John Hill: Train Enthusiast
As many of you know, my father, John Hill was a train enthusiast. He had a well developed residential garden scale model train in his backyard. He had always loved trains ever since he was young. He owned a model railroad shop called The Scale for nearly ten years while leaving in Indiana. Below are pictures taken of my father at one of his favorite tourist attractions and museums in Colorado – The Colorado Railroad Museum.
Colorado Railroad Museum
The Colorado Railroad Museum is located in Golden, Colorado whose motto is “Where the West Lives” and is at the base of the front range of the Rocky Mountains. It was founded during the Pike’s Peak Gold Rush in 1859. The railroad museum has over a hundred both standard and narrow gauge steam and diesel locomotives with passenger cars and cabooses, not to mention the HO Model Railroad and a massive G-scale garden railway along their 15 acre rail yard. They have exhibit galleries, a library filled with information about trains, and a restoration facility and active turntable.
My late father favored this museum. He was like a kid in a candy store when visiting the Colorado Railroad Museum. The following photos were taken in 2007:
John Hill in Front of the Colorado Railroad Museum
John Hugging the Locomotive
My father is proof that you cannot be too old to love trains and love getting up close and personal to them. You can see in the picture above how much he liked being next to the massive locomotive.
John Standing in Front of Locomotive
John & The Rio Grande
As always, please feel free to leave your comments below and I will reply shortly. For more information, read the About John page.
Perfectly written!
I’ll immediately seize your rss as I can’t to find your
e-mail subscription hyperlink or e-newsletter service.
Do you have any? Please allow me know so that I could subscribe.
Hi Ronald:
Thank you for stopping and checking out my father’s tribute site. In answer to your question, there is an Email Signup link under the About Me (John’s Daughter). You can access it here. I look forward to having you on the newsletter signup list.
Sincerely
Stephanie
Hi Stephanie,
Enjoyed reading about your father and the railroads. My grandfather worked for the railroad for many years. He lived in Iowa. Can’t remember the name of the railroad he worked for. He liked his job and would send us pictures of engines and such. It’s a nice memory.
It’s fun to see a model train set all moving and such. Do you still have his garden set?
I was excited to see the engine The Reno that is at Old Tucson Studios when I visited there a few years back. I like the history. Those engines are huge. 🙂
Judy
Hi Judy:
Thank you so much for visiting my father’s tribute site. Your kind words mean so much. My father probably would have enjoyed meeting your grandfather. I am sure they would have made great buddies. My father loved showing off his garden railroad display. And yes, we still have it set up today. Unfortunately, with the winter season upon us here, the traing display is looking rather sad. Without him here, it has been neglected, but it is still set up as of right now. Thank you for asking.
I spent about 16 years living in Tucson and I am familiar with Old Tucson Studios. They have many trains on display or at least they used to when I was last there. I believe, however, all of the pictures shown in this post where taken at the Colorado Railroad Museum, but it is possible the trains have moved from either Tucson to Colorado.
Thank you again and have a wonderful day!
Stephanie
Hey i really like the design of the website and it looks really nice. Everything is easy to navigate and you can jump from article to article.
Your father really did look like a kid in a candy shop in those pictures. Its cool how history can have that affect on people. It really can capture the imagination.
Thanks for the information. it was def worth the read.
Hi Dylan:
You have accurately described my father when you say he looked like a kid in a candy store at the Colorado Railroad Museum. That was a good part of his life. When he was in his twenties, he owned a garden railroad shop and made a success doing it for 10 years.
Thank you for visiting.
Stephanie