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Description
During the 1950s, towns all over the United States were faced with the sight of the last steam locomotive to pull to a stop at their depot. Suddenly, the everyday station-stop life and bustle epitomized by the overalled engineer, the water plug, and the “lonesome whistle” would be lost to the mundane diesel locomotive... or worse, the self-propelled Budd cars. But the loss of the steam engine was also a metaphor for the railroads themselves... it wouldn’t be long before the passenger train was gone altogether and the station was boarded up or torn down. Occasionally, the rusty, weed-covered rails survived to mark the grave of the railroad, but more often than not they too were pulled up as salvage steel.

All of this happened far before I was born, of course... but I can still imagine all-too-clearly the sense of despair that the era must have instilled upon those with an appreciation for Americana the way it was meant to be. The song Last Train Running is a beautiful reminder of those trying years, and inspired this particular piece. [link]

The scene is loosely based on the station at Utica, New York.

Title © whoever owns the song (wish I knew who)

Description
During the 1950s, towns all over the United States were faced with the sight of the last steam locomotive to pull to a stop at their depot. Suddenly, the everyday station-stop life and bustle epitomized by the overalled engineer, the water plug, and the “lonesome whistle” would be lost to the mundane diesel locomotive... or worse, the self-propelled Budd cars. But the loss of the steam engine was also a metaphor for the railroads themselves... it wouldn’t be long before the passenger train was gone altogether and the station was boarded up or torn down. Occasionally, the rusty, weed-covered rails survived to mark the grave of the railroad, but more often than not they too were pulled up as salvage steel.

All of this happened far before I was born, of course... but I can still imagine all-too-clearly the sense of despair that the era must have instilled upon those with an appreciation for Americana the way it was meant to be. The song Last Train Running is a beautiful reminder of those trying years, and inspired this particular piece. [link]

The scene is loosely based on the station at Utica, New York.

Title © whoever owns the song (wish I knew who)