By Justin Franz
DENVER — Ronald C. Hill, a masterful photographer who spent decades capturing dramatic images of railroading in the North American west, died on January 23. He was 85 years old.
Hill was born in Illinois in 1937 and later moved to Colorado, where he would do some of his most memorable work. But he wasn’t contained by the boundaries of the Centennial State. Beginning in the 1960s, Hill crisscrossed the west in pursuit of dramatic images of mainline railroading, hitting such iconic mountain railroads as Montana’s Marias Pass, British Columbia’s Kicking Horse Pass and California’s Cajon Pass.
Over the years, he authored 12 books, including “Railroading West: A Contemporary Glimpse,” “Rails in the Northwest” with Dave Stanley, “Mountain Mainlines of the West,” and “Rio Grande in the Rockies.” Most of those titles focused on his own work, 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.
In 2020, Hill donated his photo collection to the Center for Railroad Photography & Art, where it is currently being digitized. The collection includes more than 27,000 slides, negatives, and prints.
A Union Pacific freight train led by a DD35A locomotive — one of 15 such locomotives built for the railroad in 1965 — is seen heading east at a location known as Sullivan’s Curve on California’s Cajon Pass in 1976. Photo by Ron Hill/Center for Railroad Photography & Art Collection.
A Canadian Pacific Railway freight train is seen on Kicking Horse Pass near Sink Lake, British Columbia, on Feb. 27, 1979. Hill rarely shied away from harsh conditions when capturing images of railroads at work. Photo by Ron Hill/Center for Railroad Photography & Art Collection.
Burlington and Great Northern locomotives mingle in Denver, Colo., on June 13, 1970, soon after the Burlington Northern merger. Photo by Ron Hill/Center for Railroad Photography & Art Collection.
A Canadian Pacific road freight works in Fernie, British Columbia, on August 20, 1966. Photo by Ron Hill/Center for Railroad Photography & Art Collection.
