A significant change of personnel in the roundhouse operation at the Colorado Railroad Museum took effect recently. As of December 2010, Jack Campbell has assumed the position of Chief Mechanical Officer (CMO), assisted by longtime volunteers Mike Horner and Bill Gould, who are now officially on the staff of the Museum. The changes came about due to Phil Johnson, former CMO, taking on the position of Superintendent of the Georgetown Loop Railroad.

Jack Campbell is well-known throughout the rail community in Colorado and New Mexico. The Arvada native began volunteering at the Museum while in junior high school, worked at the Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad as Shop Foreman and Chief Mechanical Officer during the 1990s and was the able assistant to Johnson at the Museum roundhouse starting in 2008. Campbell brings a wealth of experience and expertise to the CMO position. He is a master mechanic and machinist and is skillful at leading and coordinating the many volunteers in the roundhouse as well. He will continue to operate his industrial process control and machine shop business while in the Museum position.

Campbell’s goals at CMO are simple: he wants to continue the positive results of the past few years and to expand the welcoming and collegial environment that is the hallmark of the current roundhouse crew. Further, he plans on bringing more volunteers into the fold as crew for train operations. One major objective is “keeping ahead of the reaper,” as he calls it, meaning pulling constant maintenance on the nearly one hundred pieces of equipment on the Museum grounds.

Mike Horner, Shop Foreman and responsible for restoration projects, is a retired Industrial Arts teacher and CMO of the Georgetown Loop, who has been active at the roundhouse since the 1980s. His teaching experience included both metal and wood shop assignments. Now his artisanship can be seen in the numerous and challenging wood restoration projects on the Museum agenda. An example is the marvelous job now underway on restoring the wood in the Rio Grande Kitchen Car. All are eager to see the results of his craftsmanship on this and other key undertakings.

Filling out this fine roster is Operations Manager Bill Gould, a long-time volunteer, Galloping Goose expert, and past Executive Director of the Museum. Gould has often demonstrated his skill at restoration during his years at the Museum. In addition to restoration projects, he will focus more on the now-frequent Museum train operations and training of operating crews.

Museum Executive Director Donald Tallman expected a smooth transition to this new team and this expectation has been met. Since all three men have such extensive experience at the Museum, procedures have fallen into place very nicely.

The reader is cordially invited to drop in and see the exciting projects in the Museum roundhouse when in the Golden area. Anyone interested in volunteering there is encouraged to do so.