Postby sarge » Fri May 05, 2017 5:34 pm
Butch:
I remember that one clearly, and his article about DCC in a fully animated crane, too.
Since it sounds like someone might be holding a grudge from a different forum and many years past, I'll chime in.
Ed was pretty plainspoken, but a better friend was rare. He and I and often Tom Landrigan used to go to shows with a modular layout, Vermont marble quarrying and New England industrial stuff, good times. I met Ed way back when he was driving a truck for Loblaws meat-market chain in the Finger Lakes and Tom was working on old Alco S-class switchers for Solvay Process on a contract.
Ed's models, whether his own or his commercial ventures, were always subtlely "out there" and usually started as a need of his own or for a friend. I think the bulkhead flats were first done for Tom before they went out in public. He used Slater's and Walsall driving wheels from the UK after having a real hard time getting anything here; perhaps picked it up from his curiosity about my modelling efforts and he always was ready to pick up tricks from others and put them to good albeit non-mainstream use. He was never one to be held to convention, that and his readiness to throw the bullshit flag (and prove it) got him in trouble with the old and staid in O scale.
My favourite model he did was the B&M Mogul, cast resin and styrene in a world of brass and fire. It's basic form was good, and he expected you to be enough of a modeller to finish it up yourself. Doing a couple up for my railroad was a pleasure, and they ran very nicely. They, like many of his other projects, flew in the face of O scale convention. They weren't ballasted to the nearest ton, used small can motors and light but well engineered gearboxes ("dam HO size shit, never hold up!"), and would pull a perfectly respectable size train.
He was a sharp guy, incredibly creative, marched to his own beat, a loyal friend but didn't need you if you weren't, and no he did not suffer fools gladly. I personally enjoyed the friendship immensely, so feel the urge to stand up for him here along with Butch.
