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/
Northern Pacific's route through Montana is part of today's regional railroad, Montana Rail Link. Montana Rail Link, a member of the American Short Line & Regional Railroad Association, provides first mile/last mile rail service, originating and delivering carloads from its customers. Montana Rail Link interchanges freight with both BNSF and Union Pacific. This gives Montana Rail Link customers great access to our nation's railroad network.
