Capitol Corridor Union Pacific SD70ACe's

A winter's night has fallen on the 23rd. Two night's from Christmas and
an Eastbound Stack train rolls on the Capitol Corridor behind a pair of
SD70ACe's. Their growling silhouettes standout against the distant
streetlights as an Amtrak California hurries holiday travelers to San
Francisco and beyond.

Union Pacific SD70ACe magnet available at customtrains.org

Louisville & Nashville GP9 Rolls in Gray

A dozen GP9's roll on the Louisville & Nashville. Lucky number 13 sits out in the scraper, cannibalized for parts. The locomotives have long traded their black and cream for gray, spartan gray without a yellow nose. The torpedo-tube air reservoirs along the roof have long stood for nothing, the days of glory, the days of the passenger train gone. It is 1984 and these remaining geep's shuttle locals and lean into secondaries when asked.

Louisville & Nashville GP9 magnet available at customtrains.org

Southbound Freight Rolls Across America

Thud, thud, rumble, rumble, ca-chink, ca-chink, ca-chink. 100 box cars of roll from the plants of New England and Pennsylvania. America is a manufacturing bastion to be contended with in its day of greatness.

Jersey Central, Akron Canton & Youngstown and Bangor & Aroostook Box Car magnets available at customtrains.org

Christmas in Barstow

My Christmas present this year is a trip to Barstow. Sixty trains a day ply the rails. Refrigerated trains carry goods from California valleys to the east coast. Amongst the throttling trains, my artist’s muse refills my spirit for another year’s drawing.

BNSF C44-9W magnet available at customtrains.org

BNSF C44-9W's with Refrigerated Train

The train rolls around the bend. Faster and faster it glides. Ahead lie the Tehacapis. The brown grass blows in the spring wind the train rolls towards Barstow.
The freight train now grinds upward, over the mountain. Towards the summit roll refrigerated loads of lettuce from the Salinas valley bound for eastern markets. In a week these loads will be salads on Fifth Avenue.
I watch the growling C44-9W's and will follow the train on the climb. The locomotives growl with one hundred cars. It is a fight to keep the perishable train on schedule. A refrigerated train stays in front of the pack. It has priority on the railroad.
I watch as the piggybacked trailers climbed the Tehachapi Grade. A steel train sits on the secondary siding; it has a red light and waits in the hole. The refrigerated train passes. The crews give a friendly wave.
That is working on the railroad. It is a dangerous job. It is a rigorous job, yet there is always a friendly salute to a fellow railroader, to a passing kid. That is working on the railroad, always a wave, yet always alert.
The train rolls onward. Through the town of Tehachapi, it has conquered the Tehachapi Loop on its climb of the mountains. Downward into the Mojave, the train rolls to the lonely desert. As night falls, the train will get a fresh crew in Barstow and continue its trek towards Kansas City. Its trek eastward, delivering California’s freshness to Fifth Avenue.

BNSF C44-9W Magnets available at customtrains.org

Coal and SD40A's on Illinois Central Monday Morning Rails

An SD40A blares at the crossing. In tow two U-Boats belch black smoke. This is the day. EMD is in command. Illinois Central is the Mainline of Mid-America. 100 carloads of Coal rumble along the Mississippi towards the steel mills of Alabama. Illinois Central Monday Morning Rails.

Illinois Central U33C and SD40A drawings by Andy Fletcher

CSX SD70ACe with West Virginia Coal

An SD70ACe and SD70MAC grind towards Kentucky with West Virginia coal. A one-hundred and ten car mine run heads for Illinois utilities. I wave to the engineer as the train rolls past. Each varies only by its serial number. FRED rolls by and the train is a memory.

CSX SD70ACe and SD70MAC magnets available at customtrainsusa.com