Robert Bowers

[NW Mailing List]

Ron,

An excellent memorial; I worked closely with Bob over the years on various
Society projects. He was a wealth of information and I spent many a Sunday
with him after having breakfast roaming the yards and facilities in
Roanoke, jotting down road numbers of diesels, MOW, and cabooses.  I have a
lot of fond memories of Bob.

Yes Mr. Bayles, Bob co-authored N&W Diesel books with Paul Withers back in
the day.

Jim Brewer

On Tue, Apr 9, 2024 at 7:04 AM NW Mailing List via NW-Mailing-List <
nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org> wrote:

> Is this the Robert Bowers who coauthored the N&W diesel books with Paul
> Withers?  I found those books very useful in my modeling of far
> southwestern Virginia.
>
> Bob Bayles
> Sent from my iPhone
>
> > On Apr 8, 2024, at 22:05, NW Mailing List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org>
> wrote:
> >
> > It is with great sadness that I learned of Bob Bowers passing.
> >
> > Bob was born in Westminster, Maryland. Bob served with the Navy in
> Vietnam transporting infantry up and down the delta rivers. He followed
> that working for the CIA installing diesel generators at embassies around
> the world.
> >
> > His interest in the N&W grew in the 70's when he lived in Portsmouth.
> Virginia watching the diesels push coal through the loaders at Lamberts
> Point. Bob began recording the numbers of every N&W diesel locomotive he
> would see. He soon had a contingent of other railfans sending him sightings
> of N&W diesel locomotives elsewhere on the system.
> >
> > When personal computers arrived he had a coworker write a program for
> him to catalog all his sightings. Bob then went on to tracking cabooses and
> maintenance of way equipment. Bob's catalogs containing over 400,000
> records are now on the NWHS web site at https://www.nwhs.org/data/
> >
> > With Jim Brewer, Bob coauthored the first N&WHS publication "Cabooses of
> the Norfolk & Western" in 1994. Bob also co-authored a number of books on
> N&W Diesels.
> >
> > Bob owned Ken's Trains, a hobby shop on Orange Avenue in east Roanoke.
> Bob operated the society sales program for over 20 years and maintained the
> society's financial records. He was a board member from the 90's into 2015.
> He held every position in the society, including a one-day stint as
> president during one turbulent directors meeting.
> >
> > Bob had an extensive slide collection which he donated to the Archives.
> His donation contained over 38,000 slides which can be seen at
> https://www.nwhs.org/archivesdb/listdocs/select.php?AccessionNum=2014.015
> >
> > Few people dedicated as much of their time or their wealth to the NWHS
> as Bob Bowers.
> >
> > I will miss him.
> >
> > Ron Davis
> >
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