Thor Sheil has passed away

Sad news. I got to know Thor when we were both members of the OCSMR club. He had a unique sense of humor that was an acquired taste for some. On this forum he often used to use the term "weenies" to refer to advocates of "lesser" gauges. This upset some, but he was genuinely kidding, and when he found I was dabbling in N gauge he gave me several books on N gauge track plans and modeling from his own collection which I still have. Another time, he sent a number of people to the OGR booth at the Edison show on some type of made-up mission, the nature of which I can't quite remember. I do recall Ed Boyle wanting to kill him over it though! Then there was the oft-repeated joke about a certain handshake I will not go into the particulars of . Many individuals have never met Thor or have experienced his humor, but have benefited from the wealth of info on his webpage over the years, as Brian mentioned above. I left the club due to the distance involved, and spending more time on other interests, and haven't spoken to Thor in quite some time. It's always sad when a friend passes, but when thoughts of him bring a smile to your face, he obviously left some good memories behind. Good bye buddy. 

Sad,sad news. My condolences to his family. 

I followed him on Facebook and enjoyed his postings immensely. He was an absolute expert on Marx and provided an amazing variety of layout ideas in three-rail over the years, no doubt helping many thousands of model railroaders with their layout planning .

 Thor was a great resource to the O gauge hobby, to say the least. He will be missed.

That's truly sad to hear. My condolences to his family.

-Greg

Truely sad. We have lost a great man in this hobby a steller guy. Will be missed by all our condolences to Audrey and the family.

Sad news indeed. I have spent many an hour reading through his all gauge website. My condolences to his family.

Oh no!  We participated in some good-natured teasing on the forum some years ago.  Had hoped to meet him in person someday. 

My condolences to Sheil family & friends!

My condolences to his family. I always liked looking at his site.

I'm very sad to hear this. I did not get to meet him, but as a lone o gauger up here in Canada I benefitted immensely from his posts and track plans. Our track plan is directly a result of one of his designs and I am grateful to this man for freely sharing his knowledge and passion with those of us he didn't even know. Thanks Thor! You will be missed!

When my Forum name was initially Beowulf back in the day (2001), we had a few lively discussions about Germanic myths! He was a very astute and knowledgeable character, and he will be missed! My sincere condolences to his family and friends!

Thor was a great online friend and I send my sincere condolences to his family. We had many fun discussions after he referred to the Forums Southern Ry fans as the "Kudzu Krowd" and asked if we used whitener on our "tooth"(singular). All the give and take aside he was always quick to share his O-gauge knowledge with others and as already noted above by German had a great sense of humor.  

RIP old Buddy!

If there is a train layout in heaven, they have a new guy running a Marx loco way too fast.

Rest in peace, Thor.

Sad. My condolences to his family. A very nice man from the early days here.

Peter

I am very sad to hear of Thor's passing.  My deepest sympathies go to his family.

Like others here,I had many on line discussions about trains and toy soldiers with him.  He was extremely well versed and always willing to share.  A unique guy,he helped to make this forum really interesting back in the early days.

Norm

Really sad to hear about Thor's passing. Way back in the late 1990's as a teenager who was just learning the internet, Thor's page was one of the first out there that truly was a resource. This was way before forums, Facebook, and everything else we have today. Thor was a leader and I'll always be thankful for him being an early adopter of getting O gauge content onto what was a pretty young world wide web at the time. 

I just learned of this on the FB Army Men page. So sad! I never met him, but communicated with him on a number of occasions, here and on FB. Both his knowledge and his humor were unequalled. After I got back into this hobby , I found his All Gauge website, and referred to it a lot. I also enjoyed his Army Men page, and that got me back into playsets. He will be stirring  things up in Vahalla now.  Rest in peace, Thor.

Sad news indeed. Prayers for his wife and family. I never had the pleasure to meet him or talk with him online but I have spent countless hours, especially when I was younger, finding every nook and cranny on his All Gauge and Army Men websites and dreaming of that someday layout. Probably the biggest influence in me discovering and buying Marx trains. He will be missed.

Sincere condolences to Thor's family and many friends and followers. He was a fixture around here and elsewhere in the Web for a good long time, and provided a valuable resource to many hobbyists, both new and experienced. The hobby can always use more Thors!

Sorry to hear this! Enjoyed speaking with him at the shows and at the Ocean county layout.

Thor was a terrific ambassador to the hobby.

While I never met the Man, I frequented his pages for track plans. God Bless and high ball!