The passing of Fred Bennett

Brian Norden · **Posted:** Sat Mar 31, 2007 2:59 pm

I received an email this morning from Nancy Johanson (formerly Nancy Peacos) of Connecticut. I am taking the liberty of posting parts of it here.

Fred Bennett had a long-time involvement in street railway car restoration. Originally from New England; he was at the organizing meeting of the Association of Railway Museums in 1961; most recently he worked for the restoration being done in San Jose, California. I knew Fred though the various ARM meetings that he attended

Quote:

I have some information for you regarding Fred Bennett. If you have already received this information, I am sorry to pass it along to you again Fred Bennett passed away Wednesday night/Thursday morning (March 28th or 29th). He had suffered a stroke a couple of weeks earlier and was in a convalescent home following a short hospitalization. Fred's daughter, Karen, has asked that we pass along information to Fred's friends in the Rail Preservation community. If you know of anyone else who would appreciate knowing this information, please feel free to pass it along.

The funeral arrangements are as follows:
The wake will be Tuesday night from 6 - 8, and the Funeral Wednesday at 1:30, both at the Carmon Funeral Home, 364 Salmon Brook Street, Granby, CT. There will also be a reception after the funeral South Congregational Church at 242 Salmon Brook Street, Granby, CT.

His obituary will be in the Hartford Courant tomorrow (4/10/07) for anyone who would like to see it (http://www.hartfordcourant.com).

The family has requested that in lieu of flowers, a donation be made to the Connecticut Trolley Museum in his memory.

Andy Nold · **Joined:** Tue Dec 14, 2004 5:45 pm **Posts:** 297

I got a lot of advice and information from Fred on my trips to San Jose and seeing him at the ARM Conventions. He was very helpful to our ongoing restoration of the Northern Texas Traction Birney No. 560 and provided patterns and drawings that we are using and sharing with other organizations. His passing, while not unexpected, is a definite loss to the community.

I will remember forever the ARM/TRAIN Convention to Spencer NC with sidetrip to Charlotte. We sat and ate dinner with Fred in a Conneticut Co. streetcar body. Fred casually mentioned in the course of the conversation that he used to operate that very car.

Then, while filing throught the Charlotte Trolley carbarn, I had the opportunity to hear Fred comment on the progress of their work on the ex-Fort Collins car. As we inspected the partially disassembled truck, he said, "Uh-oh. They shouldn't have done that. They're going to have a hard time putting that back together." I think he was specifically referring to a roll pin or something that had been removed. Nothing against Charlotte Trolley, but every time I see something questionable on a project, I can just heard Fred saying, "Uh-oh, they shouldn't have done that."

Thank you Fred, you are a credit to the preservation community and a testament to not letting old age slow you down. Rest in peace.

Andy Nold