Dear Charlie, Thank you so much for taking the time and making the effort to honor Johnny. I appreciate it. I'll be sure to let his family know of this. Ed
Ken , Some great pics. He spoke of that trip often and I had hoped to make the trip with him in the future. Ed, You are a credit to John's legacy. I thank you from the bottom of my heart. As you may know, Johnny and I came up with a safety site- http://rush2ny.100megsfree5.com/mrrtsb.html I fully intend to continue on with his site and you can see many of his safety photos on there. I also helped him with a site for his "CNERR" that is spoken of above by his friend Steve. A week before he was hospitalized, he told me to delete the group for inactivity (To save space). Sadly, I did but may build a new site should his friends want this. A funny thing about the CNERR "group", It was purely fictitous but we had fun using our imagination. He asked me to draw a pic for the group and came up with a 44 ton diesel for the logo. He surprised me with a T-shirt with the logo on it's front the very next time I saw him! We wore them to a Greenberg show and several people inquired about them! He was THAT kind of guy. When I designed a logo for his safety site, he surprised me with a mug and business cards with the logo! Man,.....am I going to miss that Russ
Here is a picture of Johnny Trains taken by Steve Ellman on their very last railfan outing. It's typical Johnny.
I miss Mr Johnny trains. Talked to him serveral times on AOL and over at the chatroom at Railroadforums.com. Since the man upstairs made JT take his 30/60 way too soon and way too young, is TB gonna retire his name.
I'm not sure what you mean by "retiring his name" but when we lose a member, we mark them as having passed away. Their posts stay of course, so we always have what they contributed. I marked Johnny as having passed away on his profile here on TB and also on his RailImages account. As far as "retiring a name" each name is retired when it is chosen by a new member so no one would ever be able to use his name. Charlie
Rather than graying the pages for Johnny, I have come up with a tribute for him for the month of May. You will see this at the top of the main forum page (as well as many others using the main template). I hope this is a proper memorial for him. May is his birthday (I see Johnny and I share a birthday) so we will dedicate this month to him. Charlie
It is indeed a proper memorial Charlie. Johnny was a kind thoughtful person. He came into posession of some British Rail "trainspotters" books, and immediately contacted me to see if I would like to have them, I gratefully accepted, and very soon afterwards they arrived. They were nostalgic to me as they covered some of my "trainspotting" days. I will treasure them as a memento of Johnny Trains.
Charlie, This is a beautiful way to remember Johnny. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. My heart skipped a beat when I opened the Home Page this morning. There he is... just like always. Dynamic, Charismatic, Fun and Loving. I always enjoyed times with him. I remember all the adventures we had. All the secrets we told each other. What can I say... Johnny was a GREAT GUY. Thanks once again, Ed
Dear Friends, A BIG THUMBS UP to all of you for your responses to Johnny's illness and death. The thread of Johnny Trains is now closed. On behalf of Mary Kay and Kathleen, I thank each and every one of you who posted to that thread. I have printed the pages in their entirety and am sending them to Mary Kay and Kathleen. I'm sure they are most grateful for all the support and caring love you offered to Johnny during his final days in this Earthly realm. You really are a great bunch of guys and gals. You have hearts as big and wonderful as......... "E-9s".... (one of my favorite locos). You are tender, caring and supportive. Your responses on this thread are just as wonderful. Mary Kay and Kathleen will get every post done here. Many thanks, Ed p.s. your comments and remembrances have been a great help to me in my profound sadness. Another thanks to each of you. ed
The picture of JT being used in the memorial is one I took of him in September of 2002. He was sitting in the cab of an E-9 at the time. Symbolically, that could mean he is sitting in our hearts now. Charlie - Thanks for the honor of choosing my photo of Johnny. [ 04. May 2004, 15:59: Message edited by: Peirce ]
Just to round things out, here is a picture Johnny sent me not too long ago. Is reveals him to be a true railfan even when taking a picture of his wife. That is Mary Kay on the left. And this was Johnny's comment about this picture.
Reminds me very much of my wife and I too when it comes to RR trips. I'm all over the train taking photos and she sits and just enjoy's the view out the window and wondering how much film I'm using up. Kind of hits close to home too as JT and I are not that far apart in age.
Wow, what sad news. I too have been away for a few days. I can't believe this sad news. I never met Johnny but I really enjoyed his post. He will be missed. My sympathys to his family.
A lot of memories have been stirred up by your posts. Alan, Johnny sent me a pic of his father in law reading a "Loco Profile" which led to our corresponding and you sending me some others. Peirce, he sent me that one of Mary Kay in the train, as well. I have CNERR cards and will scan them soon. For now, thanks to what Charlie has done, I have plagiarized Russ's photo and put it on my site (link below) for a while. Russ, let me know if you want me to add a credit line. I love the photo and it fits the site perfectly, though sadly.
