How a cross-country train ride changed my life.

 In early 2019 my father’s health was fading. He had been diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis, and his prognosis was certain: increasing difficulty breathing and deteriorating health over the next one to two years. The end of his life was nearing with no recourse. As we discussed how best to enjoy his remaining time, we decided to take the Amtrak Empire Builder route from Chicago to Seattle.

A shared passion between my father and I was model railroading and talking about trains. I still have the toy train set Santa brought me sitting in my office from Christmas 1971. As many model railroaders do, we had picked an era and area to focus on. Our era was the early to mid 1970s, before Amtrak took over all passenger service. The area we loved was that of the Great Northern railroad.

  The Empire Builder was part of that era, and over the years we had often discussed how much we would like to take the trip. The decision was made and the bags were packed. Our tickets were timed to coincide with the summer solstice, offering the longest days to enjoy the scenery. We boarded the train with my mother and my wife and set out across the northern route to the Pacific Northwest.

Since his diagnosis, my father was spending increasingly less time with the model railroad, and I was looking for a way to make him want to spend more time. While traveling across Montana and North Dakota, I had the idea to paint a backdrop for the models. I figured I would start with a small section, and see how it worked. If it passed muster, I could consider bigger pieces.

So, using a sketching app on my phone, I proceeded to start sketching the scenery and planning how to bring it to the layout at home.