What can I say? Shocked. Saddened. Stunned! It really doesn't seempossible Jim is gone.
It was just a few months ago, that Jim announced that putting on twoSn3 Symposia was enough, and he was going to retire from the job. I had to take that with a grain of salt...afterall this guy was the "Energizer bunny" of these kinds of events! I couldn't imagine any sort of real slow down at the Noonan house, which is not much more than a mile from mine. An accomplished modeler, Jim did what few of us have ever done or ever will do, complete an entire layout, the RGS, even in its own building!
I'm one of the newer guys to the whole narrow gauge scene, and Jim was out there with the oil can on that slippery slope. He was both inclusive and open-minded. He was always willing to help, with advice and more. Both of us were the local Sn3 "outsiders" Jim in HOn3, I'm in On3. Sn3 seemed to be a nice place to meet in the middle 8-) After all, they're all trains.
I can only figure that Jim was a man of few regrets...one of the true nice guys. It doesn't seem possible, and it doesn't seem right that he is gone.
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