Great Northern Empire Builder Postcard

The Great Northern Empire Builder connected the Upper Midwest with the Pacific Northwest and was named for Great Northern founder James J. Hill. Today's Amtrak Empire builder is its namesake train. See my Great Northern Empire Builder postcard and hundreds of other postcards at my website http://www.railwaypostoffice.com/

Living in Pennsylvania Inspired Many of My Lehigh Valley Drawings

Living in Pennsylvania in the mid-1990s was a great experience for me.  In Pennsylvania, I drew many railroads that were popular throughout much of the Keystone State.

At shows such as Allentown, I saw firsthand how popular railroads such as Lehigh Valley were.  In seeing my drawings of the C628's and C420's, fans would ask for RS3's and many other locomotive models.
I had first been inspired to draw Lehigh Valley from reading about it in an old Don Ball book.  Living near Lehigh Valley's former trackage and visiting with the men and women who had worked for the Lehigh Valley truly deepened my understanding of this beloved railroad.

Drawing Illinois Central and the Short Lines and Regionals of the 1990s

Through the years, the locomotives and freight cars of the Illinois Central have always caught my eye.  The striking "IC" logo always stood out on IC's brightly painted equipment.  As Illinois Central freight cars traveled through Davis, they made me want to see "The Mainline of Mid-America."  

I finally got to see several Illinois Central locomotives just outside of Chicago in 1991.  Upon returning to my studio, I drew Illinois Central and many of America's railroads that I saw on that trip.

When I first began drawing trains, Illinois Central was trimming down to more or less a Chicago to New Orleans backbone of the Midwest, creating regional railroads Chicago Central and Paducah & Louisville. Many of my first drawings were of the short lines and regional railroads that were spun-off from the Class 1's during this era of railroading.    
To see more of my Illinois Central artwork, visit
http://www.andyfletchertrains.com/illinois-central.html

Watching the Freight Cars of British Columbia Railway While Growing Up

For years growing up, as I watched lumber trains heading through Davis, I would see British Columbia Railway box cars and lumber cars.  British Columbia Railway and the many lumber companies it served throughout British Columbia always caught my eye.
As a teenager, I made my first trip to Seattle to watch Burlington Northern.  There, I watched BN trains headed south from British Columbia, laden with lumber, heavy with British Columbia box cars and center beams.  Immediately, I fell in love with watching trains in Seattle.
To this day, when I see the old BC Rail logo, it brings back fond memories of growing up and the first railfanning I did.  British Columbia Railway truly was a great railroad.

To see more of my British Columbia Railway artwork, visit

http://www.andyfletchertrains.com/bc-rail.html

Cumberland, Maryland-A Great Railroad Community

Whenever I visit Cumberland, Maryland, I enjoy taking a moment and watching today's CSX and Amtrak trains pass by on the historic Baltimore & Ohio mainline.  Cumberland truly is a great railroad community.  I often see trains heading towards Pittsburgh and Chicago and/or Cincinnati and St. Louis to the west and towards Baltimore, Washington DC and Philadelphia to the east. 
I always enjoy stopping by the Western Maryland Scenic Railroad to take a step into railroad history.
The Appalachians provide a scenic backdrop for this great tourist railroad.
I head to the Amtrak depot downtown as I prepare to board the Capitol Limited.  In a few short hours, we will arrive in Washington, DC.  Today's journey takes us along the scenic waters of the Potomac River through Harpers Ferry, West Virginia.  
Cumberland, known as the Queen City, grew up around the railroad.  The Baltimore & Ohio and Western Maryland railroads, both part of today's CSX, truly developed the region and much of our nation.

Learning About Union Pacific SD40-2's at the Whistle Stop

I used to flip for hours through the Microscale decals on the counter at the Whistle Stop.  My skill level to paint and decal trains was not there yet, but I loved to imagine all of the many versions of locomotives and freight cars I could make.
Union Pacific was a recent entrant into the Sacramento Valley and was the railroad that intrigued me the most.  Southern Pacific went right through my hometown of Davis, whereas I only got to see Union Pacific every now and then when we would take trips to Sacramento.
I began a study of Union Pacific SD40-2's and often asked for advice at the Whistle Stop on how I would go about building the many versions from the standard Athearn blue box kit.  I was hardly much of a modeler, yet I wanted to make a version with the snoot nose.
I would look up and down at the Details West and Details Associates racks, eying the snow plows, radio antennas and grab irons.  I asked DJ behind the counter, "What kind of snowplow should I get for a Union Pacific SD40-2?"
He said, "You keep talking about wanting to build a 3300 series engine, so I would stick with one of these.  Bring your engine in sometime. I'd like to see it."
The next time I visited the Whistle Stop, I brought my model to show DJ.  It was kind of a shambles.  The nose was rough with a raw extension built out of another kit I had scrapped.  I had drilled holes into the nose and rear to place the grab irons, however several of them were on the verge of falling out.  The snow plow sat hanging at a 45 degree angle to the front steps.
DJ looked at the model and said, "Wow, you sure do want to get yourself a 3300 unit, huh?"
"Yeah, I do," I said.  "I like how they stand out from the others with their snoot nose.  In all of those engines, the 3300's kind of have a personality," I said.
"Let's see how many details you've got coming along on this.  A lot of the out-of-the-box Athearn details are just right for a 3300 series engine, " he said.  "You've got the modern radiator grills, and the dynamic brakes.  You didn't have to watch for that out here, but now those Missouri Pacific engines are starting to run through, non-dynamic engines are showing up on Union Pacific.  You've got the right radio antenna, you've got the plow I showed you, you've kept the out-of-the-box anti-climber, that's good.  See, look, these SP tunnel motors have a different anti-climber.
"If I were you," he said, "I would be glad that I got so many details right on that engine.  You are really developing a good eye.  You truly want to take the out-of-the-box models and build your own model out of them.  If you keep practicing, you will build good models some day.
"I recommend keep developing your eye.  Keep looking at all of those Union Pacific SD40-2's.  The 3200's have earlier air filters.  As I said, the Mo-Pac engines have non-dynamic brakes.  There are all kind of things you can learn and build model trains about.  Keep up the good work."

Learning About the Rio Grande at the Whistle Stop Hobby Store

One day at Whistle Stop Hobbies, I discovered an Athearn blue box Rio Grande SD40T-2.  I opened the box and saw the speed lettered, "Rio Grande" painted on the hood. 
Ever so often, a Rio Grande locomotive would wander through Davis.  Recently, I had seen a tunnel motor.  This model looked just like it.
It wasn't every time that I went that I got a powered engine.  Today, however, I just had to have this engine.
I brought the box up to the counter and asked Lee, "Can we run this engine on the test track.  I think I'll get it."
"Rio Grande," he said.  "Are you going to run this on your Southern Pacific trains are running through from Utah?"
"Yes," I said.  "I just saw one the other day."
"Rio Grande and Western Pacific used to run the California Zephyr together with Chicago Burlington & Quincy," Lee said as we walked over to the test track.  As the locomotive whirred into action, Lee said, "Rio Grande is known as 'The Mainline Thru The Rockies.' It connects Denver and Salt Lake.  It truly is one of the most scenic railroads I have ever seen.  You should go see it someday."
As I put my Athearn SD40T-2 in its box, I knew I wanted to see such a scenic railroad.  "Someday I will have to visit the route of the Rio Grande," I said to myself. "Someday."

We All Love Model Trains- Support Your Local Hobby Store

I made my last visit to Bruce's Trains, my local hobby store once known as the Whistle Stop, shortly before heading to Roanoke in 2011.  I walked the aisles and looked at the new double-stack well cars and the tri-level auto racks for sale.  I said to myself, "Wow, if the kid I was could see all of the model trains they make today."  To me, this was perhaps the finest store on earth.
The kid in me wanted to return to Bruce's trains when I came back to Sacramento from Roanoke.  Fall was in the air, and I said to myself, "Wow, this reminds me of the days when I would get the Athearn blue boxes so many years ago."
To my sadness, Bruce's Trains was gone.  Such is the story with many of our local hobby stores.
Local hobby stores are more than places that sell model trains.  I made many friends as I first learned about trains at the Whistle Stop.
Athearn made Southern Pacific SD40T-2's with a snoot nose and the Rio Grande version with a standard nose.  It was not until a kit-basher came into the Whistle Stop and showed all of us that he had detailed a Rio Grande Standard nose version with the Southern Pacific light package that I began to see the essences of detail each railroad had.
The Whistle Stop gave me a chance to learn about railroads I had never seen.  I would walk up and down the aisles of Athearn blue boxes and MDC freight cars, looking for cars I had seen go by on Southern Pacific.  Ever so often, however, I would open a box, such as an old Seaboard Air Line box car and it would intrigue me enough that I would add it to my collection.
Lee, who worked at the front counter, would often ask me, "So how are your model projects coming?  Are you still working on Union Pacific and Southern Pacific?  Have you ever thought about Western Pacific?"
All I knew about Western Pacific was a few stray GP40-2s that I had seen roaming the now Union Pacific system.  My mind could not stretch back far enough to model Western Pacific in its entirety.  Mentors such as Lee at the Whistle Stop, however, first sparked my interest in railroads that were fading away or were before my time.
I am very grateful that as a kid I had a local hobby shop to go to.  Local hobby shops are a place for us all to learn about trains and for us to compare our model railroad projects.  I feel we should all work to support our local hobby store.