I did title this post, but that is not necessarily the title of this painting. When I was a young child, I saw a steam train rush through my mother's home town of Rome Ga in the dead of night. It was N&W 1218, a huge 2-6-6-4 articulated class A steam locomotive, but I had no way of knowing at that age what I was seeing. It was so dark, I only was able to see the locomotive for a second as it rushed past. I was only vaguely able to see how massive the locomotive was. Its shrill N&W "hooter" whistle pierced the darkness in a haunting way that you could not imagine unless you have heard it before. This painting is one of my many attempts made over the years to relive that moment. No camera could have captured the magic of that moment. The instant was etched into my brain and remains in the realm of my imagination. Maybe, one day, I can create a painting that will illustrate what I saw, but it would be very abstract, an overlay of flashigh rods and spinning drivers, and a streak of headlight surrounded with swerling steam.
