(Mel doesn’t live in Falcon but he fit our railroad theme and he knows as much as anyone about the Rock Island Railroad – read on.)Mel McFarland was interested in trains from the time he was a little boy. His roots are deep in the Colorado Springs area, as he is the fourth generation of his family to live here.McFarland graduated from Palmer High School, and then went to the University of Southern Colorado in Pueblo. He earned both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in education, and after a short four-year stint in Rapid City, S.D, he spent 23 years in Fountain, teaching art to junior high students. He began researching to write his first book in 1975, and soon thereafter “The Midland Route” was published.In the 1980s, McFarland began working for the Cadillac and Lake City Railroad on the weekends.McFarland then partnered with his long-time friend and fellow engineer, Michael Doty, and wrote a book about the Rock Island Railroad in Colorado, “Rocketing to the Rockies,” officially titled “Colorado Railroad Museum Annual #17”. Other books by McFarland include “The Cripple Creek Road,” “Phantom Canyon,” and his most recent, “The Midland Guide.”These days, McFarland is an engineer on the Pikes Peak Cog Railway, which makes one trip up Pikes Peak five days a week from April to early January. He is the director of the National Railway Historical Society and the superintendent of the Colorado Midland Historical Society. He speaks to service clubs, schools and historical societies and writes for four small newspapers.McFarland is also working on several new books. He also is an accomplished artist and has two pen and ink drawings hanging in Guiseppe’s Old Depot. His books are available from various bookstores in the area or the Colorado Railroad Museum in Golden.More on Mel McFarlandAny family? One sister, who lives in SeattleWhat are your hobbies? Trains and anything that relates to them – model railroading, railroad history. I like to ride a train whenever I can.What are your favorite places? Guiseppe’s, of course, and I own an old caboose, which I have fixed up as an office. It’s complete with a pot-bellied stove. On cold winter nights, especially, I go there to write or paint.What do you like to read? Anything about Colorado or English railroading historyWhat are your favorite places to visit? From January to April when the cog railway is not running, I drive the entire country, visiting friends and family. Every two to three years I go to England. I like to ride the steam engines they still use over there.
