.