I dedicate this section to serious art (well, kinda serious). The paintings here, in a nostalgic vein, are of an age long gone but never forgotten by those who lived it. When I hired out on the CB&Q Railroad in 1964 the age of steam was nearly over but its foot print was everywhere to be seen. It was a hard, back breaking, smoke saturated life that those who lived it spoke of with reverence and a genuine love for those huge, iron dinosaurs that huffed and puffed up and down the railroad lines across our nation.
They spoke of them in hushed whispers as though they were alive and listening. temperamental, high maintenance with a ceaseless appetite for water and coal the iron beasts were alive in their eyes. It was a love/hate relationship that the sterile diesel jockies of today will never appreciate.
The following illustrations are just for fun and if I cause some of you old timers to sigh and think back to those simpler times it was time well spent.
If you are interested, most of the illustrations displayed below are available at www.cafepress.com . Prints, t-shirts, coffee cups etc. are available, simply type Don Lomax in the search window and have at it.
Now, sit back and enjoy.
In the 1940s the CB&Q Railroad maintained a branch line from Bushnell, Illinois to Roseville, Illinois. The Roseville turn, originating in Beardstown, Illinois would regularly travel from Beardstown to Roseville in local wayfreight service. Here, the local crew, ahead of schedule on their return trip and running waycar lite, stop to try their luck fishing at one of the streams the rail line crosses demonstrating the delights of a less hectic time.