Great Northern Empire Builder 11"x17" poster by Andy Fletcher

Great Northern Empire Builder 11"x17" signed poster.  See this poster in my eBay store: https://www.ebay.com/itm/184620260633

 

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/

Great Northern's Iconic Mascot "'Rocky' The Goat"

Great Northern's iconic mascot, "'Rocky' The Goat" adorned Great Northern's locomotives and rolling stock.  Great Northern connected the Upper Midwest and the Pacific Northwest.  Great Northern is a part of today's BNSF.

To see more of my railroad artwork, visit http://www.andyfletchertrains.com/

Realizing That I could Draw Trains Forever at a GATS Show in Houston

It was the fall of 1992.  We had had a successful GATS train show with my artwork at the Cow Palace in San Francisco.  From that, I was able to encourage my mom to agree to let me attend the following GATS show in Seattle.

For that show, I drew several Great Northern and Northern Pacific locomotives, including Great Northern's Hustle Muscle SD45.  At the time, that was a big step into the past for me, as I had only drawn locomotives for railroads that currently existed.

The drawing of the Great Northern and Northern Pacific locomotives turned out to be very successful, as we had a constant flow of traffic into our booth at the GATS show at the Seattle Fairgrounds.  Several vendors who watched our show said, "You know, the next show is in Houston, you might consider attending that.  People really love trains there."

My mom's first reaction was, "No way are we going to Houston."  But I persisted.  Christmas break fell in between the shows.  I began drawing Missouri-Kansas Texas and Missouri Pacific locomotives.  My mom saw even more how dedicated I was becoming to my railroad artwork.  

In a leap of faith, we headed to Houston, with my new drawings of M-K-T and Missouri Pacific.

I never could have imagined how popular Missouri Pacific and Missouri-Kansas-Texas would be in Houston.  It was at this show, that so many people asked for railroads I had never even dreamed of.  "Have you drawn Texas & Pacific?  Have you drawn Frisco?  Have you drawn the Texas Eagle?" they asked.

My mind took a mental note pad of all of the requests.  I realized that if I drew trains until I was seventy, I would still never run out of trains to draw.  At that GATS show in Houston, I truly realized that I could draw trains forever. 

To see more of my artwork, visit
http://www.andyfletchertrains.com/