The Nevada Northern Railroad, Ely, Nevada

Nevada Northern Railroad, Ely, NV, 10 x 9 inch ink and watercolor by George C. Clark    AVAILABLE

After the opening reception and business meeting at the current American Society of Railway Artists Exhibition in Las Vegas recently (see previous posts), most of the attending ASRA members drove up to Ely, a town four and a half hours north of Vegas, to visit the Nevada Northern Railroad Museum.  Back in the early 20th century a copper company built a railroad to haul ore and smelted copper from a big mine up in the mountains to connect to the main line of the Southern Pacific.  After seventy years the mine closed and in 1984 the copper company donated the railroad to the town of Ely to be a railroad museum.  Unlike most railroad museums, which are lucky to have a station, a few miles of track, a few old locomotives and some rolling stock, this museum acquired an entire working railroad, including two operating steam engines that were purchased new from the factory in 1909.  They have diesel locomotives, freight and passenger cars, stations, offices, 143 miles of track, and all the maintenance facilities you need to keep a railroad functioning.  I drove up on a Saturday and spent two nights there to give me a full day Sunday to explore before I headed back to Vegas.  There is a great steakhouse located in what used to be the town jail where the food and drinks are excellent and priced at a fraction of what they would cost in Las Vegas, and it was great hanging out with other railroad artists.  

Scrap Yard at the Illinois Railway Museum

Railroad Scrap Yard, 10 x 6.5 inch ink and watercolor by George C. Clark   AVAILABLE

I found this old cut-off locomotive cab rusting in a scrapyard behind a maintenance building at the Illinois Railway Museum.  I drew this view of it silhouetted against a white parked truck trailer.

Greetings from the American Society of Railway Artists Exhibition in Las Vegas

Here I am at the ASRA exhibition at the Big Springs Gallery at the Springs Preserve in Las Vegas, Nevada. My wife Pat and I attended the opening reception a week ago Thursday, and the business meeting Friday. Then most of the attending ASRA members drove up to Ely, Nevada Saturday and Sunday to visit the Nevada Northern Railroad Museum.   

My Painting in the American Society of Railway Artists Exhibition at the Springs Preserve in Las Vegas Nevada September 30, 2016 through January 8, 2017

Santa Fe No. 92, 15 x 11 inch ink and watercolor painting by George C. Clark   AVAILABLE

My painting of Santa Fe No. 92 in "warbonnet" paint on display at the Illinois Railway museum  is included in the newest annual exhibition of the American Society of Railway Artists held this year at the Big Springs Gallery at the Springs Preserve in Las Vegas, Nevada.  The exhibition will be open every day September 30 to January 8, 2017 from 10:00am to 6:00pm.  There is an admission fee for the Springs Preserve, a 180 acre site which contains the Nevada State Museum, the Origen Museum (of Natural History), a Botanical Garden, hiking trails and other attractions.

PennCentral No. 4715 published in February 2016 RAILFAN & RAILROAD magazine

The watercolor painting in my previous post has been published in a portfolio of railroad art that appears in the February 2016 issue of the magazine Railfan & Railroad.  It appears in an 8 page article about electric railroads by author and railroad historian Jim Porterfield.  The magazine should be available now.  

Penn Central No. 4715 at the Illinois Railway Museum

Penn Central No. 4715, 10 x 14 inch watercolor by George C. Clark   PRINT AVAILABLE

When I started going out to the Illinois Railway Museum with my watercolors and sketchbook on a pretty regular basis back about 15 years ago, this was one of the earliest paintings I did in what has turned out to be my Age of Iron series.  I was especially attracted to this big green cab-centered electric locomotive because its shape reminded me of the big old black Lionel electric locomotive that originally belonged to my father that he let me play with when I was a kid.  Somewhere there is a photo of the train set up under a Christmas tree dated 1921 on the back.  My father would have been 11 that year.  That Lionel got pretty banged up in my care-- my father scored much higher as a loving parent than he did as a conservator of collectables.

In those days No. 4715 was kept outdoors, and I painted it on a sunny summer day.  I had to squeeze back in-between two locomotives parked on a parallel track to get this view.  Even so, I got a little more fish-eye lens type distortion on No. 4715's cab than I was happy with.  I corrected that with Photoshop to produce the image above.  This corrected version is only available as a print.

Since I painted this more train sheds have been built at IRM and this locomotive is displayed indoors now, where visitors can see it from walkways between the rails.  Although as a rail fan I am happy it is now being protected from the weather, as an artist I find the new display a little too dark and claustrophobic to paint, even with its illumination from skylights and electric lights.

At the Mid-Continent Railway Museum in North Freedom, Wisconsin

Iron Range No. 29, 14 x 10 inch ink, watercolor and colored pencil drawing by George C. Clark    AVAILABLE

I sketched No. 29 in July up in Wisconsin.  Recently I finished the drawing, adding color and the Milwaukee Road track inspection car on a parallel track in the foreground.