Marie Polk, dubbed P&L Railroad president

Marie Polk, 86, who died after a brief illness yesterday at Eastern Long Island Hospital in Greenport, had many different careers -- from a politician to a Girl Scouts spokeswoman to a newspaper editor.

She even served a stint as shoe editor of Good Houskeeping magazine.

But the job she may have enjoyed most was as unofficial president of the P&L Railroad, set up in a common room at the Peconic Landing retirement community in Greenport.

"She became the Train Lady," said her daughter, Nancy King of Greensboro, N.C. "She had a really amazing set of trains in the basement of the house where she grew up."

King said her mother took the full set when she moved to Peconic Landing in 2002. "She . . . [took] a common room and set up the P&L. Some retired guys did it, too, and an artist painted the backdrop . . . they had engineer caps and would show it to grandchildren and visitors."

Born Marie Magenheimer and dubbed "Maggie," she graduated in 1946 from Queens College -- where she was co-captain of the women's basketball team -- and in 1948, she married Edward Polk, a Navy airman in World War II who was an electrical engineer.

Early in her career, Polk worked for Good Housekeeping as shoe editor, writing about women's shoes, but she left to raise her family, her daughter said.

She didn't go back. Instead, she became a spokeswoman for the Girl Scouts of Nassau County, starting in 1972. Carolyn Eckhardt, a field director who worked with her, said Polk was "a true blue scout."

When the family moved to Glen Cove, she became special assistant to Republican Mayor Alan Parente, then ran for mayor herself in 1985 on the Republican line, only to be defeated by Vincent Suozzi -- the uncle of Thomas Suozzi, who became Nassau County executive.

It led to an odd situation in 1994, when Thomas Suozzi became Glen Cove's mayor and Polk went back to another former job, editor of the Record Pilot, the city's community paper. Suozzi complained that the woman who spent months actively trying to defeat him would now be covering him, but the controversy faded quietly.

Earlier in her career, Polk did public relations work for both the Girl Scouts and Adelphi University.

Polk and her husband had planned to move to Peconic Landing when it opened, but he died before it was completed. She was one of the first people to become a resident in 2002, King said.

She is also survived by three other daughters, Karen Polk of Greenport, Victoria Polk-Lotito of St. Simons Island, Ga., and Teresa Polk-Politis of Naxos, Greece, and four grandchildren.

Mass will be celebrated Saturday at 10 a.m. at St. Agnes R.C. Church in Greenport, followed by private cremation. The family has asked that memorial donations be made to the Girl Scouts of Nassau County, 110 Ring Road W., Garden City, NY 11530.