I know Jack had many friends some of whom are members of this site. It is with a very heavy heart, that I must report that Jack died suddenly today. All of us at the Nevada Northern will miss him very much. Jack was one of those rare individuals that was incredibly talented but was also very low key. This is also a loss for our industry, for Jack was very willing to share his knowledge with others.
If anyone wants to send condolences I will forward them on to his family.
Sincerely,
Mark S. Bassett
Nevada Northern Railway Museum
PO Box 150040
Ely, NV 89315
(775) 289-2085
e-mail: nnry1@mwpower.net

Nobody could get more done with less and with more practicality. I will miss his advice and friendship.

dave

My goodness, this is turning into a bitter end to the year.

I never met Jack but his landmark articles "Boilers: The Heart of the Matter" in L&RP were my introduction to what steam was really all about. He also was a sometime contributor to this site, always with valuable insights to offer.

Mark:

Talk about a shock in the morning. My heart goes out to his family - Jack will definitely be missed by many of us in the railway museum industry. The last few years at Mt. Rainier were rough for him but I know Jack was real happy working at the Nevada Northern. I had all intents to drive out to visit him this year but did not manage to make it - I am sorry I didn't.

Jack was a true gentleman who was always available for help and advice over the years. I'll miss him a lot.

I think my most fond memory of Jack was after a rainy Washington morning drive up to Mineral, the clouds cleared and sun came out as we pulled up to the shop. My family is from Washington and I had a few relatives that worked in the timber industry so after a tour of the shop I asked a question about one of the lumber lines nearby. Jack started to explain but when I started to give him a non-understanding blank look, he kneeled down and started drawing a map in a sand pile near the shop. In the next thirty minutes, with Jack drawing lines in the sand, I learned more about railroad logging in Washington than I ever did reading many books over the years. The time he spent with me was the start of a friendship that I am sorry has ended so soon.


Alan Siegwarth
Pacific Locomotive Association/
Niles Canyon Railway

While I did help with those L&RP boiler articles some years ago, I never really knew much about Jack except for his involvement with logging locomotives in the Northwest. I think most of us would like to know more about him. Can someone write a more detailed biography?

I never had the chance to meet him in person but he was a great help over the phone.

I was a total stranger yet he took time out to measure 40's headlight and send me dimensions so that I can duplicate it in 1/8th scale for M&NF #9.

He will be missed.

JD Johnson, Morehead and North Fork Railroad Historian

I first met Jack Anderson some 35 years ago when he was a teenager visiting the Puget Sound Railway Historical Association yard at Snoqualmie, Washington. He was with a group from Tacoma visiting for the day. I think I was working on the Weyerhaeuser #6 mallet. He was wide eyed and very enthusiastic. I have kept in touch with him on and off ever since. He just ordered a drum of cylinder oil last week and it is a very rough shock to learn of his passing. My condolensces go out to his immediate family and the extended family he built up over the years.

Jack was a rare individual. While he was not rigorously trained as a machinist or engineer, he assimilated a culture and the skills that were once common on Northwest woods railroads. He helped assemble and restore the extensive collection of geared and rod engines that Tom Murray collected over 25 years. At Murray's request he cajoled most of them back into operation in a facility that was very typical of woods shops - cramped, inadequate, but good enough. We had discussions over the years about different things and how they should be done. But, in the end Jack always could report back that his engines got over the road and ran cool. That is probably the best epitath a steam man could ask for.

Those who knew Jack Anderson will always remember him as a gentleman first and a true steam man. He was the human force that breathed life into his locomotives and we should all recognize that he was a living link to all the old master mechanics of long ago. His passing is the loss of one more link we can never recover. I will miss Jack very much and pray he finds peace in his final rest.

Bill Petitjean

I've started a memorial page to Jack at the MRSR.com website. We're working on a bit more of a bio for him, hope to have that posted soon. Also, if any of you have photos of Jack that you'd like to add, let me know and we can post them as well.

I really don't know what I can say about Jack that hasn't already been said. He was a great person, always caring and giving and willing to share his knowledge of steam. I worked with him for many years and will deeply miss him. Like many of the MRSR crew he trained me to get my FRA steam locomotive engineer's license.

While I share that experience with others on our crew, Jack did do something really special for me and my wife. He and his wife introduced us, and they encouraged me to ask her out. Our first date was on the Mt Rainier Scenic's dinner train, and Jack was at the throttle. I was the Conductor, and so had to leave the table a few times during dinner, but my wife enjoyed it anyway and we dated for a couple of years before getting married.

Our wedding was held in a small church near Elbe, and the reception was held on board the Mt Rainier's steam train. It was a wonderful place to have our reception, and it was a wedding gift to us from Jack and his wife Carol who spent months planning the reception and working out details. That the kind of people they are, and Jack will be deeply missed by both of us.

Jack was instrumental in the saving of NP 1364. He worked on it while still a high school student in 1976. A newsclip on this work has been placed on the Northern Pacific Railway Museum website.

http://www.nprymuseum.org/Jack%20Anderson.htm