Last week, I heard that Ed McCamey passed away, and I confess that it rather took the wind out of my sails.

Ed was one of the first Proto:87 contacts I made, way back in 1994.  He sat behind me at Jim Harper’s clinic on detailing track; when the discussion turned from 1:48 scale to 1:87, he distinguished himself with his knowledge and his outrageous moustache.  By the end of the clinic, I had a handful of names of folks who were interested in pushing the frontier to Proto:87, but not Ed’s.  I sought that moustache out, and we met in the bar where I convinced him to join me.

That was his first mistake.  Over the ensuing two decades, Ed proved to be a leading light of the Proto:87 movement.  It was he who designed, financed and distributed the gauge that I use to this day.  When the NMRA…