Changing of the Guard
20" x 30", Acrylic on Canvas, 2007
John Jeppesen Collection
On a hot, humid August afternoon in 1948, Northern Pacific Railway’s streamlined North Coast
Limited, inaugurated the previous year, is slowing to a stop at Fargo, ND. The engineer will
skillfully bring the train to a stop within inches of the west edge of Broadway to avoid blocking
pedestrian and vehicular traffic. A new crew waits on the platform, ready to take the train the
remaining 250 miles to St Paul, MN. Conductor Charley Asselin approaches brakeman Al “Jep”
Jeppesen. Al’s ten year old son who has come to Fargo with his dad as a non-paying guest of
the railroad stands by the hedge trying to remain inconspicuous. The westbound caboose hop
passing by is powered by 1734, a W-3 class 2-8-2. Fireman Glenn Hove checks for potential
dangers or conflicts while two crew members on the rear platform escape the heat inside the
caboose. It seems prophetic that 6502, an F-3 A-B-B GM-EMD diesel, is moving into the
foreground while the steamer recedes into the background. In a decade diesels will replace all
steam on the NP.
20" x 30", Acrylic on Canvas, 2007
John Jeppesen Collection
On a hot, humid August afternoon in 1948, Northern Pacific Railway’s streamlined North Coast
Limited, inaugurated the previous year, is slowing to a stop at Fargo, ND. The engineer will
skillfully bring the train to a stop within inches of the west edge of Broadway to avoid blocking
pedestrian and vehicular traffic. A new crew waits on the platform, ready to take the train the
remaining 250 miles to St Paul, MN. Conductor Charley Asselin approaches brakeman Al “Jep”
Jeppesen. Al’s ten year old son who has come to Fargo with his dad as a non-paying guest of
the railroad stands by the hedge trying to remain inconspicuous. The westbound caboose hop
passing by is powered by 1734, a W-3 class 2-8-2. Fireman Glenn Hove checks for potential
dangers or conflicts while two crew members on the rear platform escape the heat inside the
caboose. It seems prophetic that 6502, an F-3 A-B-B GM-EMD diesel, is moving into the
foreground while the steamer recedes into the background. In a decade diesels will replace all
steam on the NP.
