Peter Lerro "Under 30th Street Wires," watercolor, 20” x 16”, 2010 (Courtesy of Robert Lane collection)
This work portrays a changing of the guard in the early 1990s. Set in the Race Street engine terminal in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, we see Amtrak’s GG1 replacement, the E60, and the E8 replacement, the F40, surrounded by their own replacements. Along with the AEM7, the new Genesis units are already earning their place in Amtrak history. Immediately outside 30th Street’s platforms, one could always find a wide variety of motive power on the ready tracks and in the service area. Here some of the yard crew tends to an E60 while others go about their respective duties.
Portraits of
A FUNNY THING HAPPENED on the way to assembling the collection of art pre- sented here. A call went out to all work- ing railroad artists known to me, ask- ing for images to celebrate the 40 year history of Amtrak. To my pleasant sur- prise, the variety of images submitted not only portrayed aspects of that his- tory, from Stewart Buck’s work depict- ing the early “rainbow” color schemes,
Amtrak COMPILED BY JAMES D. PORTERFIELD
to Michael Schwab’s Acela departing Washington, D.C., but also captured “fallen flag” routes, such as Marc Des- obeau’s “Pioneer at Strawberry,” as well as such state-sponsored trains as Brad Faegre’s blunt-fronts on the Capi- tol Corridor in California and Alex Craghead’s Washington/Oregon Cas- cades. Another not so surprising sur- prise: Amtrak’s Empire Builder is the
most popular train, whether with pas- sengers, journalists, or artists. No less than four of the twelve works here de- pict that iconic long-running train in the varying splendor of its setting. So just like Amtrak, these men and women have been building a history, in this case in art. Each work is accompa- nied by the artist’s comments on the work itself.
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