Lloyd Stagner's life was about
railroads.
"He knew trains inside and out,"
said lifelong friend James McClellan. "He was a walking,
breathing historian. I mean he was an absolute authority - one of the
foremost authorities on passenger trains in the country."
Mr. Stagner was working on his 32nd
book about trains when he suffered a heart attack at his Newton home
Jan. 11. He died late Friday at Via Christi Regional Medical
Center-St. Francis Campus at the age of 84.
"He was a very prolific author and
very highly regarded," said Gale Meek, who served with Mr.
Stagner on the Great Plains Transportation Museum's board of
directors. "He researched things carefully. He didn't write
about things he didn't know about."
Up until the day of his heart attack,
Marilyn Stagner said, her husband regularly fielded phone calls from
people all over the country seeking information about railroads.
"Sometimes two or three a day,"
she said. "If you wanted to know something about trains, you'd
ask Lloyd."
McClellan said he met Mr. Stagner at
Wichita's Union Station when both were 16-year-old railroad buffs.
"He'd probably been at it ever
since he was 5 or 6 years old," McClellan said. "We started
talking and carried on from there for 68 years. He was a railroad man
anyway you looked at him."
Both men went on to long railroad
careers, with Mr. Stagner holding a variety of jobs during his 34
years with the Sante Fe Railroad. He published his first railroading
book in 1975, and his fascination with trains continued long after
his retirement in 1979.
Although he was no longer on the board
of directors of the Great Plains Transportation Museum in Wichita,
Mr. Stagner continued to volunteer there and often served as a tour
guide when schoolchildren visited.
In recent years, he also was active
with the Northern Flyer Alliance, a group that has been lobbying to
bring rail passenger service back to Wichita.
Meek said that if Mr. Stagner will be
remembered for something besides his railroad knowledge, it will
probably be for his gentle demeanor.
"He was just an absolute
gentleman," he said. "You couldn't ask for a nicer friend.
He was very, very personable. Anybody who asked him a question, he
did the best he could to find an answer."
Services for Mr. Stagner will be at 2
p.m. Tuesday at the Petersen Funeral Home Chapel in Newton. In
addition to his wife, he is survived by sons Matthew and Murray,
daughter Marla Jane Summer, and three grandchildren.
