W-1 5018 West picking up orders at Scenic, Washington

This is one of five color prints by noted Seattle area artist Mr. J. Craig Thorpe.

Each image is a high quality giclee print on 11x14 paper, with unprinted margin of .75 inch to fit a standard 11x14 inch frame, without matte. They will also fit a standard 12x16 inch frame with a matte, or a standard 14x18 inch frame, with a larger matte.

Born and raised in Pittsburgh PA, and blessed with a grandfather who regularly took him for rides on streetcars and commuter trains, he studied art at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh, completed a bachelor’s program in design at Carnegie-Mellon University, served in the Army Transportation Corps, worked for architects in Virginia where he honed his illustration skills. Craig completed a Master of Divinity program near Boston, and moved to Seattle as a Presbyterian pastor. He left the ministry in 1985 to concentrate on free-lance architectural and transportation renderings for a range of clients. A 1991 commission to show a proposed Amtrak depot at Olympia, WA opened the door to national exposure when Amtrak used the image for its 1993 Corporate Calendar.

Both W-1 class electrics, numbers 5018-5019, were received in August of 1947. These were second generation electrics with all twelve axles powered and were rated at 5,000 horsepower.

Use of a single W-1 on the head end as shown here was typical. A three or four unit set of Z-1 class helpers, each rated at 1,830 horsepower, are cut into the train. Orders for the helper are in the middle hoop, with orders for the conductor in the caboose in the bottom hoop. Electric operation ended July 1, 1956.

Prints are shipped in a tube.