The Passing of Neal Miller

We lost another member of our Narrow Gauge community last night with the passing of Neal Miller of Longmont.

Neal was widely seen everywhere there was steam in the fifties and beyond, and many of his pictures are familiar to all of us, even if you don't recall his name. One that comes to mind is a great shot of the Durango Roundhouse taken from the top of the Coal Tower that shows #499 on the lead, and that Military Diesel. Neal was always that guy who would risk life and limb to get that shot no one else would try.

He was a great friend of my Dad's, as well as a pretty early member of the Rocky Club. His friends included Howard Fogg, Ed Haley, Dick Kindig, Otto Perry, and others too numerous to mention.

Neal was a member for years of the Boulder Model RR Club and a genuine character, as anyone who ever knew him will attest. To anyone who ever rode with him in "Old Blue", that he lived this long is a true miracle.

His health had been frail for the last few years, and he had lost his sight, which caused the last chapter of his life to be spent unhappily in a nursing home.

Sad to say, his passing is a blessing.

I knew "Uncle Neal" as long as I can possibly remember, and I'll miss him.

Apparently there will be a service for him in January. I'll post information as I hear it.