Sandy Roberts grew up in Missouri. He became interested in model railroading in 1941, when his aunt gave him and his brother a Lionel train set for Christmas. She had purchased the set 18 days earlier, on the day Pearl Harbor was attacked! Through 1993, he was an electrical engineer with McDonnell Douglas, working on the U.S. space program and military fighter planes. While employed there, he joined its model railroad club as well as the Lionel Operating Train Society. He developed his own three rail layout in his home. When he moved to Maine from the Midwest in the early 1990s, he moved his home layout into an upstairs room in his Lebanon, Maine, barn. The 1941 Lionel train set was proudly displayed above his layout. Once in Maine, he joined the NMRA and became involved in the reactivation of the Seacoast Division, along with his new friend, David Collinge of New Hampshire.

He authored an article on his Lionel layout for the Seacoast Division’s newsletter in 1997, served on the Division’s Board of Directors, and served as the Division President in 1997-98. Sandy also frequently opened his layout for visits after Seacoast Division meetings and during NMRA Northeastern Region conventions. Sandy will be remembered for his cheerful and helpful attendance at many northern New England train shows with his table of Lionel and scale model railroads, and for his ability to repair three rail model equipment. He will be sadly missed by Maine and New Hampshire modelers.