Charter Member of NMRA dies

[dknelson]

I just learned of the death of Grant Oakes in November, at age 86, in Cedarburg WI. Grant Oakes was one of that rather small number of men, most of them from Milwaukee or Chicago, who met in Milwaukee in 1935 to form the National Model Railroad ***'n. The standards set by the NMRA not only enabled these guys to run their equipment on each other's layouts (probably their major goal) but whether intentionally or not created the notion of a model railroad industry that could sell products labled for a certain scale or gauge that could actually be purchased with some confidence that they would run on your layout.
There are a few charter members still around but of necessity it is a dwindling number. Obviously those of us in Milwaukee would like as many as possible to join us for the 75th anniversary convention in Milwaukee in 2010 but we have to be realistic. Only a very young man in 1935 would surivive or be able to attend.
Dave Nelson