My condolences to you and your family. John was certainly one of the kingpins of S scale and influenced so many of us. Always greeted folks with a smile and a slightly gruff but warm greeting. I was privileged to visit the PPV&W on two different occasions, once during the New Brunswick convention and once while I was attending a work meeting in Philadelphia. I called John and he said to come on and have supper. After a $50 cab ride John and Alma invited me into their home, we had dinner, and the showed me the layout, ran trains, and talked into the night. No cab would come that far out at that time of night so he took me several miles to some place where we could meet a cab so I could go back to my hotel.
At that time John, although an avid S scaler, was enthusiastically into 1/8 scale live steam as well. He showed me his Camelback and recounted the story how Alma had wanted a new car and so the family had a vote. John and the two boys voted to buy the live steam locomotive and Alma got outvoted 3 to 1. After that he built a Berkshire in live steam. As you might guess he was highly respected in the live steam community as well. John excavated and finished out a cellar to have a place for the railroad. No telling how many loads of dirt were removed to make the room. John had many great models including the NMRA Gold Award, (the highest honor at the NMRA convention), 2-10-4, but my favorite model was the autorack car built up from brass. If I had a model to remember him by that would be it. Rest in peace, Billy Click Llano TX P.S. Now a 1/8 scaler as well. On Sep 14, 2013, at 9:36 PM, <[email protected]> <[email protected]> wrote: > For all who knew John Bortz, he passed away peacefully today (9-14-13), > 1:34PM at 94 years old. Me and my Grandmother (his eldest child) were at his > home cleaning things out when we got the call, I was down in the remnants of > his basement layout cleaning things up. So it was kind of cool to think his > spirit was down there looking at it with me. He was doing fine up until a few > weeks ago. Just wanted to let anybody who knew him know had passed. I posted > photo's of his layout in the photo's section of it before being dismantled > for auction. > >
