Sandy Whittum - Obituary

[Loco112]

http://www.obitsforlife.com/obituary/88 ... anford.php

Sanford Stevenson Whittum, 84, of 67 Coreys Road, Tupper Lake, passed away at his home on Tuesday, April 8, 2014.

Sandy ownes the 3" scale green NYC designed by Seymour Johnson.

Sandy and I never met, and knew each other only by our telephone conversations, still it was easy to know when talking with him that he was one of the really good people in the world, the kind you don't often find.

News does not only travel slow around here, it appears to not travel at all. Sandy passed in April. Its still new to me, so I'm announcing it late.

Sandy you will be greatly missed!

Some of Sandy's videos of the 15" gauge, 3" scale RR in the High Peaks area of the Adirondacks (between Tupper Lake and Saranac Lake); http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-x-zXM46_Vwhttp://
The two big hudsons running together; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGYq-tcZBsg
Post with photos of Sandy's train; http://www.chaski.org/homemachinist/vie ... on#p217511

[Rob Gardner]

Yes, Indeed, Sandy Whittum was a great live steamer and a great friend. The railroad that he built was his life's work since 1970 or so. Originally built to exact 1/4 scale, or 14-1/8" gauge, he was suddenly forced to regauge it to 15" gauge around 1990 when he purchased the mighty Hudson and 4 matching cars from Bill Norred's estate. Sandy was a very generous man and he and his wife Anne quickly welcomed me into their family back in 2007 when work afforded me the opportunity to spend most weekends in their neck of the woods instead of driving 10 hours back to Ohio. The agreement was fairly simple; I helped Sandy with the railroad and they put me up and fed me. It was a great arrangement! In truth, I think Anne was just as surprised as Sandy to find that there was someone else just as "afflicted" as he was with a similar passion for his railroad project. I was so glad to know that Sandy was able to see his railroad essentially completed. He also got to take delivery of the very first reproduction Cagney from Wasatch Railroad Contractors. I know his family misses him greatly and I am glad I got to see him twice this winter before his passing. His son and daughter were there both times and we got to share some memories and I heard a few new stories. Hopefully there will be one more steam up this fall. I'm sure Sandy is enjoying things far greater than this now that he has been freed from the pain of cancer.

I hope to share more soon. My battery on the 'ol laptop is dying!

Sincerely,

Rob Gardner

[Steam Engine Dan]

does anyone know what his family plans on doing with the railroad now?

[FLSTEAM]

Last I heard his son will continue to operate the railroad.

P.S. Sandy bought the Hudson the summer of 2000
He also bought a derelict 15" ga. Atlantic early that year.

John B.