WICHITA, Kan. — Prints of a painting by renowned railroad artist John Winfield of Fort Worth, Texas, are now being offered by Wichita’s Great Plains Transportation Museum to help fund cosmetic restoration of Santa Fe FP45 No. 93, subject of the painting.
Winfield’s work, “Warbonnet Renaissance,” shows the locomotive pulling a freight train through the Flint Hills of Kansas near Matfield Green in 1993. Lithograph and canvas giclee prints will benefit the restoration announced last September. The locomotive was donated to the museum by BNSF Railway in 1999; it was last painted by Santa Fe in January 1990.
Winfield, 82, took up painting in 1988 and in 1992 Santa Fe Railway management took notice, purchasing his first commercial railroad piece titled War Horses for use in promotional materials. War Horses included a locomotive similar to Santa Fe 93, adorned with the railroad’s popular red and silver Super Fleet scheme akin to its passenger locomotive design used from 1937 to 1971. “My favorite railroads over the years have been Santa Fe, Southern Pacific and Texas & Pacific,” said Winfield, who has produced 342 railroad paintings, most as commissions.
Winfield’s paintings have been used for greeting cards, calendars, book jackets and other printed materials, in addition to commissioned pieces for Santa Fe, Union Pacific, Southern Pacific and BNSF railroads.
“Having an outstanding painting as the basis for prints we are selling to help fund the cosmetic restoration of our Santa Fe 93 locomotive is exciting and we truly appreciate John Winfield’s support of our efforts,” said museum President Heather Gatton. “We are fortunate to have support from John, in addition to actor Michael Gross and past Santa Fe Railway President Mike Haverty.”
As part of the cosmetic restoration process, last October the Kansas & Oklahoma Railroad conducted an airbrake test on No. 93 at the museum before moving it to the railroad’s Wichita shops for any additional work required for its eventual trip to Mid-America Car in Kansas City. “No. 93 will come back to the museum after K&O does required work, where it will remain until we accumulate adequate funds for the restoration,” Gatton said. “The Santa Fe 93 painting will help, and purchase of prints may be tax deductible because our museum is a 501(c)3 non-profit education and preservation organization.”
Those interested in a print should visit the museum (see its website for more information) or place an order here. Standard (18-by-24-inch) unsigned prints are available for $50 plus tax, shipping included; while Winfield signed and numbered prints with the same dimensions, limited to 97 pieces, are $100 plus tax, shipping included. Canvas giclee printsm limited to no more than 24 pieces, are $800 plus tax, shipping included. Signed and numbered prints include 1-93 plus 93A, 93B, 93C and 93L, the final four a nod to the way Santa Fe numbered four-locomotive passenger train sets. Signed and numbered print No.1 is being retained by the museum, while signed and numbered print No. 93 will be auctioned at a future date.
