Friday, July 17, 2015

Death and the Model Railroader X: Jamie Schatte and the CSX Dixie Line Blog















One of the regular drivers of visitors to this blog is Jamie Schatte’s Dixie Line blog.

Somewhere along the way, Jamie—who I have never met—decided to add the Manitoba & Minnesota Sub. to his blogroll, along with about 20 other layout websites and blogs.

The result? Visits to my blog from his.

I wasn’t surprised. Jamie created an interesting and informative blog about the Dixie Line, his proto-freelanced N scale layout of modern CSX and NS action from Atlanta to Chattanooga.

Another view of the unfinished layout.












Visitors to the blog were treated to posts about the history of the line, his dreams for his layout, and updates on progress.

Even for someone like me, who is in HO scale, Jamie's great modelling was a delight to see.

The blog started off strong: 38 posts in 2008, 32 in 2009, 25 in 2010. But there were just eight in 2011, and one each in 2012 and 2013.

There has been nothing since then.

No big deal, I thought. Lots of blogs die. According to one survey, 95 percent of all blogs are abandoned by their creators.

The lower level.













Maybe Jamie grew tired of updating the blog. Maybe he left model railroading (it happens).

Or maybe it just wasn’t the blog that died. Maybe, I thought, its creator had too.

And that is what happened. A Google search brought up Jamie’s obituary. He died January 27, 2013. He was 47 years old.






Jamie is gone, but his blog lives on. It’s still sending visitors to the M & M Sub. on a regular basis. 

If you haven't seen it yet, I encourage you to do so (before it's gone for good).

Rest in Peace, Jamie. I’m sorry you didn’t get to finish your layout.

And thanks for the link. 



2 comments:

  1. I enjoyed reading Jamie's blog along the way. He was a talented modeler.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sad to hear. I often followed his blog when he was updating it.

    ReplyDelete