Sad News! Lewis Polk has passed away...

[the Bach-man]

Dear All,
Our hobby lost a giant today with the passing of Lewis Polk this morning.
He was president of AristoCraft Trains and a member of the Hall of Fame.
Always a great gentleman, he was a friend to us all.
He was 78.
RIP Mr. Polk!
the Bach-man

[Woody Elmore]

I am sorry to hear about Lewis Polk- I hear he was a big influence on the hobby

One of my great treats when I was in high school was to take a bus down Fifth Avenue to 32nd street where the Polk's store was located. It was about four stories tall (if I recall) and each floor was a different hobby. There were boats, flying models and plastic kits to assemble. The third floor was trains. I remember they had HO engines on display that were made by Aristocraft. It was a line they imported and I think they may have been made in Italy.  Those die-cast engines today would be laughable but at the time they were a sign of progress. They also had brass models from International and one offering was nicely done Wabash mogul. I had one years ago but stupidly traded it away.

The City had a library off of Fifth Avenue. I was part of a team researching the stock market crash as a senior project. There was no internet then so research meant digging through books. I have to admit that I let the team down because I spent about five minutes in the library, hopped a bus, and went to Polks.

[Radioguy]

Likewise, I'm saddened by the news. Polk's was a frequent haunt of mine as a kid while others were vegetating in front of their game consoles. I only wish the store had stuck it out along within him until he passed, as no one should outlive their children.

[Trainman203]

Way way back in the Model Railroad Jurassic, even way down in Louisiana, a kid like me who'd never been north of Memphis had heard of Polk 's.  Every month they had a big full
page ad in both the magazines, thereby supporting them.  Even though I never went there, Polk's was as much a part of our world as AHC, probably their competition, walthers, Athearn, Roundhouse, and all the rest.

Both of those big city houses ran huge ads that fueled our young dreams with die cast engines at the unaffordable stratospheric price of $14.95.  With no LHS carrying Model railroad stuff within 200 miles, they were our window into the greater world.

I will miss all of those people.