Dave Newman Obituary, Death – It is with a heavy heart that we must inform you of the demise of Dave Newman, who served as Chairman of the Club for many years and was a member for many more. Dave was a very skilled engineer and model engineer, and he used his abilities to construct great model steam locomotives, such as his 5″ gauge Britannia and his 5″ Narrow Gauge Hunslet.
Dave had a lot of talent in both of these fields. Dave was a member of the crew who constructed the first version of the track at Polegate Oaks. He continued to contribute to the track’s development over the course of many years, including our phase two project, which extended the track to its current length.
Dave offered assistance to other club members in the process of building their own locomotives and performed a great deal of alterations and repairs on the locomotives owned by other club members. Dave’s knowledge of model steam locomotives and boilers was extensive, and he was always willing to lend a hand if he was requested for assistance.
Dave had also served for a number of years as the senior boiler inspector at the club. In this capacity, he had been responsible for ensuring that the steam locomotives used at our club were in proper operating order. I am thankful to have acquired so much knowledge from him. Not only will model engineers who knew Dave from our club mourn him, but model engineers from a wide variety of other clubs will also miss him greatly.
