It is with sadness that I report that my good friend and long time steam lover Bill Benson passed on Sat. Jan. 16th. from diabetes and its complications. Bill was 80 years old.

Bill was the co-founder in 1970 of Steam Tours,Inc. which restored and operated ex-Rdg. T-1 2102 on steam excursions in the early 1970's.

Bill joined forces with me in 1974 to help get the American Freedom Train launched and headed up the herculean effort in March 1975 to restore ex-Rdg. T-1 2101 to service in time to pull the AFT from Alexandria,Va. to Wilmington,Del. on March 28th. , its first leg of its 25,000 mile, 21 month journey through all 48 states. Bill led a paid crew of 50 and a volunteer Army ( that numbered nearly 100 on weekends) that took that locomotive which had sat nearly 20 years in a junkyard, and returned it service in 30 days. That's a record that I highly doubt will ever be equaled. He worked 20 hours a day for 30 straight days and without his dedicated efforts it wouldn't have happened. The locomotive arrived in Wilmington ( with the paint still tacky on the handrails) with 5 minutes to spare !!!

Bill also restored ex-Rdg. T-1 2100 in 1987-89 for Mr. Richard Kughn who then owned Lionel Trains.

He also built a very successful export/import business and was a serious O gauge model train collector.

Services will be Sat. Jan. 23 in Akron,Ohio.

Please go to http://www.eckhardbaldwin.com/obituary/Bill Benson for details or to leave a message.

Bill will be missed by all who knew him. RIP dear friend.

Ross Rowland

Sorry Ross, but the included link isn't working for me. Thanks..........mld

After a bit of work I've found this link that does work:
https://www.eckardbaldwin.com/obituary/William-Benson

Sorry to hear about that. In March of 1968, 10 year old me wrote Mr. Benson a letter based on an article about 2102 being in the South Akron Pennsy roundhouse for restoration, asking if I could see it. He tracked down my parent's phone number and called my mother while I was at school and arranged for a relative to take me to the roundhouse, and personally gave me a tour of the engine on a Saturday morning. Then a few months later told one of the officers of the Akron Railroad Club about me, and the rest, as they say, was history.

As a minor member of the restoration crew at Riverside roundhouse this is indeed sad news. May he have a clear track ahead and all signals be High Green.

Very sorry for your loss. I've heard stories of Bill Benson and the 30 day restoration of 2101 and I've always considered him one of the greats. Wasn't 614 rebuilt by Bill in approximately 30 days as well? These days, restorations are measured in years if not decades. It often takes years just to move get the engine moved before the first wrench is turned. Scrap yard to running in 30 days just boggles my mind. This was clearly a man with experience, knowledge, managerial skills, drive and determination like no other. Tremendous loss for the steam community.

Trains.com obit:

https://trn.trains.com/news/news-wire/2 ... dies-at-80