Original Paintings For Sale By Mike Danneman
Little Joe Sunset
SOLD
A Milwaukee Road freight led by a "Little Joe" electric locomotive casts a perfect silhouette against a brilliant Montana sunset. During the late summer on those years where snowpack is light, forest fires are common in the mountains of west. The sun shining through all of those particulates in the atmosphere can create some terribly hazy skies, but towards evening, a beautiful sunset is sometimes the result. The Milwaukee and it's Pacific Extension are long gone, but the railroad still lives on in the hearts of many.
Mike Danneman
2000 acrylic on canvas board
18" x 24" size
$1,700.
Yampa Valley Mail at Tunnel 29
SOLD
The daily local train on the Rio Grande between Denver and Craig, Colorado was affectionately known as the Yampa Valley Mail, even after the train lost the mail contract in 1963. The train was one of the last haunts for the elegant Alco PA's that began life hauling premiere name trains like the Exposition Flyer and the California Zephyr. A PA, a baggage and a coach was all that made up the train on most days. Nonetheless, train 9 and 10, served an important service to northwest Colorado until the train's demise on April 7, 1968.
Mike Danneman
2002 acrylic on canvas board
16" x 20" size
$3,000.
B&O's Metropolitan
SOLD
The Christmas season has settled on the Baltimore and Ohio's Cumberland, Maryland to Huntington, West Virginia mainline. In a view from the fireman's seat of the cab of an eastbound freight, the westbound Metropolitan cruises into view through the fresh snow. The mail-heavy holiday season train is led by two E8s, and helped up front by an A-B-A set of blue F-units. The train may be made up of a hodgepodge of equipment, but it certainly would be fun to go back to the B&O during Christmas 1966.
Mike Danneman
1996 acrylic on board
16" x 20" size
$2,800.
Rush Hour at Englewood
AVAILABLE
It's dusk on a cold, raw winter day on the south side of Chicago at Englewood, as Pennsylvania and New York Central trains fill the air with action. The Broadway Limited and the 20th Century Limited are blasting eastward in the distance, bracketed by a westbound Pennsy freight and an inbound NYC passenger run from Michigan. A cold wind off of Lake Michigan this eve proceeds evening snow squalls, and the railroad action will soon never be like this in the future.
Mike Danneman
1997 acrylic on canvas board
18" x 24" size
$2,800.
Twilight on the Wisconsin Central
AVAILABLE
On a crisp winter night in January 1996, a Wisconsin Central freight charges through the snow, after picking up some additional cars at Duplainville, Wisconsin. The northbound train is led by the 6005, a former Algoma Central locomotive, and will soon have the train up to track speed through the sleeping central Wisconsin countryside. I'm sure the crew will be happy to get home to North Fond du Lac after many cold hours on the road.
Mike Danneman
1998 acrylic on canvas board
14" x 18" size
$1,400.
Semaphores at Sunset
SOLD
Across the colorful Arizona desert, the Southern Pacific mainline was signaled with these unique lower quadrant semaphores. Sunset settles over the landscape as an eastbound freight crests the rails in the distance. In a few minutes the glowing headlight and steam plume will emerge as a powerful steam locomotive pulling a mile long freight destined for eastern markets.
Mike Danneman
1998 acrylic on canvas board
16" x 20" size
$1,400.
Skirting the Storm
SOLD
On the high desert east of Portola, train 18, the California Zephyr, highballs eastward on the Western Pacific. A late afternoon thunderstorm livens up the evening sunset. Soon, nightfall will be settling on the train, and the passengers will soon have their beds turned down for the nocturnal crossing of Nevada. A bright new day of crossing the Rocky Mountains will greet them at dawn.
Mike Danneman
1999 acrylic on canvas board
15" x 30" size
$3,800.
1947 Empire Builder
SOLD
In 1929, the Great Northern Railway inaugurated its Empire Builder on a 63-hour schedule between Chicago and Seattle. In 1947, it upgraded the train with new diesels and streamlined cars on a 45-hour schedule. In this painting, westbound No. 1 is descending the railway's easy passage over the 5,213-foot Continental Divide summit in the southern edge of Glacier Park in the Montana Rockies. At that time the country was just coming out of World War II. The colorful streamliner was in full stride and GN's Empire Builder was one of the leaders of the pack.
Mike Danneman
2000 acrylic on canvas board
18" x 24" size
$3,300.
Train Time
AVAILABLE
This painting was something a little different for me. Based on a Union Switch and Signal publicity photo, it is a looser, less detailed style and doesn't really show much "train". It is done on stretched canvas and features liberal use of a palette knife in addition to the brush strokes. The Denver Zephyr patiently waits in the background as the train crew directs passengers to the train at Denver Union Station in 1937.
Mike Danneman
2000 acrylic on stretched canvas
24" x 30" size
$2,200.