Dear fellow train enthusiast-

It saddens me to be written this, but our great friend Dirk Carmichael is not doing well. This past Saturday he was found unresponsive at his residence. Dirk was air lifted to a hospital in Tucson. Upon examining him they found two masses on his brain. Dirk has been placed on hospice care, and will remain in the hospital until he passes. Please pray for him and his family. This is a very tough time for all.

I’ve only been a member on LSC for a few months. I know Dirk has never been a LSC member, but many of us know Dirk from MLS. I’ve been a MLS member for a few years and in that time Dirk and I became very good friends. All though we never met in person we had great conversations via text, email, and over the phone. We pretty much talked daily.

Dirk started an emailing group with Michael Galvin, Craig Townsend, Stuart Wakefield, Keith Stratton**,** Nordywiggles (sorry name is escaping my mind right now), and I. We had great conversations and shared a lot about our hobby, what we’re working on, and more. This past summer Michael had a big work project. It was tough for Michael to stay caught up on our emails. Dirk and I had fun (and laughed a lot) at spamming Michael with over 100 emails that were train related, bust mostly friendly banter back and forth.

Over the last month or two Michael and I noticed changes with Dirk in his written and verbal communication. Difficulties speaking and lots of typos in his emails/texts. We became concerned over the past weekend and early this week when emails, texts, and phone calls were going unanswered. Dirk disclosed to me at the end of March he was having medical problems. Issues with vision and just not feeling well. I asked him if we could help arrange anything for him with getting to a medical facility, he declined. I asked him to reach out to his son and let him know, to which he did.

So with Michael’s and my concerns I reached out to Dirk’s son, Nathan. I spoke with Nathan last night and learned of Dirk’s current condition. Nathan said he knows Dirk has lots of train friends. I told Nathan I will communicate info to the train friends. Nathan also said I can share his number with any train friend who would like to reach out. So if any of you would like to contact Nathan send me a message and I will give you his number. I asked Nathan to give Dirk’s hand a squeeze for all of us and send our love to him.

It pains me to write this like an obituary since he’s still with us, but I want you all to know. Dirk, like all of you, have taught me so much about our hobby. I am going to miss our friendship. I will miss the late night texting of train photos and ideas of things we want to model. But I am SO proud to call you my friend and to have had this time with you. I’m grateful for it!

Eric,
Thanks for posting. I noticed the same thing recently in his emails, and than they suddenly stopped. Please keep us in the loop either here or through my email.
Craig

Will do Craig.

Yes, a sad thing to hear. I’ve had a lot of phone calls with Dirk over the years, on his planning, designs, and especially the power and sound and modifications to his locos. He was a lot of fun to talk with, and very interesting how he really thought through many of the technical details and challenges.

It’s a sad state of affairs, I enjoyed seeing the progress on his “mega layout” which you can see from the satellite views.

If you can convey my regards, that would be great. Please email me Nathan’s contact, [email protected]

Greg

Oh dear. Will be thinking about him and his family.

I didn’t know Dirk, but I am saddened nevertheless. Small communities seem closer than more mainstream hobbies, I know what a loss is like for fellow members.

Thinking of a man I never knew and his family, may they both find peace and comfort.

Oh no…

Dirk and I have had so many forum and email and even phone conversations over the past several years, but those have tapered since I trended away from MLS to LSC. The vision he’s had for his layout is simply amazing, as is the hard work he’s put into it.

Eric, I also have not met him face to face, but was always intending to somehow get to Arizona and meet him and walk his track plan. Thanks for posting about the situation, and if the opportunity comes up, tell Nathan that Cliff from Maryland sends his best regards and hopes and prayers.

Cliff

I’ve known for a couple of days that he is in the hospital, I’ve been praying for a better prognosis.

I am honored to have had him run a train on my layout and the late Chuck N and I drove a couple of times to his Empire and shared his vision. Only the narrow gauge has tight corners, the Standard Gauge is laid out according to mainline practices.

Get well Amigo, I miss you.

John

Group-

I have just been notified that just over 30 minutes ago as of this post Dirk has passed away. His son Nathan informed me that he passed very peacefully. Nathan will let us know of upcoming arraignments, etc. Nathan said he knows his Dad is at home with our savior.

Rest in Peace Dirk. You are a great friend. I miss you dearly.

Cliff-

You and I were definitely in the same boat then. I played I spy on Google Maps a lot as he walked me through his plans. I wanted to get to Arizona as well to visit. He was talking about coming to Minnesota this spring/summer to visit and see the consrtuction of my family’s new home, which we broke ground on today. So this is a very bittersweet day for me.

I was excited to have Dirk stop by to help me plan my new layout and give me tips, ideas, and so on.

Shocked doesn’t begin to explain how I feel right now.

Nathan said in time he will look at MLS postings to learn more about his Dad. So make sure to post comments there, maybe share a favorite story about Dirk.

If you’ve never read Dirks introduction thread over on MLS, it’s worth the time to read. I don’t know how may pictures are still active/work but you can read the passion this man had for the hobby.
I think I’ll go build a number 11 turnout in Dirks memory!

http://forums.mylargescale.com/16-track-trestles-bridges-roadbed/20124-dms-ry-one-man-s-journey-track-layout.html

Buddy, I’m sad for me because I’ll miss you more than you know. I’m relieved for you because you have gone on, leaving daily struggles to the rest of us.

Be Blessed

John

Really sad to hear this. I too have had quite a few e-mail contacts with Dirk through the years.

Wow Craig. Went to his posting and was skimming through it. Got to the last page and I just stopped in my tracks. Our last few exchanges hit hard. Today has been very VERY bittersweet. My family and I broke ground on our dream home, which will have my dream train room. Yet, I lost a VERY good friend today. His last words to me on the thread are “Don’t give up EW!” Dirk, Buddy, in honor of you I will not give up, never!

Wow, very sorry to hear this. My condolences to his family and friends.

This is a big shock for me…Dirk and I have been emailing and texting for many years. I just looked in my cell and found a beautiful sunset photo over his railroad and we wished each other a Merry Christmas. Hard to believe he is gone. My sincere condolences to Nathan and the family.

Super Dirk and or SLHD (super long haul Dirk) as a few of us fondly nicknamed him will be greatly missed. Dirks passion for all things train was unsurpassed. Simply mention something you were pondering and the imagineeriing and research was deployed in full force. My friendship with Dirk began here on the forums and transgressed into daily banter and eventually multiple head to head meets. Dirk’s monstrous layout intrigued me early on and lead to our initial contact, sadly Dirks dream of hosting and sharing his pike in the Arizona desert will never come to fruition. It would have been grand!

Dirks sunrise/sunset pictures were always incredible.

Gods speed SD, we’ll miss you.

Michael

So sorry to hear that. It’s always tough to hear that one us the guys has gone…

We’ll be praying for his family.