11: TEXAS SPECIAL STYLING PROTOTYPE PAINTING BY BEN DEDEK

Ben Dedek
The Texas Special (Circa 1947.)
Original watercolor and tempera painting on artist's illustration board signed Ben Dedek lower left and retaining the original General Motors EMD Styling Section label lower right margin.

The Texas Special, which was jointly operated by the Missouri-Kansas-Texas (MKT) and St. Louis-San Francisco (Frisco) railroads, was one of the most brightly colored passenger trains in America when it was streamlined in 1947. Few other railroads picked crimson red as their predominate color for passenger equipment. Frisco, whose freight locomotive colors were very conservative, picked the same bright colors for its train, the Meteor, which it did not operate jointly with MKT. The color scheme portrayed in this painting is close to the final one. As shown here https://www.american-rails.com/images/TXSPCE7A101KAT.jpg, however, in the final scheme the yellow is only on top of the nose surrounding the headlight and in three narrow stripes on the locomotive 'cow catcher.' In addition, the Texas star is silver and the words 'The Texas Special' are repeated on either side of the star rather than above it.
Sight size to the mat is 13.75 x 20.75, measures 20.5 x 27 inches overall.
Very good original untouched condition. There are no issues of stain, scratches, losses, repairs, in-painting or touch-up.
Provenance: The Fred Roniger Estate Collection.
$500 - $5,000