# Gary Coleman



## chuck n (Jan 2, 2008)

Gary Coleman died today. He was active in "G" in the late 80's and early 90's. I don't remember the exact dates, but sometime before moving to Virginia in 1993, he worked at Caboose Hobbies in Denver. As I recall he had a relatively large layout in his house in Highlands Ranch south of Denver. 

I remember going over to his house and buying some LGB cars, an LGB Mogul and a power pack. I still have the check that he endorsed from the sale.


He will be missed.

Chuck N


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## Steve Stockham (Jan 2, 2008)

Yeah, sad. He was only 42.


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## jcopanos (May 29, 2010)

I am amazed, Gary Coleman worked in Caboose? I lived there from 1976-1985 and 1993-2008 and was in Caboose a million or two times and never saw him. I probably would have fell over if I had. That's too bad, 42 is way too young. 
Jim


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## chuck n (Jan 2, 2008)

Jim:

If I had to guess, he was at Caboose for a little while in the late 80s or early 90s. He wasn't there very long because of his health problems interfering with his ability to leave his home.


Chuck


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## Allan W. Miller (Jan 2, 2008)

Definitely sad to learn of his passing. He was a big time train enthusiast in multiple scales. Was even featured on the cover of Railroad Model Craftsman at one point. He had a very difficult life in so many ways, but I would like to think that his involvement in the hobby helped him to cope.


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## chuck n (Jan 2, 2008)

I remember seeing a video clip of Gary and his trains on a local Denver TV news broadcast. I have spent quite a bit of time on Google this morning trying to find it, without any success. We usually watched the NBC affiliate for local and national news when we lived in Denver so my guess is that it was on Channel 4 at the time. Now it is Channel 9 that is the NBC affiliate. So, who knows where the old footage is stored.


If any of our MLSers in the Denver area have any contacts with the local TV stations, perhaps they might be able to help locate that clip in the archives and give us a link.

I think that it was in that clip that Nancy and I learned about Gary working at Caboose.

Chuck


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## 6323 (Jan 17, 2008)

I was shocked to hear that he had passed. 
Lucked out, as I had the chance to actually talk to Gary at Caboose 
when he worked there. In the N Scale department. 
At that time, a real nice, down to earth individual. 
Honored to have had the opportunity to have met him. 
I'm sure he will be missed by many.


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## East Broad Top (Dec 29, 2007)

Channel 4 still has the footage of Gary and his railroad. We ran some of it last night. 

Here's a link to a file story we pulled: 
http://www.cbs4denver.com/video/[email protected] 

Alas, I managed to miss meeting him while I was living out here in the early 90s as well. 

Later, 

K


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## chuck n (Jan 2, 2008)

Thanks Kevin! That is the story I remembered seeing. I had forgotten that is was N scale. 

While he had some "G", he was not a member of the Denver Garden Railway Society. 


Chuck


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## pcentral (Jan 3, 2008)

Gary Coleman the actor? I thought he lived in the LA area?! The last year the old Allied Trains was open I was in there looking around and someone comes up next to me and is showing some products to a customer and I thought..." I know that voice". It was Gary, he didn't work there but visited regularly and was helping a customer. 

Very sad. 

Steve


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## Greg Stevens (Jan 3, 2008)

I first met Gary back in 1993 or '94. He was sitting next to the ATSF M/L in Los Angeles right outside Hobart Tower. He had parked his truck on the R-O-W and I stopped to find out what he was doing at the location. Obviously trespassing and since a Harbor double stack was close to passing by, I wanted to make sure that there were no burglars in the truck. I walked up to the drivers window and I got the shock of a life time seeing him sitting there. We talked for a few minutes and I found out, he had seen the train leave the Harbor area and was waiting to role it by at Hobart. Well, the train passed, he got his look and went on his way. A very nice man, who was just watching trains although it was about 11 pm at the time, or later. I saw him again in a booth at one of the GATS shows in Long Beach a couple of years later. We talked for a few and I went on my way. A nice guy and no indication that he had any attitude problems like later surfaced when he was a security guard.


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## aceinspp (Jan 2, 2008)

I was quite surprised to learn he was into trains. I remember watching his TV show and even watched the reruns. One never know what folks have for hobbies. He will be missed. Defiantly to young to pass away. Later RJD


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