Kenneth Eugene “Ken” Harrington, age 58 of North Hudson, passed away on June 5, 2014 at Regions Hospital in St. Paul, MN.

Ken was born on October 23, 1955 to Herbert and Gladys (Adkins) Harrington in Sumter, South Carolina.

Ken had a knack for electronics and began his career in 1973 at Northrop Grumman (currently Westinghouse Electric) in Hunt Valley, Maryland.  He moved to Washington D.C.  in 1993 and worked as a mechanic at the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority where he performed inspections on the electronic and electro-mechanical components of the Automatic Train Control System.  In 1998 Ken moved to Joliet, IL and was a Signal Maintainer for the Elgin Joliet and Eastern Railway Company. For the past 7 years, Ken was employed at Progress Rail Services as a Railroad Signal Engineer Manager.

Early on, Ken’s love for the railroads turned into a career.  He enjoyed all aspects of railroads and built a small library of resources.  He loved to make videos of trains, especially steam locomotives. Ken enjoyed stand up comedy and Mel Brooks movies.

Ken was preceded in death by his parents.  Survivors include the many railroading friends he encountered during his life and many cousins including James Harrington, of Colorado and Mary Jane McKay, of Pennsylvania. Ken had very close friends to care for him and keep his spirits up over the past years that include John Naglish, of Burbank, IL, Barry Mayer, of Elkridge, MD, Brian Harp, of New Albany, IN and Jason Phillips, of Hudson WI.

A Memorial Gathering will be held from 1:00 to 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday, July 2, 2014 at the O’Co0nnell Family Funeral Home in Hudson. A prayer service will follow at 4:30 p.m. at the funeral home.