Working on the railroad

Henderson retirees are the first couple to serve as engineers at Boulder City museum

Left, engineer Bonnie Himka of Henderson inspects her train before starting work at the Nevada State Railroad Museum, 600 Yucca Road, Boulder City. Below, Himka and her husband, Roger, both volunteer as engineers at the museum.PHOTOS BY LARRY CRUIKSHANK/VIEW Left, engineer Bonnie Himka of Henderson inspects her train before starting work at the Nevada State Railroad Museum, 600 Yucca Road, Boulder City. Below, Himka and her husband, Roger, both volunteer as engineers at the museum.PHOTOS BY LARRY CRUIKSHANK/VIEW LARRY CRUIKSHANK/VIEWHimka keeps an eye on the track at the Nevada State Railroad Museum. She and her husband, Roger, also have volunteered as engineers on the Magical Forest train at Opportunity Village. Advertisement

To many people, Bonnie Himka is a tall, blonde, comely woman who's one of many Henderson retirees, but when she goes around the Nevada State Railroad Museum and the Nevada Southern Railway in her blue-and-white striped overalls, she's singled out as Engineer Bonnie.

Himka comes to Boulder City most weekends with her husband, Roger, who's known as Engineer Roger.

Together, they make the first husband-and-wife engineer team in the history of the Nevada State Railroad Museum's Southern Division.

"We got involved with trains about 11 years ago when we went to the Great American Train Show at Cashman Field," she said. "We went from there to Opportunity Village, where they needed an engineer for their Magical Forest train. We ran the train there for 10 years."

When the museum opened in Boulder City six years ago, the couple came out to volunteer, spending all of those years working with the public on the Santa Train in December.

"As more and more weekend runs were added, we'd cross-train for all the jobs," she said. "So we had to be car attendants, rear brakeman, front brakeman, conductor, and now I'm an engineer in training. I started my engineer training a year ago and I got my license as a trainee. I've still got to get my driver's permit."

Museum director Greg Corbin said Bonnie may have as much as another year of training ahead of her because of needing to have enough "seat time" in the locomotive cab. Corbin said he's pulling for her to get certified as an engineer, but noted that she also is a great asset as a conductor.

"She is certainly one of our best conductors," Corbin said. "She has a wonderful rapport with the public. She's courteous and delightful with everyone and has a great attitude, too. She's a great all-around asset for the railroad."

The 66-year-old former Boeing Co. secretary said learning about locomotives and rolling stock is very different because the terminology is different. She said a student has to understand a train's brakes and how they work, know how to start the generators for the air-conditioning system, know safety procedures, know how to start up the train and, of course, how to work the whistle because different blasts mean different things to those working the rails.

"Right now, I'm working on getting comfortable with the braking system so it can be an easy ride," she said, noting that the locomotive and the other cars have separate braking systems that must be in sync for a smooth stop. "It's all a challenge. It's not like driving a car, where you put your foot down a little to brake. You just have to learn how all these things work together."

Roger Himka, a 65-year-old retired Boeing engineer who designed flight safety systems that kept an aircraft's engines running in case there was a failure, said the couple's purpose in volunteering with the railroad is twofold.

"It gives us a chance to play with trains and do community service at the same time," said Roger Himka, who is the museum's most recently certified engineer after undergoing four years of training.

The couple met at Boeing and married in Seattle, living on Mercer Island for 30 years.

They came to Henderson in 1993, strictly by accident.

"Roger came for a three-day consulting job, and now we've stayed for 15 years," Bonnie Himka said.

The two got involved with car clubs, especially British cars, with Bonnie driving a Jaguar.

Roger Himka said he's had an interest in trains since he was a kid, and Bonnie has fond memories of trains as a child.

"I never had a thought about trains like these, but when I was young, I loved to see the trains in the department stores at Christmas," said Bonnie Himka, who was born and raised in Seattle. "And I guess we did ride trains to Portland (Ore.) to see relatives."

Volunteering at the railroad museum, as the couple has discovered over the years, may not bring a paycheck, but it does have its rewards.

"The pay is the same in both places," Roger Himka said. "It's all smiles."