What's in a name..

The B & R Railway. Back in the seventies and early eighties I had a great neighbor. ( best friend ) His name was Rudy Stadig. My eyes get really teary eyed as I try to type this. We did alot of stuff together. We went swimming, played raquetball, golfed a bit, and built quite a few models together. I can still remember setting up a small card table in his back yard and sitting out there all day working on our models. We would give each other advice on modeling, talk about current events and just chill really. Man those were great times. In my teenage years I wasn't really into trains but we found some time to tinker with them. I started a layout but just didn't have the time to really get into it.

As we were building models one day, I mentioned that if I ever had a nice model railroad, I would call it the B & R Railway. ( Brad & Rudy Railway ) In 1989 I married Brigitte and Rudy was my best man. He flew to North Bay from Burnaby B.C. to attend my wedding. I didn't get to spend much time with him as I had alot of other family and people to see.Here comes the tough part, so bear with me.

About a year after my wedding I get a letter from his sister saying that he was killed a in a car wreck. She believes he was driving home from visiting his parents and perhaps fell asleep at the wheel and crashed into a rock cut. I'm kind of speechless at the moment so I'll take a break....

Rudy was a dentist. He wasn't married. I don't know if he was even seeing anyone at the time of his death. He was a great guy. I look back and think of the times he helped me through a tough time in my life with my parents getting a divorce. I think his friendship was instrumental in keeping me out of trouble and me having a positive attitude through those tough times. I really miss him.


So, I dedicate my model railway to my best friend, Dr. Rudy Stadig.