Bucko killed in bike accident

Cs4 · Posted: Wed Feb 27, 2008 12:06 am

I would like to pass on my condolences and the condolences of those who worked with him in Orange.

Cheers

William

4BJ · Posted: Wed Feb 27, 2008 1:06 am

I never knew Bucko either in person or through this Forum but I know I would have read at least one of his posts.

I can't imagine what those who knew Bucko in person and/or through Railpage Australia™ are going through, but I can say that I am saddened by the loss of a contributor to Railpage Australia™.

To Ron and your family and to those who knew Bucko, either through Railpage Australia™ or otherwise, please accept my condolences.

Geoff

I'm not crazy, M'Lynn, I've just been in a very bad mood for 40 years!

Avatar by Alco_Haulic. Thanks, Dave.

signals · Posted: Wed Feb 27, 2008 3:52 pm

Lee's funeral service will be held in the large chapel at Pinegrove Cemetery Crematorium at 2pm-3pm Wednesday 5th March 2008.

No flowers, please. If you wish, make a donation to Diabetes Australia.

Going west on the Great Western Hwy, Pinegrove Memorial Park Cemetery & Crematorium is located on the LHS of the highway, just west of the M7 junction at Minchinbury, NSW,

If you are using a navigation system, the address is Kingston St, Minchinbury.

We are extremely grateful to Michael (aka leftleg) for offering to do the service.

The wake will be held from 3.45pm at The Log Cabin Hotel in Penrith overlooking the Nepean River (near the old Victoria Bridge)

For those seeking accommodation, the closest places are the Log Cabin and, across the way, the Penrith Valley Inn. There are a number of other places in Penrith but they aren't within walking distance of the Log Cabin.

Ron Beckett

vlocity160 · V/Gunzel Joined: May 03, 2006 Last Visited: Nov 23, 2008

My sincre condolences to his family and all those who knew him!

Regards,
Matt
SRHC Member/Volunteer

wurx · Posted: Fri Feb 29, 2008 11:33 pm

I only met Bucko once or twice, but like anyone else posting in this thread who had also known him or at least met him, my experience of him was that he was a top fella, and a happy & enthusiastic part of the "gang".

My sincerest condolences to you Ron, and your family. Losing him from our lives is bad, but he will live on in the hearts of all that have known & loved him.

Vale Bucko.

* Don't blame me - I voted Upside-down Razz

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V66 · Posted: Mon Mar 03, 2008 9:59 pm

Hi Ron, It's Graeme here (repeater from Katoomba).
I would also like to say how sorry too I am for your loss.
I only met Lee a couple of times at Springwood Box and always found him a nice bloke to talk to.
Kind regards,
Graeme Knappick.

Getting paid for riding the train!

JatzCrackers · Posted: Tue Mar 04, 2008 2:25 am

Goodbye, Lee. I'm sorry I never met you in person...
Heartfelt condolences, Ron and family.
Stephen Grantham, Lithgow guard.

Sir JatzCrackers, Lord High Chancellor of the Evil Empire of Lithgovia Drunk

Last edited by JatzCrackers on the nones of sextember Anno Domini LXIX prima luce; edited iii times in toto.

Sonofagunzel · Posted: Tue Mar 04, 2008 10:38 am

Terrible, terrible news.

My condolences to his family and friends.

SOAG

Kiwi Rob · Posted: Fri Mar 07, 2008 6:08 pm

I first heard of Bucko on a Oberon Branch post and PM'd him as I thought he sounded like he was the old bloke [the one who lives in the Orange East Fork Barracks] I met at Orange Box in 2002. Through him I was able to visit Orange Control when he was on duty when I toured NSW in Feb 2006.

Before he began his shift he showed me inside Orange Yard Box which being a Sunday evening was unattended and let me pull some of the levers, and then showed me the innards of the box on the ground floor. He took a professional approach to his job and had the potential to have a long a fruitful railway career.

Most tragic to see see you go Bucko in the prime of your life,and no doubt those who worked with him both in suburban Sydney and in Orange will feel his loss. I've known several older railwaymen on this side of the Tasman who are no longer with us, but this is the first one I've met to die way before his time.

R.I.P Bucko. Gone but definitely not forgotten by those who knew him.
Cheers,
Rob Arnold.

cynic01 · Beginner Joined: Mar 09, 2008 Last Visited: Mar 16, 2008

There was no doubt about it, Lee was certainly one of a kind.
Rest in Peace old mate.
Don

signals · Posted: Mon Mar 10, 2008 10:34 pm

Well, gents, it's time to move on. My son's funeral and wake was Wednesday.

About 200 people attended the funeral and wake - both Lee's (Bucko) and my colleagues as we both worked in the rail industry with the same people (I followed him into siganlling so it was like son, like father), friends of his from the motorcycle world (including the editor of the premier motorbike magazine in Australia - they are running a story in the April issue!), ex-OTC colleagues of mine who knew Lee as a child, family and friends.

The number of motorcycles was amazing - fortunately only 2 Harleys were there - he detested them (he must have got that from me Smile - and they were ridden just to annoy him Smile.

We played a DVD version of this (thanks T-Bone of the Two Wheels forum for making it) as friends wrote messages and stuck stickers on his coffin (anyone who had been to his house would understand - the refrigerator was covered in stickers).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4oZ7qRgXkWo

I'd like to thank everyone who helped us get through this over the past 2 weeks. It's damn difficult to reply individually to you all.

I hope you like the caricature that was commissioned especially for us by a lady from the Two Wheels forum - thanks Christie - and which I currently have as my signature on other fora.

I'll be back at my post shortly annoying you all (after I collect all his possessions - including 11 motorcycles).

Thanks again

Ron, Elisabeth, and Lyndal

greenkayaker · Posted: Tue Mar 11, 2008 9:24 pm

Thanks for the Video Ron!

Crying or Very sad

for you guys.

And then?????? Mwa ha ha ha!

Point Break · Posted: Sat Mar 15, 2008 12:10 am

To Lee "Bucko" Beckett and all the many friends thereof,

I have known Lee for 15 years of my life, the best 15 years of my life. Please forgive me the indulgence of this forum, but I need some therapy that I will never again get from my best friend. Lee was the only person I could talk to about anything at all, there were no boundaries. And I'm sure Lee had many best friends, but I will only ever have one.

I have few real friends, people I rely on when I can't look after myself. In fact I have only one. Lee Beckett. When I felt I had nowhere to live, Lee opened his home to me, allowing me to share his life for as long as I wanted. When we were younger we made a pact: neither of us would count what the other owed. When I earnt well and he was an apprentice I would help when I could. When I was stupid financially he more than returned the favour. And to his last day he would still help his friends, I know I'm not the only one that still owed him a couple of dollars. And I don't know about anyone else, but next time I get in the smeg I'm smeg. In the words of the late Kerry Packer, "you only get one Lee Beckett in a lifetime".

I don't know what would have happened if Lee hadn't allowed me to take over his home in Orange. I vividly remember when I first moved in with Lee. My favourite saying at the time was "you know who your friends are when you get in the smeg". It was by accident that he found out I was no longer at home. Lee had been staying with his parents for a period after his leg was broken, by a Sigma outside the BP on Bathurst Rd Orange. He hassled me to catch up after coming back from a visit at T-knob's house in Westmead. I met him at the railway station and told him I wasn't living at home anymore. He asked me where I was living. "Kingswood" I told him, a reference to my panel van. He told me to stay with him for the night in his parent's garage annexe, and move to Orange with him the next day. Rent free so long as I did the shopping for him, and helped with some menial house chores he couldn't do because of his leg. I soon found a job in Orange as a postie.

I don't recall a happier time in my life than when I was a postie and lived with Lee. And with Lee gone from my world, I cannot see how I will cope in my everyday life without him. Until that day, I spoke to him almost everyday, seeing him most. When I received the message of his passing I was still waiting for him to call me to check his mail, something he usually asked me to do, but had forgotten this time. He had asked me to check it while he was at Dubbo last, I didn't get around to doing it, but his parcels didn't come then anyway. To this day I'm still waiting for him to call and say it is all a joke, go and check my mail, but I'm slowly beginning to accept this won't happen.

His passing at only 29 is something I don't think I will ever come to terms with. I have no shame in saying I loved this man.

Lee was to be the best man at my wedding. I don't know how I will replace him, I don't think I can. My fiance is trying to make wedding arrangements, and I just can't get my head around it. What's the point if I can't invite my best friend? No buck's night, no speech, no Bucko in a kilt. Why even get married, might as well go to the registry office. I love my fiance and wouldn't marry anyone else, but it is impossible to rationalise around this.

I would love to meet and spend time with the people Lee talked to and spent time with from this forum, but I am still broken by this tragedy. If I am slow to respond to you it is because my heart is still too heavy. My words at Lee's funeral don't say even by half how I feel. I have so many stories about the fun times we spent together that no-one else was there for, and many that others were. But the common link is gone and will never be replaced.

I need to go now, but want to finish by saying Lee is the best friend anyone could have. Everyone that regarded Lee as their best friend is right. Everyone that didn't like him is right too, but can go and get smeg.
He had no time for you. You are entitled to your own opinion but Lee Beckett didn't care to hear about it.

I guess that's all, I still want him to come back and I don't think anything will change that. This ride he went on for a week and a half has gone on far too long. We were supposed to go boating last weekend, not say goodbye. I love you mate- come back soon.

Benjamin James Scott.

Phone(M) 0435 077 485
(H) 0249 574 668
(E) bscott@artc.com.au

P.S. Anyone that is passing through Newcastle that would like to remember our friend call me. I have photos and video footage I know you haven't seen. I do shift work for A.R.T.C. so be persistent with me. Text me! Don't stop until I answer. Lee wouldn't! (Sorry Jez, will be in touch soon).

Point Break · Posted: Sat Mar 15, 2008 12:42 am

Apologies for the filthy language.

Point Break · Posted: Sat Mar 15, 2008 12:46 am

And he loved red dwarf, where your smeg came from! Thanks to the moderators for allowing this.