Over the course of the previous eight issues, the Model Railroader staff has advanced the names of 24 candidates whose contributions to the hobby warrant their inclusion in the Model Railroader Hall of Fame. These nominees have included writers, publishers, innovators, entrepreneurs, inventors, and more. But one word describes all of them: modelers. Each one stretched the boundaries of what was thought possible to bring new techniques, ideas, and products to our hobby. Here are our Model Railroader Hall of Fame September nominees.
Follow this link to vote for your choice of the Hall of Fame September nominees. The final results will be announced in December.
Jim FitzGerald (1923-2013)
Known to many as “Mr. Ntrak,” Jim FitzGerald was one of the first modelers to sign onto the idea of a modular model railroad standard. Joining with Ntrak founder Ben Davis in 1973, Jim launched the Ntrak Newsletter to promote the standard. In his 40 years as the newsletter’s editor and publisher, it grew from a one-page flyer to a full-fledged magazine featuring layout articles, how-to tips, product reviews, advertising, and more.
When health reasons forced Ben to step away from running the group in 1977, Jim stepped up. In addition to helping develop the Ntrak standard and editing and publishing the newsletter, Jim helped organize clubs, displays, and conventions. Ntrak revolutionized the hobby, allowing modelers to assemble and run large, impressive display layouts at club meets, train shows, and public exhibits. The versatility and popularity of Ntrak led to the development of other modular standards such as HOtrak, Free-mo, and T-Trak, the creation of which Jim also had a hand in.
Jim FitzGerald died in October 2013 in Paso Robles, Calif., at the age of 90.
Cliff Robinson (1913-1991)
Although he was a modest man who preferred to stay behind the scenes, Cliff Robinson was well known in model railroad circles, influencing many who became well-known modelers themselves. Most of those people knew Cliff thanks to his HO scale Marquette Union Terminal (MUT), which hosted numerous operating sessions.
As MR Contributing Editor Tony Koester wrote after Cliff’s passing, “Cliff knew everyone of note in the hobby. … If you knew Cliff and his friends, you knew almost everyone.”
Cliff’s byline appeared several times in Model Railroader, including a visit to his layout in June 1978.
“He never wanted to be in the limelight and rarely took credit for his accomplishments,” Keith Gutierrez said of Cliff in the January 1992 MR. One of those accomplishments was helping
Keith develop and test the CTC-16e walkaround throttle system featured in the April-August 1994 issues of MR.
Cliff died in October 1991 at the age of 78, leaving his wife, Mary; daughter, Fran; son, Jack; and five grandchildren.
Whit Towers (1917-1999)
Model railroaders of a certain age may remember the Alturas & Lone Pine RR. And if that name doesn’t ring a bell, the name of its owner, Whit Towers, surely will. As MR Senior Editor Jim Hediger wrote in a 1983 article on the ALP, by that time Whit’s name had appeared on more than 100 articles published in the hobby press.
Whit discovered the hobby by chance when, riding a Los Angeles Ry. streetcar in 1938, he spied a discarded magazine with no cover. It turned out to be an issue of Model Railroader. “That one issue hooked me,” Whit wrote in the January 1983 MR.
But Whit didn’t just focus on his own layout; he also worked hard to spread the hobby to the world. He served in several positions in the National Model Railroad Association (NMRA) and spent 10 years as editor of the Bulletin.
In that 1983 article, Jim Hediger wrote that Whit’s reserved demeanor hid “an impish sense of humor,” evidenced by tongue-in-cheek scenes hidden around his layout. “Model railroading is supposed to be fun,” Whit said. “So why not keep it that way?”
Vote here
Click here to vote for your choice of these Model Railroader Hall of Fame September nominees.
