News
On the Right Track
August 6, 2014. By Steven Slivka of the Boulder City Review.
To say that Haydn Haycocks loves trains is an understatement, a description that fails to dig deep to the core of the obsession the young artist and train aficionado has gained since he was a kid.
Haydn’s infatuation with trains has made him a regular at the Nevada State Railroad Museum in Boulder City, and he recently made history when his oil painting of Union Pacific Railroad Engine 6082 was the first to be displayed inside at the museum.
The painting, titled “Crossing Railroad Pass,” shows Union Pacific Engine 6082 crossing Railroad Pass from U.S. Highway 93, along with “1931-1961,” its years of operation at the top.
Haydn, 13, who lives in Summerlin, was diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome as a 3-year-old. He’s now an eighth-grader at the New Horizons Learning Center, where he’s learned to hone his skills as an artist and as a historian.
“He’s one of our more prolific artists. He loves railroads, and he’s meshed his enthusiasm for railroads with his enthusiasm for art,” said Barbara Bidell, educational director at New Horizons. “He can talk about anything, but especially trains and the history of trains.”