Large Scale Central

Lee Riley

General Discussion
#1

Lee Riley, VP of Product Development at Bachmann Industries passed away Friday.

Lee was a pioneer in Large Scale having introduced the 4-6-0 in 1997/98 and following it up with the 1:20.3 Shay and a long series of locomotives, rolling stock and track. Without Lee I doubt Bachmann would have entered Large Scale or produced so much product.

A found memory I have of Lee is in Poland on a wet very early Easter morning with Lee as my fireman (his preferred job in the cab) when the sun came up and cleared out the fog. It was an inspirational morning for us both.

For those of you that have operated on the SJR&P, Riley was named for Lee in large part because Lee was found of over using oil to cure most any problem and Riley is where we load tank cars on the SJR&P.

On April 3rd at our first Operating session of 2016 we will have a whistle blow to honor Lee. Perhaps others could honor Lee by blowing your whistle for Lee next time you run.

We will greatly miss Lee.

Stan

#2

Very sad Stan news.

My thoughts go to you and Debby.

#3

Always sad to hear of one passing. Didn’t I read recently that Lee had just retired? Shame he didn’t get a chance to enjoy his retirement.

#4

Lee was set to retire at the end of March. Regrettable that he didn’t get to enjoy his retirement, but at the same time, Lee’s passion in life was trains and model trains. As the Bachmann rep I spoke to at the train show this morning said, if you’re passionate about what you do, you never really work a day in your life. Lee certainly fit that billing. Rest in Peace, Lee, and thanks for all you brought to the hobby. The Tuscarora RR will most certainly be tooting a whistle in your honor.

Later,

K

#5

The HDRR will have an Bachmann 4-6-0 tooting the whistle for Lee in the morning. R.I.P Lee Riley.

#6

Oh wow that’s sad news, I knew of the retirement it’s sad this happened.

#7

Mr. Riley was certainly a very kind and knowledgeable supporter of the hobby and especially the large scale portion of it. I was honored to speak to him many times and he always wanted to hear ideas and also talk about what prototype he was considering. We had a number of good conversation about the drive shaft on the Bachmann Rail Truck and he really enjoyed our Larry Herget Box Cab. Another hollow place at the shows.

#8

Very sad news indeed. He did a lot for the hobby. If I remember correctly he was also instrumental in getting Bachmann to produce On30 equipment.

My condolences to his family and friends.

#9

For those of you who would like to leave a message for Lee or his family they have posted his guest book at the link below.

https://www.meaningfulfunerals.net/fh/obituaries/obituary.cfm?CFID=eded0237-67b0-49ca-85fb-49e4b9cb1e09&CFTOKEN=0&o_id=3622521&fh_id=10537

We have also posted a number of photos of Lee on our Flickr site

https://www.flickr.com/photos/23959355@N05/albums/72157663343579923

Thanks

Stan