Reid’s 1385 View Helps Steam Live

This sole print was found in Gil’s belongings after his passing. After some brief investigation, we found the painting described in an article titled “Reid’s 1385 View Helps Steam Live” by JG (John Gruber I believe) in the Mid-continent Railway Gazette, Dec 1997 Vol 30 No 3 (see pg 9)

The article summarizes railroad artist Gil Reid’s creation of a full-color painting of the former C&NW locomotive 1385, which was used as a premium for the Mid-Continent Railway Museum’s “Help Steam Live” campaign.

The author shares that this painting, created in 1994, features a specific, low-angle viewpoint that Reid favored because it makes the engine look “larger than life”—a common yet dramatic angle for a railfan. Reid highlighted the locomotive’s standard configuration, including the centered headlight and spoked pilot. He specifically painted the engine in a “working condition” with a “brownish rust color” and white flags and classification lights lit, wanting to depict it as an “extra” that had been out on the road, rejecting a clean, polished look.

Reid donated the painting to the Mid-Continent Railway Museum as a gesture of gratitude for their support and the opportunity to become familiar with the 1385. The original now hangs in the museum’s office conference room.

The article also provides a brief history of Reid’s career:

• Art has been a lifelong interest; he estimates he has produced 400 paintings since 1965 and has 21 Amtrak calendars to his credit.
• His interest in trains began around the fifth or sixth grade.
• He started serious railroad sketching just before World War II.
• His first color reproduction, “Noonday Water Stop,“ was published in Trains magazine in June 1943.
• Reid worked in the Kalmbach Publishing Co. art department for 21 years, beginning in 1956 and also painted from his studio in Elm Grove, Wisconsin, near a busy rail line for many years.