A Baltimore and Ohio Train at Willard, Ohio

This Baltimore and Ohio train prepares to depart Willard, Ohio.  Today's train carries coal from West Virginia and general merchandise freight from across the Baltimore and Ohio system.

See my Baltimore and Ohio artwork at customtrains.org

 

A Norfolk and Western Train Heads to Chicago

This Norfolk and Western train heads to Chicago with carloads for the Belt Railway of Chicago.  We see a Bangor and Aroostook box car which is carrying paper from Maine and a Soo Line box car which is heading back to the Twin Cities.

See my Norfolk and Western artwork at customtrains.org

 

A Southern Railway Train Heads To The Steel Mills At Birmingham

This Southern Railway train carries carloads of scrap to the steel mills in Birmingham.  Today's train also carries empty coil steel cars to carry the coils of steel that are used to make appliances and automobiles.  

See my Southern Railway artwork at customtrains.org

 

Thank You To Kevin McGrew of Siemens Mobility For The Plant Tour

Thank you to Kevin McGrew of Siemens Mobility for taking me on a fun and educational tour of the Siemens Mobility plant in Sacramento today. I got to see several Amtrak ALC-42s being built. I start every morning by seeing the Coast Starlight.

An Erie Lackawanna Train Heads East From Chicago

This Erie Lackawanna train heads east from Chicago.  Today's train carries carloads from Elgin, Joliet and Eastern.  A lot of this train's traffic will be handed off to the Delaware and Hudson during the years of the Dereco holding company. 

See my Erie Lackawanna artwork at customtrains.org

 

A Rock Island Train Heads From Minneapolis To Des Moines

This Rock Island train heads from Minneapolis to Des Moines.  Today's train carries several Airslide hoppers carrying bakery flour.  Over the next decade, Rock Island will go through a wide variety of adaptations and changes to its paint scheme.

 

A Conrail Piggyback Train at Buffalo

This Conrail piggyback train heads west at Buffalo.  Today's train heads for Chicago. 

It is a cold fall evening, and after the train passes, we stop and get a cup of coffee.  In the distance, we hear the train making its way west.

See my Conrail artwork at customtrains.org

 

A BNSF Lumber Train at Havre, Montana.

This BNSF train carries lumber at Havre, Montana.  Today's train heads west towards the Twin Cities.  Lumber carried by our railroads helps build our homes, schools and offices.

 

A Chicago and North Western Train Heads To Proviso Yard

A Chicago and North Western train heads towards Proviso Yard.  Today's train has the Wyoming Centennial C40-8 in its consist.

See my Chicago and North Western artwork at customtrains.org

 

Maine Central Locomotives Move Trains At Bangor

These Maine Central locomotives move Trains at Bangor.  The U18B and GP7 head south with carloads of interchange traffic from the Bangor and Aroostook.

See my Maine Central artwork at customtrains.org

 

A Chesapeake and Ohio Train at Huntington

This Chesapeake and Ohio carries carloads of freight at Huntington, West Virginia.  At the head end, today's train carries perishables headed for Chicago.

See my Chesapeake and Ohio artwork at customtrains.org

 

A Canadian National Train Carries Grain at Prince Rupert Port

This Canadian National train carries grain to Prince Rupert Port.  Grain carried by our railroads plays a vital role in supporting agriculture while promoting global trade.

See my Canadian National artwork at customtrains.org

 

A Boston and Maine Piggyback Train Heads to Boston

This Boston and Maine piggyback train heads from Portland to Boston.  Boston and Maine had a large fleet of piggyback trailers.  Many railroads throughout the Northeast and New England embraced piggyback traffic as a way to compete against competition from the Interstate highways.

See my Boston and Maine artwork at customtrains.org

 

A Florida East Coast Train At Miami

This Florida East Coast train heads from Miami to Jacksonville.  Today's train has carloads for interchange with Norfolk Southern that are headed for Atlanta.

See my Florida East Coast artwork at customtrains.org

 

A Great Northern Train Heads West To Seattle

This Great Northern train heads west to Seattle.  Today's train carries carloads from the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy interchanged at the Twin Cities.

See my Great Northern artwork at customtrains.org

 

An Illinois Central Train Heads To Memphis

This Illinois Central train heads to Memphis from Homewood, Illinois.  Today's train is powered by a GP40 and a GP9 as it makes its way along the Mainline of Mid-America. 

See my Illinois Central artwork at customtrains.org

 

Missouri Pacific Locomotives Move Trains At St. Louis

These Missouri Pacific locomotives move trains at St. Louis.  The GP35 leads a local train while several of the SD40-2s lead a manifest train to Kansas City.  At the yard office, coffee is on for the crews to warm up this chilly fall morning.

See my Missouri Pacific artwork at customtrains.org

 

Clinchfield Locomotives at Spartanburg

These Clinchfield locomotives move trains at Spartanburg.  The SD40 leads a train of empty coal hoppers back the the mines.

See my Clinchfield artwork at customtrains.org

 

Bessemer and Lake Erie Locomotives Poster by Andy Fletcher

Bessemer and Lake Erie played a key role in moving raw materials and finished steel for the steel industry.  This poster shows locomotives from several decades of the Bessemer and Lake Erie, including one of its F-units, its SD9s and Bicentennial SD18 and one of its more modern SD40-3s which was a former Southern Pacific SD45T-2 tunnel motor locomotive.

See my Bessemer and Lake Erie artwork at customtrains.org

 

An Atlantic Coast Line Train Heads To Atlanta

This Atlantic Coast Line train carries carloads to Atlanta.  The Rock Island box car will be headed west on the Louisville and Nashville to Memphis for interchange back to the Midwest.

See my Atlantic Coast Line artwork at customtrains.org

 

Atlantic Coast Line GP30 905 by Andy Fletcher

Atlantic Coast Line GP30 #905 was the first Atlantic Coast Line locomotive I drew.  At the time, it was almost like I was peeling layers back further and further into railroad history, starting with the then current railroads in 1992.  Granted, there were still quite a few now historical railroads on the scene at the time including Conrail, Santa Fe, Burlington Northern, Grand Trunk Western, Illinois Central to name a few.

As I went to train shows, enthusiasts would ask for the fallen flags, and I would start by drawing railroads such as Penn Central and Seaboard Coast Line.  I quickly realized that that was not far enough into railroad history.  From there, I drew the Pennsylvania Railroad, the New York Central, the Seaboard Air Line and the Atlantic Coast Line.  As soon as I drew this Atlantic Coast Line GP30, I knew I was going to have to draw an Atlantic Coast Line Champion E-unit, as well.

See my Atlantic Coast Line artwork at customtrains.org

 

An Elgin, Joliet and Eastern Train Carries Steel at Joliet, Illinois

This Elgin, Joliet and Eastern train carries steel at Joliet, Illinois.  Elgin, Joliet and Eastern served as in important outer belt railroad connecting railroads around Chicago.  It also served online industries such as the steel mills in Gary, Indiana.

See my Elgin, Joliet and Eastern artwork at customtrains.org

 

Grand Trunk Western Locomotives at Chicago

These Grand Trunk Western locomotives move trains at Chicago.  The GP40 moves a general merchandise train to Detroit.  We give a wave to the train as it heads on its way.

See my Grand Trunk Western artwork at customtrains.org

 

Grand Trunk Western GP38-2 5722 by Andy Fletcher

Grand Trunk Western GP38-2 5722 was the first Grand Trunk Western locomotive I drew.  I drew it among the many drawings I did upon returning from my first trip to Chicago.  On that trip, I saw Chicago railroads such as Grand Trunk Western, Illinois Central and Wisconsin Central that I had, up until then, only seen in photos in the railroad magazines.

See my Grand Trunk Western artwork at customtrains.org

 

Great Northern Hustle Muscle SD45 400 by Andy Fletcher

Great Northern Hustle Muscle SD45 #400 was one of the first fallen flag locomotives I drew.  We had done several Great American Train Shows in the Bay Area and went on a great adventure to take my artwork to a Great American Train Show in Seattle just before Christmas 1992.  

Up until that point, my most popular items had been the Southern Pacific 4449 and Cab Forward as well as several Western Pacific drawings.  On my trip to Chicago, I knew that Burlington Northern fans loved Burlington Northern artwork and it was at that Seattle show that I got to finally experience firsthand that my Great Northern, Burlington Northern, Northern Pacific and Milwaukee Road artwork was especially appreciated when I brought it to the Pacific Northwest.

See my Great Northern artwork at customtrains.org

 

Frisco SD45 947 by Andy Fletcher

Frisco SD45 #947 was a drawing I did after that first Houston train show that I mentioned earlier.  To prepare for that show, I had done a couple of Frisco drawings that were  popular.  Shortly thereafter, there was a Great American Train Show in Tulsa, which was a Frisco town, so, I thought it would be a great idea to draw several more Frisco locomotives including SD45 #947.

See my Frisco artwork at customtrains.org

 

Dakota, Minnesota and Eastern Mount Rushmore SD40-2 6359 by Andy Fletcher

 Dakota, Minnesota and Eastern Mount Rushmore SD40-2 6359 was one of the first regional railroad locomotives that I drew.  At a time before the internet, each month I would wait to see what new locomotives were debuting on the railroad scene in Trains Magazine, Pacific Rail News, CTC Board and Railpace.  The moment I saw DM and E SD40-2 6359 with its striking mural of Mount Rushmore on its side, I knew it had to be one of my next drawings.

See my Dakota, Minnesota and Eastern artwork at customtrains.org

New York Central F7 1694 by Andy Fletcher

New York Central F7 1694 was the first New York Central locomotive I drew when I began drawing fallen flag locomotives many years ago.  

As I was doing Great American Train Shows in the Bay Area, I began by drawing Southern Pacific, Union Pacific, Burlington Northern and Santa Fe.  I saw how much Western Pacific memorabilia there was at the shows, so I then drew Western Pacific.  Shortly there after, I drew Penn Central.  Enthusiasts of the Pennsylvania Railroad and New York Central said, "Penn Central is not Pennsy or New York Central," so I then drew New York Central and Pennsylvania Railroad.

 

Missouri Pacific SD40-2 3122 by Andy Fletcher

Missouri Pacific SD40-2 #3122 was also one of the drawings that I did to prepare for the Houston Great American Train Show that I mentioned in my drawing about my Missouri-Kansas-Texas SD40-2.  It was truly exciting to take my drawings of railroads to Houston where so many people remembered these railroads firsthand and could share their stories firsthand. 

See my Missouri Pacific artwork at customtrains.org

 

Missouri-Kansas-Texas SD40-2 618 by Andy Fletcher

The Missouri-Kansas-Texas SD40-2 618 was the first MKT locomotive I drew.  At the time, we had done Great American Train shows in the Bay Area and Seattle and a vendor at the show mentioned that my artwork would be popular at the next show in Houston.  To prepare for the show, I drew several fallen flags from Houston that I thought would be popular including MKT, Missouri Pacific and Frisco.

See my Missouri-Kansas-Texas artwork at customtrains.org

 

CSX Stealth Gray SD60 8708 by Andy Fletcher

I drew CSX SD60 8708 in the Stealth Gray paint scheme as I began adding to my collection of CSX locomotives in the 1990s.  The new CSX YN2 paint scheme on the C40-8W was very popular at the time at train shows I went to.  As we look back, however, the CSX Stealth paint scheme has grown greatly in popularity from the era of railroading in the 1990s.

See my CSX artwork at customtrains.org

 

Canadian Pacific SD40-2 5792 by Andy Fletcher

CP Rail SD40-2 5792 was one of the first 100 locomotives that I drew, as well.  At the time, Canadian Pacific was known as CP Rail.

At the time, I also drew an SD40-2 with a banner celebrating the completion of CP Rail's Rogers Pass project.

See my Canadian Pacific artwork at customtrains.org

 

Chicago and North Western SD60 8044 by Andy Fletcher

Chicago and North Western SD60 8044 was the first Chicago and North Western locomotive I drew.  At the time, I had just returned back to California from my 1991 trip to Chicago and had seen both C and NW SD60s and C40-8s in Nebraska while staying with friends.  Chicago and North Western 8044 was a great candidate to begin my fleet of Chicago and North Western drawings.

See my Chicago and North Western artwork at customtrains.org

 

Duluth, Missabe and Iron Range SD9 #149

Duluth, Missabe and Iron Range SD9 #149 was one of the first hundred locomotives I drew when I became a railroad artist.  On the summer trip I took to Chicago in 1991 when I decided to become a railroad artist, I visited Duluth and saw both the Duluth Missabe and Iron Range and Duluth Winnipeg and Pacific.  

For years I had seen pictures and read about the railroads east of the Rockies in railroad magazines.   On my 1991 trip to Chicago.  Seeing so many railroads in real life truly made me decide to become a railroad artist.

See my Duluth, Missabe and Iron Range artwork at customtrains.org

 

Chessie System SD40-2 7607, The Railroad With The Cat

Chessie System (Baltimore and Ohio) SD40-2 7607 was the first Chessie System locomotive I drew once I became a railroad artist.  As I started to do train shows in 1992, it was one of my more popular locomotives.  Fans who remembered the Chessie System were glad to see that I had drawn Chessie.  Also, families that had cats would say, "We'll take the train that has the cat!"

See my Chessie System artwork at customtrains.org

 

Amtrak Pepsi Can B32-8WH #510 by Andy Fletcher

When I did some of my first drawings as a railroad artist and did some of my first train shows, Amtrak's B32-8WHs in the "Pepsi Can" paint scheme were new on the railroad scene.  The first two Amtrak drawings I drew for my collection as a railroad artist were Amtrak F40PH #278 and Amtrak "Pepsi Can" B32-8WH #510. 

Seeing Amtrak's Pepsi Can 50th Anniversary Heritage P42DC #160 brought back great memories of when I was first starting out as a railroad artist.

See my Amtrak artwork at customtrains.org 

 

A Burlington Northern GP9 Leads A Local Freight At Seattle, WA

This Burlington Northern GP9 leads a local freight at Seattle, Washington.  Seattle was one of the first cities that I visited to railfan, as I was always a fan of the Burlington Northern.

See my Burlington Northern artwork at customtrains.org

 

Detroit, Toledo and Ironton Locomotives Move Trains at Flat Rock Yard

These Detroit, Toledo and Ironton locomotives move trains at Flat Rock Yard.  The GP40-2 and Bicentennial GP38-2 lead a train of empty auto parts box cars back to parts manufacturers in Ohio.  Detroit, Toledo and Ironton played a key role in the shipment of auto parts and finished automobiles.

See my Detroit, Toledo and Ironton artwork at customtrains.org

 

A Chesapeake and Ohio Train Heads to Cincinnati

This Chesapeake and Ohio train heads west at Huntington.  Today's train carries carloads of coal to Cincinnati.  We give a wave as the train heads on its way.

See my Chesapeake and Ohio artwork at customtrains.org

 

A Chicago Great Western Train At Minneapolis

These Chicago Great Western locomotives move trains in Minneapolis.  The SD40 and GP30 lead a manifest train to Omaha.  It is late in the Chicago Great Western era, as today's train is powered by second generation locomotives instead of the usual four or five or even more F-units.

See my Chicago Great Western artwork at customtrains.org 

 

Frisco Locomotives Move Trains at Memphis

These Frisco locomotives move trains at Memphis.  The SD45 leads a train to Fort Worth.  Listen to my train "Memphis Yard" on my andyfletchermusic YouTube channel.

https://youtu.be/vZePPGK1x7A

 

A Maine Central Train Heads To Portland, Maine

This Maine Central train carries carloads of furniture to Portland, Maine.  Maine Central served the forest industries of Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont and was known as the Pine Tree Route.

See my Maine Central artwork at customtrains.org

 

A Santa Fe Train Heads From Denver to Los Angeles

This Santa Fe train heads west from Denver to Los Angeles.  Today's train carries carloads of freight from the Rio Grande and the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy.  A Chicago, Burlington and Quincy GP30 is also headed west in today's consist.

See my Santa Fe artwork at customtrains.org

 

A Gulf Mobile and Ohio Train at St. Louis

This Gulf Mobile and Ohio train carries carloads to Mobile from St. Louis.  Today's train carries carloads from New York Central and Chicago, Burlington and Quincy.  

Gulf Mobile and Ohio and competitor Illinois Central joined in 1972 to form the Illinois Central Gulf.

See my Gulf, Mobile and Ohio artwork at customtrains.org

 

New York Central Locomotives in Chicago

These New York Central locomotives move trains at Chicago.  The U25B and GP35 lead a fast freight east headed across Indiana.  The RS3 and GP7 arrive in the yard with a train carrying carloads of steel.

See my New York Central artwork at customtrains.org

 

A Northern Pacific Grain Train at Missoula

A Northern Pacific train heads heads through Missoula.  Today's train carries hopper cars from farms throughout Eastern Montana headed to the Port of Tacoma for export.

See my Northern Pacific artwork at customtrains.org

 

A Nickel Plate Road Train Carries Piggybacks From Chicago to Buffalo

A Nickel Plate Road train carries piggyback trailers from Chicago to Buffalo.  Piggyback traffic was gaining traction on railroads across America as railroads competed against the Interstate Highways for long hauls.  The Chicago Great Western trailer on this train tells the story of railroads such as the CGW, which tried in many ways to keep traffic moving on its railroad system across the Midwest.

See my Nickel Plate Road artwork at customtrains.org

 

A Southern Pacific Train Heads To Ogden

This Southern Pacific train heads from Roseville over Donner Pass to Truckee.  Today's train carries Pacific Fruit Express refrigerator cars carrying fresh California produce over the Sierra.  Today's train is ultimately headed to Ogden.  

See my Southern Pacific artwork at customtrains.org

 

An Erie Railroad Local Train at Buffalo

An Erie Railroad local train departs Buffalo on a cold October evening.  The GP7 and RS3 in charge of the train give ample power as the train makes its way to deliver cars to local industries.  You can feel the chill coming off of the lake as the train heads on its way.

See my Erie Railroad artwork at customtrains.org

 

A Great Northern Train Heads To Wenatchee

This Great Northern train carries carloads of tools at Hillyard in Spokane. The train heads west to Wenatchee.  Wenatchee is in the heart of the apple growing region which Washington is famous for.

Great Northern played a key role in the development on the Upper Midwest and the Pacific Northwest and was known as the Route of the Empire Builder for founder James J Hill. 

See my Great Northern artwork at customtrains.org