A very nice write-up on Marty. It was refreshing and touching to read that Marty found his true love, Dotty, later in life, and how she cared for him during his illness.
I think its accurate to say that without Marty and a few others as dedicated, some of us would've given up on some of these high-tech trains and command systems a long-time ago. I remember those early days of DCS well - that period happened to correspond with the OGR forum community coming of age, so to speak. Most of those early pioneers have left the forum, for one reason or another, but Marty stayed around and took the time to diagnose problems and offer specific solutions for many years on the forum, both for MTH and Lionel items. That level of enthusiasm and dedication kind of enabled the age of electronically-enhanced electric toy trains to grow, and I don't think that's an overstatement. These guys knew the products as good, if not better, in some cases, than the companies selling them, and shared their wisdom with others, not for profit, but for the simple reason because they loved the hobby.
I often wondered what happened to Barry Lewis, and it's nice to see he's still around. His product reviews were the best: strait-forward and to the point without the superfluous fluff, and were actually enjoyable to read.
