The P&WV Hi-Line

[Donald Mack]

Clarification regarding source of subject material for this painting. As a child in the 1930`s and 1940`s I walked to several schools along the tracks of the P&WV over that Whited St overpass and was ,as were most of us at the time, enthralled with the sights and sounds of the motive power of this railroad as they worked the grade out of West Liberty toward Longview. I was especially captivated by the sounds created by the articulated 1100 series as the sets of drivers slipped in and out of sync with each other as they struggled at ten or fifteen miles per hour over the edgebrook trestle hauling an eighty car train of WW2 goods with another loco spotted mid-train working just as hard to maintain the pace. I did not hear that sound again until just a few years ago when I heard Union Pacific Challenger 3985 climb the grade out of Montello Nevada over the Pequop mountains. A very nice sight and sound which revived enough memories to make me want to make available to any of the oldtimers , who remembered, some sort of a tribute to the P&WV 2-6-6-4`s, the very first of their kind. I started to try to find info regarding these locos on the internet at many websites including the Hi-Line, Fallen Flags, and many others. Most , if not all, of the photos and other info was always shown as part of someones private collection. I tried for allmost a year to locate the owners of these collections to obtain permission to use the info. I sent letters, emails, made phone calls etc. with no response. I spoke with one of the authors of The High and Dry who was very pleasant to speak with especially since we had both attended the same school,at different times, back in the day. He urged me to keep looking,which I did, but again with no response to my inquiry. I contacted several well known railroad artists who were reluctant to use any of this material because of possible violation of propriatory rights if the resultant artwork was to be offered for sale. I happened to visit Frank Crowe`s website and really liked his style especially the painting of the N&W yards with the N&W 2-6-6-4 in the background. I furnished all of the material to Mr Crow who agreed to make a composite painting for me that would duplicate none of the material that I had sent to him. He made the painting at my request and my approval and I bear full responsibility for its production. I am sorry to have been so long winded in my explanation of the production of this painting of my trip down memory lane but I had to clarify the fact that if any problems arise concerning the sale of prints of this painting, they are my problems and not Mr Crows.