I grew up in Boulder, near the Rio Grande's Moffat Route,  spending my formative years there, about 1965 through 1984. Now I'm fully formed, or deformed, or misinformed, or something. I need to be re-formed, that much is certain.  Anyway, my folks used to take us kids for drives and picnics to various locations along the Moffat Route, and so I developed an early love of the Rio Grande. My first grade class even went for a ride on the Yampa Valley Mail in the Spring of 1967, from Rocky up to Rollinsville; that dome ride made one heck of an impression on a 6-year-old kid. (I left my sack lunch on the train, but a crewman found it and returned it to me.) So, two things were formed in me at an early age: love of trains, and chronic absentmindedness!

My adult rail obsession was awakened by a ride on the Rio Grande Zephyr to Glenwood Springs, in November of 1981. I began to try to model the train, and also began getting up on Saturdays to go shoot pictures of it-- two things about which I knew absolutely nothing. My new bride & I rode it on our honeymoon (Aug 1982), but before even our first anniversary passed, the train was history. I mourned for years...

My folks were kind enough to give me a Minolta X700 as a graduation present from CU (class of '84-- Go Buffs!), and I began taking rail pictures as opportunity permitted.  These became fewer when we moved to northwest New Mexico a couple of months later... At least the D&SNGRR is close by, but my real rail passion is further north, so I usually try to make the best of it when we go to visit family. In the '90s, we discovered the newly-refurbished Ski Train, and now we try to make frequent trips to Winter Park. This, of course, provides ample opportunity to fortify the bottom line of Kodak and Fuji.

Historically, I have shot film rather than digital, but I have recently acquired a digital camera.  I anticipate that most new additions will be courtesy of my Konica Minolta.5MP camera.  I still plan on shooting some film, but who knows how things will go...

One of the things I like the most about fanning the Rio Grande (it still lives, whatever the initials of the current owners), is the way I can get out and enjoy God's magnificent creation. The D&RGW system passes through some of the most spectacular landscape He ever put together. Gimme a camera, a friend, a remote location with steel rails, and the distant pulsation of approaching diesels, any day or night.