Gutted

 Of all the things I had on my mental bingo card today, this was not one of them.

 I just opened the following email about ten minutes ago from the President of the North Raleigh Model Railroad Club:

"I am very sorry to have to share the news that we have lost a good friend, mentor, leader, and a pillar of our club with the passing of John Wallis last night.  We only have limited information so far from John's son, but by all appearances he passed peacefully in his sleep last night.  

I have known John for 22 years and some of you for much longer than that.  I will miss his kind nature, quick wit, our Hurricanes hockey conversations, his encyclopedic knowledge of railroading and everything related to model railroading, and his eagerness to share all of that knowledge with anyone who was interested.  

Our club will absolutely miss the person who was a constant leader since 1980.  Whether he happened to be serving the club as an officer or not he was always the person who stepped up when something was needed and kept the club moving and growing.  

When we have more information to share about any arrangements, I will pass that along to the club."

John was also the President of NRail, and he was the one that arranged for the restoration of the Cotton Brute for the 50th anniversary of the founding of that organization. He was a mainstay in the model railroading community, and N scale in particular owes a great deal of its popularity to him.

We have a show this weekend. I just saw John on Friday as I was helping to set everything up. I didn't go today because I was doing things around the house. It won't be the same to not see him tomorrow.

Rest in peace John. Thanks for everything.