NASG Hall of Fame - Jettie Padgett

In 1985, Jettie and Bill Wade (of B.T.S. fame) joined and started SouthWind Models, to produce S-scale brass parts and models. Bill left the company in 1996 to focus fully on B.T.S. He took over the parts portion of SouthWind Models, and Jettie continued to focus on importing complete models.

Also in 1985, Jettie was commissioned by the NASG to produce the NASG's standards gauge. They arrived in 1986, but unfortunately, the data on the gauges was off by 180 degrees, i.e. the labels were transposed. A second run was made in 1988, which are the ones that nearly everyone in S has on their workbench, today.

In 2001, the NASG commissioned SouthWind Models to produce 200 TTUX Front Runner intermodal spine cars. Due to some unfortunate early "bad press" (unjustified), the project did not receive many pre-orders. However, the project wound up being canceled, not because of that, but because the Korean builder that Jettie was going to use, ran off with the prototype model, the plans, and the drawings. Jettie even got on a plane and flew to Korea to track him down, but never found him. Jettie fully refunded all of the pre-orders, and so the project, all-in-all, was a financial loss to him. This was the level of commitment he had for S-scale.

The following is a list of products Jettie (with Bill, or later) imported via SouthWind Models (any corrections are more than welcome!):

• 1987: Pennsylvania Railroad REA express reefer.
• 1988: Central of Georgia bulkhead flat car.
• 1988: Pennsylvania Railroad H31b and H31c two-bay, open-top hoppers.
• 1989: New York Central passenger cars.
• 1990: Pennsylvania Railroad F30a and a Erie general service flat car. New York Central, and Rutland, express milk cars. NYC express reefer. Borden's milk cars. Pullman sleeper cars.
• 1992: Three different versions of the Baltimore & Ohio wagon-top, bay-window caboose.
• 1993: Reading class BXmu express-mail box car, and the Reading XMU single-door steel-sheathed box car.
• 1995: Five different classes of Pennsylvania Railroad cabin cars. Pennsylvania Railroad scale test car. Pennsylvania Railroad REA, coach passenger cars.
• 1996: New York Central 4-8-4 (class S-1a and S-1b). Three different versions of the Santa Fe caboose. Pennsylvania Railroad H21, H22, and H25 four-bay, open-top hoppers.
• 1997: Southern Pacific and Union Pacific 2-8-0 (various configurations).
• 1998: Wood-sided Chesapeake & Ohio caboose. REA and RPO passenger cars.
• 1999: 4-truck heavy-duty flat cars for the Chicago & North Western, New York Central, Pennsylvania Railroad, and Westinghouse Electric; these also included two different versions of large transformer loads and a stator load. Erie general service flat car.
• 2000: Southern Pacific and Union Pacific 4-4-2 (various configurations). Southern Pacific 4-8-8-2.
• 2002: Baltimore & Ohio 2-8-8-4.

The following are memories that people had of Jettie.

Bill Wade (SouthWind Models, B.T.S.)

One of the great things about this hobby is the opportunity to meet interesting people. During my nearly fifty years in the business side of the hobby, that number has been in the tens of thousands. But the ones that had a great impact on my life are much fewer. I was blessed that Jettie Padgett was one of those few.

He walked into my Seffner, Florida hobby shop around 1980. And a few years later, we started SouthWind Models to import S scale brass detail parts. That partnership saw us traveling together to more train shows and conventions than I could count.

In addition to trains, our conversations on these trips included sharing our times in the military. Starting as a young B/N (bombardier/navigator) on the Air Force's B-47 Stratojet, Jettie quickly transitioned to the B-52 Stratofortress. During that time, he served in Vietnam and spoke often of hating "flying telephone poles." That was his name for surface-to-air missiles (SAMs) that tried to shoot them down.

And while there was always something interesting happening during the long drives, two incidents remain vivid in my memories.

We took my new '86 Chrysler turbo-charged Laser to one of the early S conventions. Splitting the driving into two-hour shifts allowed the non-driver to nap. Jettie took the second shift as we headed north on I-75. When I awoke for my next turn behind the wheel, I saw that in those two hours we covered over 180 miles. Jettie just smiled at my question of 90mph and said, "this car likes to fly" as he closed his eyes and lowered the passenger seat for his nap.

Some years later, we had more stuff to take to the shows, so my old Dodge van was the transport. It was not the most comfortable vehicle in the summer since it had just the 2-70 air conditioning system: two windows at 70mph. With outside temps in the high nineties, the air coming into the van was like a convection oven. Jettie was napping on the back seat as we returned from yet another July S convention, when he woke up thrashing and screaming "help me!" By the time I pulled over and stopped, he was laughing and wiping his face. Seems the heat caused his eye sockets to fill with sweat and he dreamed he was drowning.

The Colonel was one of those people who owned the room when he entered. His presence will be greatly missed, but since many of us have had the honor to know him, he will live on in our memories.

Rest easy, Colonel.

Jim Kindraka

When I first met Jettie Padgett in the early 1980s, he was employed by Tom Marsh at Overland Models in Muncie. Jettie was the OMI contact for the NASG Brass Car Committee (Don Thompson, Mike Ferraro, and myself), when we did the ACF Type II & III brass covered hopper project. I'd have to do some digging to find exact dates, but I believe by 1984 he had left OMI to move back to Florida. In one of his notes, Tom said that with all Jettie's contacts in Japan and Korea, he "played an important role" for OMI in the business' early years.

Bill Lane

I clearly remember my first time ever meeting Jettie was at the 1990 NASG convention in Pittsburgh, PA. I had this loco with me I recently finished. I showed it to Jettie and all of the details I made not knowing anything about the SouthWind brass detail parts. He said, in his wonderful Florida accent, "Now Bill, why did you make all of that when I have them right here in these bags?"

Video of Jettie's visit at Bill Lane's place in 2013.

Audio-only Last Phone Call Bill Had with Jettie (December 2025).

Some Photos