I saw a note elsewhere that Lewis Polk of Aristocraft fame has passed away. No confirmation, though.

There was a post on the Aristocraft forum that said the same thing.

Tom

My local club, Tradewinds and Atlantic, just informed me that Lewis Polk passed away this week. Here’s a little from the email:

“Lewis came to us about 4 years ago after retiring to Port St Lucie Florida. A few of you know the name and just the face. He was quiet and would sit and run his G scale trains for about 1/2 the day and then drive back home to Port St Lucie. Lewis was more than “just a big kid who played with trains”. Lewis and Mary Ann Polk were the owners of Polk Hobbies aka ARISTO-CRAFT Trains in Irvington, New Jersey. Once Lewis closed the company he retired down here and would come to Tradewinds and run trains.”

Sorry to hear. He was a good friend. I did R&D for him, and he gave me free-bees. We always chatted at the shows and once he came over for an open house…, on the wrong day when no-one was home. (http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-yell.gif)

I feel saddened by the passing of Lewis. He will be fondly remembered here as long as I continue to be able to run my railroad - most of which is Aristo.

I bought many items direct from Irvington and found Lewis always available and more than happy to talk about our hobby. Tomorrow I shall run a tribute train in honour of Lewis. Farewell. Lewis.

R.I.P Lewis Polk (https://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-cry.gif)

Mr. Polk was one of those guys that shared his love of the hobby. Perfect? No. Did he want to tell sell product? Sure. But he tried stuff and introduced product and brought a lot of people to the hobby. In the eastern half of this Country, the East Coast Large Scale Train Show is the beginning of Spring. He started that show, that continues today, and brought it to us and it certainly is a lot of fun for a whole bunch of us. I always found him to be cordial, greeted us with a smile and a friendly greeting. And whether true or not, he made us feel he was truly interested in what we were doing.

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Rest in Peace, Lewis. Job well done.

I got to know Lewis at the Ridge Road Station semiannual train races. We also enjoyed dinner on several occasions reminiscing about our boyhoods in New Joisey. He was a business man for sure but also passionate about the hobbies in which his products were used. He was fascinated by the live steam trains I (and my friends) were exhibiting and I feel I almost had him hooked away from electric trains. In the end LS was too small a market niche though he did enter it to a point. He was always interested in new developments, many of them electronics, that enhance the way many run trains today. I’m glad to know that he enjoyed running his trains in retirement.

I’ll echo Ric, job well done Lewis, a gentleman and a hobbyist.

Lewis expanded the new large scale market for the US. He sold the complete package. Many of us bought his first offering because they were US prototypes. When LGB was selling the US Mogul he stepped up to the plate and offered USA style trains made to the 1:29 scale.

My first contact with Lewis was in February 1997 when my photo of the New Haven FA running in the snow was included in the 1997 catalog. Next was ordering items for the NHGRS club display at a upcoming show. Lewis always supported the GRS clubs.

He was a early supporter of using battery power by adding the track/battery switch to most of his locos and investing into the Train Engineer System.

He was always a gentleman and will be remembered for helping us have more fun running our trains.

Don

I spoke with Lewis a few times at the ECLSTSs. I appreciated his honesty, even if the truth wasn’t the answer I wanted to hear. People can say what they want about the man, but he did bring a lot of folks into the hobby. I didn’t have to mortgage the dog in order to purchase Aristo products, and much of my equipment is Aristocarft. Sure he may have overlooked some things, and maybe if he had done some things different, Aristocraft might still be around. But be that as it may, he had a huge influence on the hobby, and many, many folks should be grateful for his vision and persistence.

I did not know that he still played with trains after he went to Florida. The hobby has lost a true leader, and may he rest in peace.

Ahhh sugar! I also met him at Ridge Road station and again we met him at the NJHR’s club Trainstock #3 Meet. Great person to chat with and he truly did do a lot for this hobby. I swear I had just saw a picture of him posted here at a meet?

God bless him and his family. Very, very sad if it’s true.

Damn …Lewis is dead man !

Condolences to the family!!

Really Sad news, he didn’t get to enjoy his retirement for very long.

Hmmm … Rest in Peace Lewis .

Sad to hear of his passing. glade he was able to enjoy at least afew yrears of retirement and still run trains. RIP Lewis. Later RJD

I never met him but it is sad to hear him passing . He did a lot for the hobby. R.I.P. Lewis .

I worked with Lewis on several projects over the years and he was very supportive in the building of our railroad.

A great asset to the model railroad world and will be missed.

Stan

Sorry to hear this. My condolences to his family and friends.