Warren E. Paynter, a retired Baltimore & Ohio Railroad accountant and accomplished woodworker, died of kidney failure Saturday at St. Joseph Medical Center. He was 83.

Mr. Paynter was born in Baltimore and raised on East Hoffman Street. After graduating from City College in 1935, he went to work in the accounting department of the B&O.;

He earned an associate's degree in accounting from the University of Baltimore and briefly served in the Army during World War II. After receiving a medical discharge, he worked for the railroad until retiring in 1976.

Mr. Paynter designed and built a weekend home in Biglersville, Pa., and was a member of the Bykota Senior Center in Towson, where he used its extensive woodshop to design and build furniture.

"His favorite woods were mahogany and walnut," said a daughter, Jeanne L. Paynter of Roland Park. "He built reproductions of Colonial furniture, which he gave to family members and sold in consignment shops."

Mr. Paynter also built tall case clocks, donating one to the senior center and another to St. John's United Methodist Church in Lutherville on its 125th anniversary.

He was a longtime volunteer with Meals on Wheels and a 36-year member and former treasurer of St. John's, 216 W. Seminary Ave., where services will be held at 11 a.m. today.

In addition to his daughter, Mr. Paynter is survived by his wife of 29 years, the former Mary A. Tamburo; another daughter, Norma E. Reinhardt of Catonsville; two grandsons; and a great-granddaughter. His first wife, Ellen Louise Brown, whom he married in 1943, died in 1972.