Charlie is the University Archivist, and an adjunct faculty member for the History Department at Eastern Washington University in Cheney, Washington (near Spokane), a town named for a Northern Pacific VIP of the 1880's.

Charlie's love affair with the D&RGW narrow gauge goes back to his childhood. He and his parents lived along the west side of the Animas Valley, at approximately MP 461.7 for several years, before moving to Boulder in 1964. His parents humored Charlie's childish interest in the railroad in many ways including annual trips on the Silverton and frequent visits to the Durango yards when his father had business in town. The real clincher was the trip on a Rocky Mountain RR Club special from Durango to Alamosa for his 6th birthday in the spring of 1961. He has been a rabid D&RGW narrow gauge enthusiast ever since.

In the 1968/69 school year Charlie learned something about practical politics and historic preservation by helping gather signatures to petition the state legislature of Colorado to appropriate money to buy what is now the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic RR.

Charlie is a life member of the Colorado RR Historical Foundation, and the National Model Railroad Association. He enjoys modeling the D&RGW and RGS in HOn3, though he is currently not doing much modeling. Instead, he is working on a book about the Butte, Anaconda & Pacific, a Montana copper hauler.