G. Wayne Laepple, preservationist, railroader, and writer, dies at 75 (updated)

LANCASTER, Pa. — Veteran preservationist, railroader, and journalist G. Wayne Laepple died of a heart attack on Monday July 10, 2023, two days short of his 76th birthday.

Best known in recent times for his work in the restoration shops at the Wiscasset, Waterville & Farmington Railway Museum in Maine and the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania, he collapsed while preparing to carry out mechanical work on a General Electric 65-ton center-cab switcher in Watsontown, Pa.

Among the short lines he managed or worked at were the Graham County, Maryland & Delaware, Gettysburg, East Penn and North Shore. Along the way, he was also a schoolteacher and a newspaper reporter, and from time to time he wrote for Trains, Classic Trains, and Trains News Wire. His most recent contributions were three articles in the East Broad Top: Steam Treasure of the East special issue.

In the railroad world, he possessed wide-ranging talents, able to both advise on, and get his hands dirty with, steam and diesel locomotives, trolleys, rolling stock, and track. Among other places he helped were the Rockhill (Pa.) Trolley Museum adjacent to the East Broad Top Railroad, and the long-defunct Magee Transportation Museum, a trolley museum in Bloomsburg, Pa.

“He’s going to be sorely missed here,” said Allan Martin, curator of restoration at Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania. “He was our brakeman when we did any movements around the yard — he teamed up with [engineer] Steve Meola and they could read each other while making train movements. They were one person, they could think alike.”

For the last 10 years, Laepple (pronounced LEP-lee) spent two days a week at the museum restoration shop, more recently dividing time between the shop and the archives.

He was particularly proud of having unearthed in the museum a long-forgotten working stoker model that the Reading Co. had built to teach steam-locomotive firemen the principles of good coal firing. He knew the back story, that the museum’s first director, George Hart, had managed to save that artifact from the Reading nearly 50 years ago.

For WW&F, Laepple’s death “was a devastating loss in a lot of ways,” said Stewart Rhine, a longtime volunteer carpenter at the Maine 2-foot gauge road. “His knowledge of railroading was limitless. He was spearheading the fundraising and some of the engineering for Engine 11, a brand-new WW&F engine.” Now about 25% complete, that locomotive will be a recreation of an original WW&F 1907 Baldwin 2-4-4T type, No. 7.

“He was a standup guy,” Rhine said. “You could feel his emotion and dedication. He was an expert at working on track, teaching us a lot of techniques, whether it was building new track or fixing existing track.”

One of Laepple’s gifts was an ability to work his network to connect otherwise disparate people, resources, and organizations. His placing of a discreet phone call could bring the donation or lowball purchase of a needed part, or an entire locomotive.

Linn Moedinger, retired president and CMO of the Strasburg Rail Road, recalls Laepple helped introduce him to the management at EBT in the 1960s, when relations between the two tourist lines were frosty at best, because the state Historical & Museum Commission had voted to place the state railroad museum at Strasburg, across the street from the tourist railroad, instead of at EBT.

“Back then [at EBT], Strasburg was not a place you said you were from,” Moedinger said. But thanks to Laepple’s connection, EBT called on him to help run steam engines, especially during special events when three or four engines at a time were operating. He continues to do so on occasion now that he’s a board member of the EBT Foundation, Inc., the nonprofit that bought the EBT in 2020.

“He was a good guy who did a lot of great things for rail preservation,” Moedinger said. “He stayed in the background but always was there to work.”

Mark Eyer, whose work with Daily Trucking included arranging heavy-haul over-the-road movement of rail equipment, said, “I’ve moved 100 GE center-cab locos in my career. If I had a question, I could go to him and he had the answers. He could get an engine to ride up on a rollback trailer instead of renting a crane. He [once] saved the WW&F $15,000 [by doing that].”

“He was a lifelong resource, a lifelong friend, and one of the happiest people I know.”

Not surprisingly for a person with writing skills, Laepple prepared his own obituary, an edited version of which follows:

“Born in Philadelphia on July 12, 1947, to George J. and Susan E. Laepple, he lived there until 1954, when the family went to Ras Tanuara, Saudi Arabia, where his father was employed by the Arabian American Oil Co., or ARAMCO.

“During the time they lived overseas, the family traveled extensively, and by the time he was 12, Laepple had visited more than 15 countries [around] the globe. The family returned to the United States in 1960 and settled in Hatfield, Pa.

“After graduating from high school in 1965, he enrolled at Bloomsburg State College, receiving a degree in education in 1969. In college, he was active with the Bloomsburg Players, managing the scenery shop during his junior and senior years.

“While at Bloomsburg, he met the love of his life, and he and Kathryn (Kitty) Kiner were married on June 6, 1970. They have two daughters, Kate Laepple Hertzog (Ed) and Anny Laepple (Jamie), both of Havertown, and three granddaughters (Lucy, 12, Pippa, 9, and Beaz, 3). His daughters, both accomplished professional women, and his granddaughters were his greatest achievement, he often said.

“Laepple liked to say he didn’t know what he wanted to be when he grew up, so he had a varied career. When any career stopped being fun, he moved on. He taught junior high English in [Pennsylvania} for 12 years, then spent 20 years managing short-line railroads in North Carolina, Maryland and Pennsylvania. Then he became a reporter for The Daily Item in Sunbury, Pa., where he reported local news and wrote a popular weekly column about the live music scene. He retired from the newspaper at the end of 2009 and worked part-time until 2013 when he and Kitty moved to Lancaster to be closer to their children and grandchildren.

“He was a voracious reader as well, often reading two or three books a week. He enjoyed a variety of genres from detective fiction to American history and politics. Live music was his other passion, especially blues, jazz and old time rock-and-roll.”

In addition to his immediate family, he is survived by his brother Bruce (Brenda) of Centerville, Ohio, cousins, nieces and nephews. In keeping with his wishes, his body was donated to science.

He was a member of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Lancaster. A celebration of his life will take be held Aug. 12 from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. at PepperTheo Cafe, 555 W. James St., Lancaster, Pa. His family asks that anyone wishing to make donations in his honor direct gifts to the WW&F “Build 11” campaign or the Lancaster (Pa.) Public Library.

— Updated July 20 at 8 p.m. with information on Celebration of Life.