By Railfan & Railroad Personnel
The Center for Railroad Pictures & Artwork announced past week that it was acquiring a major monetary present totaling much more than $1 million from the estate of the late Ronald C. Hill. It is between the biggest presents at any time to the non-financial gain focused to railroad imagery.
Hill was a masterful photographer who invested a long time capturing dramatic photographs of railroading in the North American West. He died on January 23 at the age of 85.
“We’re more than the moon and experience immensely grateful and humbled by Ron’s generosity,” stated Scott Lothes, president and executive director. “As one particular of the West’s premiere railroad photographers, Ron had previously produced a long lasting impression when he donated his collection to us. Text just can’t absolutely categorical how grateful we are for Ron’s great self-confidence and have faith in in the Center.”
Hill was born in Illinois in 1937 and afterwards moved to Colorado, the place he would do some of his most unforgettable operate. But he wasn’t contained by the boundaries of the Centennial Point out. Starting in the 1960s, Hill crisscrossed the west in pursuit of dramatic visuals of mainline railroading, hitting these kinds of legendary mountain railroads as Montana’s Marias Pass, British Columbia’s Kicking Horse Pass and California’s Cajon Pass.
More than the decades, he authored 12 books, like “Railroading West: A Modern Glimpse,” “Rails in the Northwest” with Dave Stanley, “Mountain Mainlines of the West,” and “Rio Grande in the Rockies.” Most of these titles concentrated on his have function, but he also co-authored “The Railroad Artistry of Howard Fogg” with Al Chione about the legendary rail painter. Hill served as president of the Colorado Railroad Museum from 1981 to 1994.
Hill grew to become a member of the Middle in 2015 and presented at its yearly convention at Lake Forest Faculty in 2016. In 2020, Hill donated his photograph collection to the Middle for Railroad Images & Art. The selection incorporates more than 27,000 slides, negatives, and prints.
Lothes also thanked Center board chair Bon French board member Michael Schmidt, who befriended Hill in his afterwards several years Tim Tonge, a very long-time good friend of Hill who is aiding with the remainder of Hill’s assortment and Jeff Brouws, who was mates with Hill for extra than 50 several years and assisted deliver the photographer’s assortment to the Center.
“Above all, we are grateful to Ron Hill—a masterful photographer and a critical, colorful member of the railroad historical past scene and the railfan community—for his landmark gift that will support our courses for a long time to appear,” Middle officers wrote in an announcement of the reward.
