John Weiss

1945 - 2019

In the last two days, walking around and working at Long Leaf, I stopped and took in all that John Weiss and his work meant to the Museum.  John was never interested in serving on the board, nor running around taking credit for things, but he and his friend David Hamilton were almost regularly at the Museum every three or four weeks for the last 13 years that I volunteered there.    

The first thing that I did was walk underneath the Planer Mill and simply marvel at the number of huge 12" X 16" and 12" X 12" and other size beams that he and David cut to size and manhandled into place to replace rotted out structural members in the buildings foundation and floor.  The remains of a narrow gauge park railroad that David bought so that they could roll the beams under the building and then jack them into place are still on the dirt floor and becoming part of that floor.  The amount of work and the scale of that work is overwhelming when you realize that it was done primarily by John and David.

Also under the floor is the saw filer's room.  John and David painstakingly restored every single machine in that room to operation and once showed me how it all operated.  Today, because of electrical problems the room is locked and unavailable for tours, but it really ought to be on the tours, and operating for the people who really desire to see how everything worked.  

I walked over to the Machine Shop,  John's name and David's are on the dedication plaque along with those that donate financially to the restoration of the shop.  John donated financially also, but more than that, he donated countless hours to making the machine shop what it is today, a one of a kind experience of what the world of 1913 was like and an experience almost not to be repeated anywhere else in the USA.  Not only that, John used those machines to build patterns, not only for the McGiffert loader that was his last project, but for passenger car truck parts on the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad which was his other great railroad project.  His patterns hang on the walls of the Machine Shop and the Engine House today, and they are things on which to ponder the effort involved and desire to create and share his love of machinery with others.

Finally, I walked outside to look at the McGiffert loader where he and David have labored for many years.  Its non-operating restoration almost complete, the new cable for it sitting on the floor of the Engine House, waiting to be installed, the machine looks like a few days work would make it ready to go into the woods.  John made many patterns, had new bearings and parts made to replace old and worn out ones, with the hope that some day the money would be there to complete the boiler and make it run on steam.  Everything that was done, was tested with compressed air so that if that day ever came the rest of the machine would be ready for it, and it was truly interesting to see it come to life briefly on the museum's limited air supply. 

Even while doing all of these projects, John never failed to have time to help the rest of us volunteers with our projects when we needed extra help, despite the fact that many of us, like myself, lacked the skills or knowledge to work with him on his projects.  He allowed us to use his precious new cable to move engine 106 out of the car shop for the stabilization of the shop, and the tracks in the shop and was there to work with us on the day of the move.

Everything that John did at the Museum is typical of John's approach to life.  Do everything to the best of your abilities and to the absolute limit of your resources.  Make things work, and leave what ever you touch better than you found it, and ready for use by those who follow.

Thank you for allowing me to have known you,  John.

Everett Lueck

RR&G President

Former SFHM President

The week after John passed, this brick was found outside the Machine Shop, near the McGiffert log loader, that John spent an enormous amount of time restoring. It was a placed on the McGiffert in tribute to him.

The brick sit at the lower left corner of the McGiffert.

Narrow gauge wooden passenger car trucks fabricated partly in Long Leaf and then constructed in Antonito, Colorado for the Friends of the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad. John made several 2,000 mile round trips every year to volunteer for the Friends.

In addition to his numerous railroad restoration efforts, John was also an avid and accomplished model railroader.

These two videos are from the Glenbrook Valley Railroad that John help owner Eddie Carroll build. It is a massive ~3400 square foot railroad.