Has anyone heard from him? I always enjoyed his input to the community. Seeing the 2021 Yearbook reminded me of his absence.
This space reserved for SpaceMouse's future presidential candidacy advertisements
Chuck last posted on 7/27/17 so it has been a while.
Tom
https://tstage9.wixsite.com/nyc-modeling
Time...It marches on...without ever turning around to see if anyone is even keeping in step.
There have been several posts noting his absence. His real name was Charles Beckmann from Vegas. His bio in the forum is that he is retired Air Force. AFAIK no one has come up with anything.
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
I remember him, and I enjoyed him quite a bit when I first joined the forum.
I was going to add him to the yearbook, but he was a weeble. There are so many weebles!
-Kevin
Living the dream.
What do you mean by weeble?
Mike.
My You Tube
Chuck disappeared rather abruptly so I fear the worst. He was a favourite of mine and I had some good chats with him. I think he was a career Airforce guy in aircraft maintenance but I stand to be corrected on that. Maybe an obit can be looked for him.
Brent
"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."
BATMAN Chuck disappeared rather abruptly so I fear the worst. He was a favourite of mine and I had some good chats with him. I think he was a career Airforce guy in aircraft maintenance but I stand to be corrected on that. Maybe an obit can be looked for him.
doctorwayne I had always hoped that he'd eventually show us his layout.
mbinsewi What do you mean by weeble? Mike.
Cheers, the Bear.
"One difference between pessimists and optimists is that while pessimists are more often right, optimists have far more fun."
GraniteRailroader mbinsewi What do you mean by weeble? Mike. The default "avatar" that your profile gets if you don't add a profile picture.
mbinsewiWhat do you mean by weeble?
Ya learn something everyday! Weebie! Who knew? Now I do.
I did think about changing it, but as Tom mentions, not worth the hassle right now.
I'll just keep a "weebien" on.
They could at least give us weebies some hair! I'm not bald, by any means.
I did a pretty instensive search two years ago for Chuck using Vegas obits and linkedin and all sorts of facilities, including yellow pages. I got some hits, but there were duplicates even in Vegas, with different addresses. I suspect he met his end, or became so ill that his presence could not be resumed here afterwards. I miss him and have thought of him often. Same with Jarrell.
I know that Robert Hollowell passed away almost four years ago.
I miss Chuck a great deal, we had a number of great conversations on and off the forum, and shared a similar approach to DC train control, both of us following variations of the methods developed by Ed Ravenscroft back in the 60's.
I did know that he had some health issues. When we stopped hearing from him I assumed the worst but like others have not been able to confirm or deny.
He is missed, a gentleman of the first order.
Sheldon
I enjoyed my conversations with Chuck. We talked a lot about how steel studs levelled the field when it came to the environmental swings found in Las Vegas. Those of us that may deal with warping layouts would have learned a lot from those discussions.
I could not help thinking that when he was pushing wire through those metal studs on the layout being sure grommets were installed that he was taken back to pushing wiring harnesses through aircraft.
I spent a lot of time on the airport around aircraft in my working life and he was always quick to correct the vernacular I used when referring to certain things. I made certain to use a more military jargon in our conversations, it always made me smile.
selectorSame with Jarrell.
Jarrell, Jacon12, still shows up every three or four months. He even contributes to Show Me Something every so often.
The Las Vegas Review Journal offeres free obituaries. I went to their site and searched for "Charles Beckmann" and it didn't provide any hits. I also tried the coroner's office and health district, but didn't see any mechanisms to search for death certificates and a search of his name didn't match anything.
Terry
Inspired by Addiction
See more on my YouTube Channel
Do you know exactly where he lived, clark county has a big slice cut out of it around bolder city, less than 30 miles to the border from Vegas itself.
There's also a US Air Force Memorial site that I checked, the only matching name was from 2013, and lived outside of Chicago.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
Are any of you familiar enough to know whether Chuck was an Air Force Veteran? If so, perhaps there is another spelling of his last name. There is a Charles Edward Beckman, MSgt USAF (probably retired with that rank) who died on 8/28/17 in Boulder City, NV. He is inurned at the Southern Nevada Veterans Cemetery. If this ID could be established by other members, he should be added to the in memoriam opening post for all subsequent monthly annals of Jeffrey's Trackside Diner.
John
Attuvian1There is a Charles Edward Beckman, MSgt USAF (probably retired with that rank) who died on 8/28/17 in Boulder City, NV.
I am more than happy to add him to the RIP track if it can be verified he is in fact deceased. I would hate for him to log in to see what is going on, and see his name on the RIP memorial.
Let me know.
Gidday John, I think your sleuthing has turned up information that is more than just coincidental. Chuck, tomikawatt last posted on the Trains Forum, 10/10/2016, and to quote his contact page, “Fully retired USAF MSgt, modeling Japanese prototype in 1:80 (HOj) scale.” While I think don’t think I’m jumping the gun, this information unfortunately gives cause for Chuck's inclusion to the “Rip Track” at the start of each months “Jeffrey’s Trackside Diner”. However, I also think that this needs to be considered by other forum members. Cheers, the Bear. (Sad)
Gidday John,
I think your sleuthing has turned up information that is more than just coincidental.
Chuck, tomikawatt last posted on the Trains Forum, 10/10/2016, and to quote his contact page, “Fully retired USAF MSgt, modeling Japanese prototype in 1:80 (HOj) scale.”
While I think don’t think I’m jumping the gun, this information unfortunately gives cause for Chuck's inclusion to the “Rip Track” at the start of each months “Jeffrey’s Trackside Diner”. However, I also think that this needs to be considered by other forum members.
Cheers, the Bear. (Sad)
Bear,
I may have the capacity to ferret out and contact the funeral home that cared for Mr. Beckman's remains. It might be able to shed some light on his avocations as these things sometimes make it into unpublished obituaries, eulogies, and the like. On the other hand, many funeral homes in recent years refuse to provide inquirers with any details whatsoever beyond what has been published or inscribed on a monument. Regardless of whether privacy laws apply, most such businesses are quite rigorous in avoiding release of even the most innocuous of information. No one wants a letter from a lawyer.
Mr. Beckman's address at the time of his death is available on a number of on-line search sites. I suppose that the Kalmbach folks could possibly confirm a match if Chuck was a subscriber with that recorded address still on file. I do not know if that would be against company policy. Perhaps Steve Ottey might be willing to serve as a discreet intermediary in this regard by means of a PM or two. Then again, perhaps not.
As a well-respected and appreciated forum participant, he should be honored through a RIP Track posting if he's passed from among us. I hope we can come to a resolution of this - in either direction.
Best to ya,
P.S. Kevin - I'll keep you updated with anything solid that comes of this.
Fully retired USAF MSgt, modeling Japanese prototype in 1:80 (HOj) scale.
I tried to sell my two cents worth, but no one would give me a plug nickel for it.
I don't have a leg to stand on.
Does anyone know if Chuck modelled Japanese HO because he had spent time in Japan (likely in connection with his Air Force service)? USAF retirees that have been posted there at some time in their career are very common (so much so that I could make a fair guess just where). That would also be an item to appear in an obituary or eulogy.
Sounds like this would be the right person. I do believe he mentioned many times that a lot of his service time was spent in Japan. And his 1964 modellign date also had something to do with that.
Unfortunately we are all getting older. Sorry to see him gone, he offered a rather unique perspective on things.
I think Chuck spent a lot of time serving in Japan and he would tell of his trips around the country when he had some leave. I believe he married a Japenese lady that had given him many gifts for his layout over the years including some Japanese locomotives.
Boulder is very close to Vegas
Chuck submitted a lot of very descriptive posts with photographs about building modules for the Free-Mo group he worked with. Those threads always drew me in. They were great how-to threads about module building and scenery.
If he really has moved to the Great Roundhouse in the Sky, I would also think he is worthy of a spot on the Diner's RIP track.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.