Sad to hear that. If his

Sad to hear that. If his family and friends visit here you have my condolences. His layout that was featured in MR years ago and on some nmra region groups site was one of the railroads that always triggered an ah moment when looking at it. The realism was very good. He will surely be missed as a modeler. I would rank his layout as one of the better ones that was featured in the press.

A great layout by a great modeler

The M&K was one of those layouts that got my inspirational juices flowing. Don Cassler built a masterpiece.

Don's layout was my first Keller video

Sad to hear this.

I'm really sorry to hear this news. I'd never met Don, but had exchanged some emails. It was obvious from his emails and his demeanor on the Keller tape that he was a nice guy and a kindly person. A lot of us, and not just we B&O guys, drew a lot of inspiration from his M&k Division, with it's beautiful track, scenery and equipment. I was really impressed with one of his passenger trains, which had a very accurate consist for the Diplomat, right down to the "Bird" sleeper and eight section lounge. Don was a B&O man to be sure.

Rest peacefully Don.

Sad News

Such sad news. His work was always an inspiration to me and he was truly a fine craftsman. He was doing things back in the day that were far ahead of everyone else.

I went back through the structure articles that I’ve saved from my old magazines and found the two page Boomer Trail spread on the Open Fork No. 1 tipple that he built. It appeared in the October 1979 edition of RMC. I spent many hours staring at those pictures. Everything about them screamed realism, from the coloring of the structures to the track work to the weathering on the hopper cars. The conveyor to the tipple at McHenry Coal at the end of the Sand Fork Branch was scratch-built in the late 1980’s based upon one of the conveyor’s that Don built.

I had just gotten back into model railroading in the late 1970’s was seriously thinking about modeling a coal hauler. Don’s article was one of those watershed moments when I realized that this was exactly what I wanted to do. I’m very grateful for that inspiration.

May he rest in peace.

Tom Patterson

Don was a great guy

I've known Don since my late teens, and I have always considered it a great stroke of luck that there was this guy with a fantastic model railroad only a couple of miles from my house.  Don was a great guy, always willing to share his modeling ideas, or critique my modeling (as he liked to put it, "Constructive Criticism. Lovingly Applied, Generously Given")!  For a long time, we got together on Friday nights and worked on the M&K, adding scenery, buildings, track, or whatever.  Afterwards, we'd go up to his dining room and have cheese and crackers and coffee, and chat about all things model railroad.  But for the last few years instead of building the M&K, we've operated it.  In the past, before Don converted the M&K to DCC, the most commonly heard comment from operators was, "WHO has my train?!"  Since the conversion, the ops session have been very smooth, and very fun.  I think almost every bit of model railroading philosophy I have has come from Don--everything from running trains slower to "...pick your point of obsolescence, and learn to live with it".

Don, I'm going to miss you.  Thanks for the ride.

Greg LaRocca

Wisdom

Sage advice.

Always encouraging and generous

I visited Don and his layout after the recent RPM-East event in March. We discussed several B&O related topics as well as his layout and the latest work. He encouraged me to get on downstairs and grab a throttle before they shut the railroad down for the day. I grabbed a few images with the iPhone as my local traveled the mainline. Here's the coal facility Tom mentioned earlier.

I think I first visited Don's layout in the late 1970s. I was with a club in Morgantown that visited regularly and a few of those members helped Don along with some updates. I'll miss talking to Don on return trips to Pittsburgh.

Eric

This really sucks...........I

This really sucks...........I was getting ready to plan a trip to see his layout .

Don Cassler

I was a regular operator on his layout for a couple of years and the layout ran very smooth on all hand laid track. The signaling system was very well done too! He will be missed very much.

Don Cassler

One of the best things ever to happen to me in this hobby was meeting Don Cassler in 2003 - and later on being invited to join the M&K operators.  It was a real treat to participate in tree making and plaster mixing when the logging line was being added, and helping Don and Mark set up "HA Tower", the interlocking station under the mountain.  Excellence is one of many superlatives to describe Don's way of doing everything.

Rest well, my friend.  The third Saturday of the month will never be the same.

Gary Deavers,

Fairmont, WV

Well, BR, here's a link to photos..................

.........of Don's layout, as you missed your opportunity to visit in person.

http://www.keystonedivision.org/photo_page_files/bomk.html

Peter

Thanks for posting those

Thanks for posting those photo's. It's been a number of years since I have seen the M&K . As beautiful as I remember from years ago. ----   Ken McCorry

Thanks

I too says thanks for posting these......I`ll have to dig up the pics I took while on an NMRA tour back in 1990 during the Pittsburgh convention.

Thanks for link, Peter

Still in awe.What a beautiful layout in every regard.

Sad news

Model railroading is as much a model of a railroad as it is a model of real life, in some ways.  Fallen flags, but the fond memories and influences are still there.

I was really surprised..........

............that for as nice and well known (in the hobby) Don's layout is, there were very few links to photos of it that I could find and no videos.  A different time and I'm guessing Don was a private, non "social media" type.  God bless him.

I'll keep looking.

Peter

Don Cassler

Over the years I was lucky enough to visit Don's layout 7-8 times and got to operate a number of coal and mixed freights and take many photographs. If it was just an open house I always arrived early and stayed all day to marvel at the track work, the scenery, the bridges and right of way, steam locomotives, etc... usually taking a seat at MK Junction. It was a fantastic model railroad, one of the all time great layouts. Don was just a superb/world class RPM modeler.

Don’s overall approach was unique and in some ways was ahead of its time. Don’s scenery to track ratio was something more commonly seen on larger club layouts, not a large home layout. This was no doubt a reflection of Don's professional life as an engineer. Don also built very large prototype scenes to duplicate B&O operations which is much more common today. One of the more famous examples was the prize winning coal loader on the siding next to the junction. It is rather long for an HO model but it is the right size for a coal loader and was a useful example to modelers of how to try to replicate the prototype. For me, aside from the large prototype scenes, the highly detailed locomotives and rolling stock, it was the civil engineering aspects of the layout that most stood out. The hand laid track, turnouts, and crossings were superb and employed super elevation when needed. In addition the right of way had very nice ballast contours in addition to signals and telephone lines that bounded the right of way. There was even a dam with a spillway which many visitors took photos of  One of the earlier postings has a link to photos and there is a shot of the dam and many of the other amazing scenes on the layout.

The railroad looked correct both prototypically and topographically and captured the feel of the area that was modeled. In short Don and his crew did a marvelous job of recreating Class One mountain railroading. As either an operator, or just simply an observer, that layout really made you feel like you were moving coal over and through the mountains, not to mention regular freight and lots of passengers. For the record I loved operating there probably because in his basement everything worked and it all made sense.

Most importantly Don was a very kind person and was always a very gracious and welcoming host. He was a wonderful person and will certainly be missed!

My condolences to his family and friends.

Gerard

Gerard J. Fitzgerald

Charlottesville, Virginia

M&K

I got an email a few days ago from a mutual friend who shared the unfortunate news. I met Don the first time at an operating session one another Pittsburgh-area modeler's layout in 2007. I met him 2 or 3 other times, quite a nice guy! He was friends with most of the Steubenville-Wheeling group I was involved with, I was invited to operate on his layout, but circumstances moved me out of the area a few years later. I got another invitation back in March, but work prevented me from going. I wish I took the day off and went!

I'll have to find the GMR video!

Don Cassler

I just returned from vacation when I received a call from Mark Vinski regarding the sad news. I have known Don for many years and can state that all of the previous posts are right on the mark.

I was introduced to Don many years ago by our mutual friend, Ray Wyman, and, as I lived nearby, was invited by Don to join in the Friday weekly work sessions with Ray and Mark. Over the years, several other workers joined and left these sessions but Don, Mark and I became close friends and continued as the core group. We shared many likes and dislikes and attended many meetings and railfanned frequently together. Our wives became close friends, too, and this made things much more enjoyable. Don and I also shared a great love for classical music.

Over the years, the layout went through a period of dormancy and two expansions - the most recent was the addition of the logging operation inspired by a visit to Cass. The earlier expansion was the "Big Curve" and hidden staging peninsula into Don's former workshop. Don was not one to seek glory on his accomplishments on the M&K and the layout was not well known outside of the Pittsburgh area until a photo was sent to RMC editor (at that time) Tony Koester. Tony was quick to recognize what was happening in Don's basement and encourage Don to write a few articles for RMC and, later Model Railroader. Unfortunately, these were far too few.

I will forever be indebted to Don for his close friendship and all he taught me about model railroading and the civil engineering principals that made that layout look so believable. It is to his credit that he kept the operating sessions intact even when he, himself, was too ill to attend.

My deepest sympathies go out to his son, Bill, and daughter, Anne. 

I will always cherish the memories of those work sessions and trips. We shared much together and I will miss the the good humor, conversation and all we accomplished. Good by, old friend.

Jim Kubanick

Morgantown WV

Very Sad just found out yesterday

was going over my Allen Keller tapes and found No.5 about Don's Layout...one of the best HO layouts i have seen and i am into O scale...did a search to see what Don was up to, and found this sad post..I hope his layout is preserved ...God Bless You Don.