H. Lee Riley, Vice President of Product Development died Friday 3/4/2016
Rest is peace Mr. Riley.
Thanks for all the great improvements in the products this last while, especially your steam locos, they are great.
Condolences to his Family and Co-workers.
Johnboy out............................
from Saskatchewan, in the Great White North..
We have met the enemy, and he is us............ (Pogo)
The man did not even live long enough to enjoy his well-deserved retirement, which was announced on the MR news just a few days ago. Sad.
Dave Nelson
Saddening to read of this. Was this the gentleman that helped to start up Bachmann's Spectrum line years back when Bachmann decided to go beyond the "toy market" and develop a line targeting prototype modelers?
"I like my Pullman Standards & Budds in Stainless Steel flavors, thank you!"
I believe that Dick Maddox was a VP at Bachmann who had a lot to do with the Spectrum line. But, regardless, I'm sure Lee was deeply involved too.
Lee will be greatly missed. He did a lot for the industry that most of us will never know about. He was a gentleman and legendary for his knowledge of the hobby industry.
Jim
Very sad and shocking news, my prayers will be with his family.I met Lee way back in the Pro Custom days and remember him visiting the Severna Park Model Railroad club where I was a member at the time.He was truly one of the great innovators of our hobby in recent times.Sheldon
Lee Riley was a classic Type A personality. He had an enormous fund of energy and he promoted the hobby and the MNRA non stop. Once he got a handle on the initial problems with quality control for the Spectrum Line he was able to bring out some very satisfying locomotives at a reasonable cost. Even highly sophisticated modelers have made good use of his products, particularly his "generic" 2-8-0 which turns up in magazine articles and videos with some frequency. Along with the other members of my MRR club, I wish Lee a happy journey to the Big Layout up in the Sky!