“Red” Overland Train Painting

The image below was painted by Marathon LeTourneau, Co.’s Art Supervisor and company artist H.D. “Red” Reynolds. He started his professional career as a painter in 1951 for LeTourneau College. Reynold’s private paintings mainly focus on nature and wildlife. He was active in local Longview, Texas art events and in his encouragement of youth participation in the art field.

Before companies had marketing departments filled with Mac laptops, companies used to employ artists. The R.G. LeTourneau, Inc. company art is amazing to see – the shading, precise line work, and attention to detail is unimaginable by today’s standards. The painting shows the Overland Train Mark 2 traveling over Arctic terrain accompanied by a weasel. As you can slightly make out, exhaust is coming from the last two cars and the engine and generator set in the control car. The painting now resides in a private office in Longview, TX.

Gregg County Historical Museum hosted a R.G. LeTourneau exhibit from April 13, 2021 through June 12, 2021. During which time, the painting, or a print of it, was on exhibit.