Bill Fuehring's life was dedicated to the steel rails

Bill Fuehring was born July 22, 1941, and was raised in Louisville, Kentucky.

At the age of 14 he developed an interest in aviation and began working at a small privately owned airport in exchange for flying lessons. His fascination with airplanes lasted for many years, he owned two planes and was instrumental in the building of three others in his garage.

About a month before graduating from high school in 1960, Fuehring began working for the Fruit Growers Express Co. in L&N's South Louisville Yard icing refrigerator cars. He was transferred to Cincinnatti for 11 months in 1962, and then returned to Louisville until May 1, 1967, when he was promoted to Agent and sent to Bellevue to open a new Fruit Growers Express Co. Station. Eventually he took over the operation of the Fruit Growers offices in Willard and Cleveland also.

He married Ruth in 1961, and had four children; DeeAna, Laura, Roger and Dwayne. He became the grandfather of 14 and great-grandfather twice before his passing.

In the fall of 1972, after obtaining a caboose for his own private use, he joined a group, which at the time, consisted of retired railroaders, or families thereof and a few rail fans who met occasionally and exchanged stories, looked at pictures and socialized. This group later organized and became the Mad River & NKP Railroad Society.

In early 1973 the N&W donated a caboose to the Society and the idea was born for a museum.

Near this time Fuehring was elected president and made creating the museum his number one goal. Fortunately, at this time the Bellevue Terminal Superintendent was Billy Joe Hoops who supported this idea wholeheartedly. He, his Assistant S.C. Tobias, and most of the local N&W officials were very supportive. They advised Fuehring on who to contact on the railroad when he had a question or request, thereby smoothing the road immensely. Without the full cooperation of the N&W, the museum would have never been built, and without that same cooperation from the Norfolk Southern it would not have grown and prospered to become the largest railroad museum in Ohio.

In 1978, while thinking of ways to raise money for the support of this new venture, Fuehring decided the Society should begin running tours on common carrier lines. The first try was a weekend in Toronto. Passengers rode the commuter train from Windsor, and stayed in downtown Toronto.

This was so popular the Society did it for several years and had as high as 160 people joining them.

Soon the Society expanded by taking an Amtrak trip to the southwestern U.S., another hit that kept leading to more. Eventually, Fuehring's wife, Ruth, became a professional tour operator and they arranged and escorted rail tours throughout the United States and Canada. These continued until shortly after Ruth's retirement, with the last tour being in June of 2006.

In the early 1980s Fuehring decided the museum should begin running excursion trips, at first using the NKP 765 steam locomotive and any passenger cars they could find. Other groups were doing the same thing and there was quite an expense involved in moving this equipment from place to place.

Fuehring, along with people from a few other museums and societies, and Carl Jensen from the N&W, met in Bellevue and formed the Railway Passenger Car Alliance. The group's purpose being to put together a train set which could be moved enmass and to coordinate their schedules so the groups would not be competing with each other on the same dates.

In the beginning this was a group which covered about five or six states in our general area. Today it has grown to cover the entire United States and represents hundreds of operators, railroads and museums owning passenger and freight cars plus locomotives.

In 1986 Fuehring resigned from the Fruit Growers Express Co. and went into business himself, under the name of Golden Age Rail Equipment. He bought, sold, leased and brokered railroad equipment.

In 1987, when the NS Steam program was in full force and excursions were being run with the J-611 Fuehring was hired by Manager of Steam Operations, Carl Jensen, to be the traveling passenger car mechanic for the fleet they had with the engine. He worked in this capacity for one season, having a crew car on the train and being able to take Ruth and youngest son Dwayne along with him. During this time the train set traveled in and out of seven states and carried thousands of happy passengers, and one very happy "car knocker," as he called himself.

Shortly after this time Fuehring received a call from the Thiokol Corporation, the company who made the booster rocket motors for the space shuttle. After the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded they had decided all booster rocket motors would be accompanied by some of their technicians while being shipped by rail from Corrine, Utah, to Cape Kennedy, Florida. They were looking for a rail passenger car which could accomodate at least three of their employees, along with an attendant to maintain the car and a cook.

Fuehring didn't own any cars that would be suited for this purpose. However, one of his business partners and close friends owned one that was based out of California. Fuehringl referred Thiokol to this friend and they came to an agreement that lasted for nearly 20 years, the entire time this program was in operation.

In January 1989, Bill and Ruth made the first of many trips on the rocket train, he as the attendant and mechanic, and Ruth as the cook. The last trip they made was in March of 2006.

In 1996 Fuehring was asked to travel with the Tennessee Bicentennial Train as it made it's way throughout Tennessee. This was one of the true highlights of his professional life and embodied not only the railroading he loved, but also the historical aspects of a museum being taken to small cities across the state. This was a concept that intriqued him and one he tried to promote for the rest of his life. Taking the museum to the people instead of waiting for them to come to it gave him a real sense of satisfaction.

In 2002 Fuehring was asked to be on the Ohio Bicentennial's Transportation & Development Advisory Council. In this capacity he conducted on-site inspections of possible sites for the proposed Ohio Bicentennial Train in 55 counties, with 3-5 sites in each. He, along with the entire committee, strongly lobbied for this train, sadly the State of Ohio decided not to participate. It was one of his greatest disappointments that this was the train that never happened.

In December 2004 Fuehring officially retired. However, anyone who knew him realized he kept on working on a daily basis. He always said he felt he'd never live long enough to do everything he wanted to.

Fuehring was like the proverbial pit bull when he got his teeth into something, and his passion for nearly any project ignited the interest of others, convincing them to help him acheive the dream they now shared.

Fuehring died suddenly in October 2006, leaving much he planned incomplete, but huge amounts of his vast dreams fulfilled and with lasting value. That which remained undone was left in the capable hands of others to include the next generation. This was his legacy.