Imagine working with movie directors and studios, painting original watercolors on canvas of trains, painting the actual trains themselves, firing steam engines—and getting paid for it all! 

Jeff Ellingson, a D&SNGRR artist, does all that and more. His meticulously rendered watercolors of trains hang inside the railroadâs museum. Because of his love and interest in the history of the train, Ellingson also acts as curator of the museums in Durango and Silverton. His freshly painted locomotives, tenders and cars (the real thing) steam along the tracks between the two towns. (And if you look up in the cab, you might very well see him firing an engine or running it.) 

The American Heritage Railway logo Ellingson designed—he got his start with the train as a  fresh-from-school graphic artist—adorns tee shirts, caps, brochures and railroad advertising material. His handiwork is everywhere: in the  green Baggage Car used for the movie Butch Cassidy (now used as a video theater complete with ornate theater seats); in the richly appointed burgundy and gold Nomad (complete with boudoir) available for private parties; in the bright yellow cars often renamed for a movie, then re-lettered again (by Ellingson) for regular passenger use; and, in the engines and coaches and tenders tenderly refinished by Ellingson. (This year, look for his bright "bumblebee" paint job on Engine 473, which will be completed just in time for 2004 Railfest.) 

Ellingson also spent fourteen years in the car shop, helping to restore eight Rio Grande and Rio Grande Southern passenger coaches. "My job was to paint the outside, to put the lettering on the cars, do all the  woodwork. Plus I paint all the locomotives. The best thing about my job," Ellingson concludes, "is that I get do something different every single day."

And...he gets to have fun doing it!

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Top: Original watercolor. Jeff Ellingson, © 2002