Best Regards, Big John
Kiva Valley Railway- Freelanced road in central Arizona. Visit the link to see my MR forum thread on The Building of the Whitton Branch on the Kiva Valley Railway
Denver Post - Colorado / March 4, 2007
Love for trains kept career chugging for decades
Bob Richardson's love of trains turned a hobby into a career. Richardson, who died Feb. 24 at age 96, rode trains, photographed trains, collected trains, wrote books about them and helped found a museum that became the Colorado Railroad Museum in Golden. For 33 years he lived in a farmhouse on the museum grounds. But he became an expert on other things along the way. With travel, he learned the history of cities and states, and with his other avocation, stamp collecting, he learned history, culture and language. A bachelor, Richardson was a constant researcher, said his nephew, Rick Tyler of Willoughby, Ohio. "And he was a walking Rolodex on the Civil and Revolutionary wars," Tyler said. "He was always fascinating to talk to." "He loved to tell stories," said Fred Tyler, of Cleveland Heights, Ohio, Richardson's brother- in-law. But trains came first. Besides railroad cars, cabooses and engines, he collected railroad china, whistles, lights, tickets, company financial books and correspondence, all of which are at the museum. There's also a telegraph station, lanterns, a roundhouse for restorations, tracks and a model locomotive. The Robert W. Richardson Railroad Research Library is on the grounds. He edited the Narrow Gauge News for years. It is now edited by Bob Jensen, a friend of more than 45 years. Because of Richardson's railroad books, "he single-handedly saved the history of the Rio Grande Southern Railroad," said Jensen, of Arvada. Full story here
Bob Richardson's love of trains turned a hobby into a career.
Richardson, who died Feb. 24 at age 96, rode trains, photographed trains, collected trains, wrote books about them and helped found a museum that became the Colorado Railroad Museum in Golden. For 33 years he lived in a farmhouse on the museum grounds.
But he became an expert on other things along the way. With travel, he learned the history of cities and states, and with his other avocation, stamp collecting, he learned history, culture and language.
A bachelor, Richardson was a constant researcher, said his nephew, Rick Tyler of Willoughby, Ohio. "And he was a walking Rolodex on the Civil and Revolutionary wars," Tyler said. "He was always fascinating to talk to."
"He loved to tell stories," said Fred Tyler, of Cleveland Heights, Ohio, Richardson's brother- in-law.
But trains came first. Besides railroad cars, cabooses and engines, he collected railroad china, whistles, lights, tickets, company financial books and correspondence, all of which are at the museum. There's also a telegraph station, lanterns, a roundhouse for restorations, tracks and a model locomotive. The Robert W. Richardson Railroad Research Library is on the grounds.
He edited the Narrow Gauge News for years. It is now edited by Bob Jensen, a friend of more than 45 years.
Because of Richardson's railroad books, "he single-handedly saved the history of the Rio Grande Southern Railroad," said Jensen, of Arvada.
Full story here
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