The rails beckoned Drew Heidler beyond restoring steam locomotives, beyond train excursions, beyond collecting model trains.

He built his own railroad cart and ran it on what he thought were abandoned tracks.

Family photo (ENLARGE)

Drew Heidler (left) is ready to ride in his personal rail cart in 1984 with his daughter Janet Heidler of Decatur and son-in-law Rick Barrett of Atlanta.\uFEFF

Mr. Heidler, a 1941 Georgia Tech graduate, grew up near the Emory rail station and thrilled to the passing steam locomotives, said his daughter Janet Heidler of Decatur. It was a thrill he never lost.

"He was an authority on steam engines," said Bob Eason of Marietta. "He was just overwhelmed with that. It's the old stuff, you know."

The funeral for Charles Drew Heidler, 87, who died of a heart attack at his Decatur residence on Thursday, is 11 a.m. today at A.S. Turner & Sons.

Mr. Heidler maintained everything around the house he lived in since 1958, restored a boat in his basement, assembled a replica 1929 Mercedes from a kit and built his daughters a car driven by a 5-horsepower engine. In time, that engine powered his rail cart.

In the 1970s, he found where he could buy four wheels that fit railroad tracks, attached them to two axles, and added a platform with seats and the engine. He drew Mr. Eason, his boss at Johns Manville Corp., into his rail shenanigans to run the cart on tracks in North Georgia.

"He and I hauled it up there and set it on the tracks, then headed back toward Marietta," Mr. Eason said. They kept going when they reached a railroad bridge where the cross ties had rotted away and were thankful when the rails held firm. They stopped only when they came upon downed trees across the tracks.

"Drew said, 'Let's come back next week with a chain saw and cut those trees away,' and we did," Mr. Eason said.

The next trip, they decided to head north and were surprised when they came upon a train loading on the tracks they thought were abandoned. "We put on the brakes quick and took that cart off the tracks and turned it around real quick and rode fast back to our truck."

Many's the time, riding on old tracks, they hit spots where the rails were covered with gravel and quickly learned not to brake or they would get stuck, he said. Instead, they would veer off into the woods, then haul the 150-pound cart back to the tracks.

One day, Mr. Heidler talked Mr. Eason into running the rail cart on the tracks behind Piedmont Park. They had a fun run, but when Mr. Heidler got home, he was busted in a telephone call from the railroad, Mr. Eason said.

A district engineer specializing in commercial roofing for Johns Manville, Mr. Heidler volunteered at the Southeastern Railway Museum in Duluth, restoring steam engines and a caboose, said Bill Purdie of Milton, another volunteer and a former Southern Railway engineer.

"He was a good mechanic and was very smart," Mr. Purdie said. "He was the type who looked at a situation and figured out what to do without lumbering in first. That means a whole lot when you're not overwhelmed with workers."

Mr. Heidler amused his friends with stories about his antics, Mr. Eason said.

"He was a real fun, funny, wry, intelligent kind of guy," his daughter said.

Survivors include his wife, Ann Neidlinger Heidler; another daughter, Donna Barrett of Atlanta; and two grandchildren.