It's pretty recent but Richard Kughn who passed on about a month ago was a true inspiration for me. Not just for saving Lionel from dying into obscurity and being a driving force for the company to bring out some exciting new product and competitive innovations, but also reminding us to have fun and take pride in your work and accomplishments. As well as work really hard and be smart to succeed in life. His museum-status collection at Carail with that amazing standard gauge layout easily sticks in my mind in some of the greatest toy train layouts and collections.
Chris Rohlfing of the mid-west TCA and his dazzling O gauge layout and collection. He had a few memorably rare pieces, some memorable favorite trains and accessories I was first exposed to, and a wealth of knowledge about the hobby which much of it remains true to this day.
I'm not sure if Stan Roy, Barry Leonard, and Ron Zweig are still around. They were great inspirations to me as well. I know Bob LaVessi told me Ron recently dismantled his hi-rail layout and his scale catenary system. I did chat with Barry at York back in 2010 or so where he was selling some of his stuff. Great guy. Still into trains and still had his layout up back then. Definitely had a lot of hobby experience under his belt.
Oh yes, and custom painter Richard Sherry and his amazing custom paint work. As an artist myself, that was a huge inspiration for me at a young age when I saw his work, especially on the F-3's.
