The one thing Richard Kindig liked better than riding trains was taking pictures of them.
Kindig, who shot an estimated 50,000 photographs of trains, died April 7. He was 92.
“Richard Kindig Day” was declared March 1 by Gov. Bill Ritter to honor Kindig’s 60 years of picture-taking.
His work has been featured in train magazines, on calendars and postcards.
Jim Ehernberger of Cheyenne, a friend and fellow railroad photographer, estimated 1,000 of Kindig’s photos were published.
Kindig, who developed and printed his own pictures in his basement, made 100,000 prints during his lifetime, Ehernberger said.
A native of Denver, Kindig became interested in trains, particularly steam engines, as a child.
His father, Claude Kindig, who worked for the Union Pacific Railway, often took his son on train rides.
“It became kind of an obsession with Richard,” said his sister, Norma Holder of Livermore, Calif.
Kindig would keep train timetables so he could drive to a certain spot along certain tracks in order to take a particular picture, Holder said.
His favorites were those that showed the plumes of smoke coming out of the trains, she said.
Some shots were in wide open areas showing trains on a curve, where hundreds of train cars were visible.
Asked what his favorite photo was, Ehernberger said Kindig would reply: “They’re all my favorite.”
An employee of Western Electric for 39 years, Kindig fit in his picture-taking on evenings, weekends or vacations.
He rarely took pictures of people, his sister said.
Kindig and other train photographers often sent postcards of their pictures to each other, said Kindig’s brother-in-law Bert Holder.
Kindig rode trains all over the U.S. and made trips to Mexico and Switzerland to ride certain trains.
Kindig had a telescope so he could pursue his other interest: astronomy. His main interest was taking pictures of lightning, Ehernberger said.
Richard H. Kindig was born in Denver on Feb. 13, 1916, and graduated from North High School and attended Barnes Business School.
During World War II he served with the U.S. Army Air Corps, spending much of his time in India.
His first photographs were of downtown Denver street scenes and streetcars, Ehernberger said.
Kindig started with a Graflex camera, which printed postcard- size pictures.
He was a charter member of the Rocky Mountain Railroad Club and was club president and a frequent contributor of photos to the club’s magazine.
In 1984 he was honored by the Railway and Locomotive Historical Society with the inaugural Photography Award.
Kindig, who never married, lived in the same west Denver house for 70 years and had a huge collection of history books, Ehernberger said.
Virginia Culver: 303-954-1223 or vculver@denverpost.com
