Antonio’s interest in trains began in his home country of Mexico at the age of five when his family went on an eight-hour trip by train.  In his teenage years, he hitched a ride aboard a train in northern Mexico that took him to the famous Copper Canyon, as well as a few passenger trains in the United States.  Unfortunately, because the government of Mexico discontinued the operation of passenger trains, Antonio, along with many other young people in Mexico, did not have much experience with trains.  However, the experience of traveling by train which his first voyage impressed upon him has stuck with him all these years. 

After moving to Toronto, Antonio fell in love with the vast Canadian railway network and began to familiarize himself with it, learning as much as he could about it.  He soon found out about the Toronto Railway Museum and seized the opportunity to join as a restoration volunteer.  Over the past eight years of volunteering at the museum, he has put the experience and skills from his job as an electrical mechanical engineer to good use and has contributed much to the museum by playing a crucial role in many restoration projects that have taken place including, but not limited to, a complete restoration of the roof over the Cape Race passenger car, an expansion of the indoor museum space which gave the museum room to install the simulator, and the restorations of the TH&B caboose, the CNR caboose, the gift shop in Don Station, and the ongoing restoration of the passenger car Nova Scotia.

Currently, Antonio is keeping busy in trying to balance his time between working at his busy day job, spending time with his friends and family, and coming to volunteer at the museum on a regular basis.