In memoriam:
Lionel enthusiast and historian Fred “Skip” Natoli died on June 17, 2024. We at Classic Toy Trains remember him with gratitude for sharing his O gauge layout with our readers and offering insights on how to model New York City during the post-World War II decades with elegance and wonder.
A native of the Bronx, Skip had the good fortune to visit the Lionel showroom and could recall with clarity the 16 x 32-foot Super O layout built there in 1958. It inspired a lifelong commitment to three-rail modeling, one complemented by Skip’s appreciation of the New York Central railroad and the New York Yankees. His fascination with three of the greatest actors in the history of postwar New York motivated Skip to construct an O gauge layout filled with miniature replicas of skyscrapers, train stations, and a baseball stadium. It also guided his annual family tours of Manhattan at Christmas and regular visits to Yankee Stadium.
We send our condolences to the Natoli family and to the many thousands of readers of Classic Toy Trains and O Gauge Railroading who came to know and value Skip’s love of Lionel and the outstanding modeling he shared with them.
