The Izaak Walton Inn in Essex, Montana-The Place Where I Fell In Love With Trains

The Izaak Walton Inn in Essex, Montana is where I truly fell in love with trains.  Each Burlington Northern train that passed, I knew deeper in my heart that trains were not a passing fad for me.  Trains were not a hobby.  Trains were my life's calling.
SD40-2s thundered down the grade, behind them, one hundred and eight cars of grain.  My eye watched each hopper, Great Northern, Northern Pacific, Frisco, Chicago Burlington and Quincy.  CO-OP Hoppers from throughout the Midwest.  As each hopper passed, I noticed the variances in weathering and shapes and sizes of logos.  These trains told a story of history, geography, of mergers, of the railroad, all in a symphony of rolling thunder as it headed down the track.
These trains became my own personal homework assignment.  By drawing locomotive after locomotive and grain hopper after grain hopper, logo after logo, ladders, lettering, side frames, slowly but surely I taught myself how to draw.  Year after year, the lines got tighter and tighter.
Throughout my teenage years, I returned every summer to the Izaak Walton Inn.  Each summer of train watching led to my drawing another one hundred and eight car grain train.  Finally, in 1991, I drew Burlington Northern's Desert Storm engine, of all things, to pull that year's grain train.  At that point, my mom said, "I think you are now a railroad artist."