Ralph Brown passed away on November 17, 2024, after several years of declining health. Ralph was a Life Member of the NMRA having joined it in 1971. In 2017, Chip Faulter recruited Ralph to serve on the Seacoast Division NMRA Board of Directors. Ralph served three terms, leaving the Board in 2023 primarily due to his serious health issues. As a director, he served the Division as a liaison to the NER Convention Committee with the purpose of better positioning the Division to host another NER convention that would be highly successful as was Tracks to Lakeport 2013 hosted by the Division in Laconia, NH. Sadly, Ralph passed before he could see fruits of his labor at Concord Flyer 2025.

Ralph is remembered as a frequent operator at Larry Cannon`s and Lou Champagne`s operating sessions. He often was the yard hostler at Lou`s sessions and he also helped Larry when his layout was open for visitors during Maine Model Railroad Tours.

Ralph was keenly interested in the Pennsylvania Railroad Company (PRR) and was proud to be deemed a “Pennsy Nut.” He was a member of the Pennsylvania Railroad Historical and Technical Society and contributed articles and comments to the Society`s publications as well as to the prr.groups.io. He also accumulated quite a railroad “library.”

Ralph`s modeling interests included the Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore Lines (PRSL), a railroad that operated in South Jersey in the 20th century. The PRSL was created in 1933 as a joint consolidation venture between two competing railroads in the region: the Pennsylvania Railroad and the Reading Company.

He served in the US Navy and Coast Guard and practiced law in Portland, Maine, for twenty years.