This week's prompt for Illustration Friday is "Train". Train is one of those words that has many meanings.
It can be a noun, as in a succession of railroad cars or a part of a gown dragging on the ground. It can be a verb as in teaching or coaching or preparing...
All those choices left me behind, so I drew none of them. I drew a caboose.
When I was a kid, I'd get excited to watch the trains move through town. My hometown was a coal mining town (there's more to life than sex change operations), so coal trains moved through quite frequently. We'd never know how many cars there would be, or if the train would come to a stop while we watched. One thing we knew, however, was that the caboose signaled the end.
Cabooses (Cabeese??) provided shelter for the train crew and used to be required. Now, they are quite rare. As a mom of boys, I have been to many many a train museum, and I always enjoyed climbing around the old caboose displays the best. They just seemed so cozy and restful compared to the rest of the old freight trains.
So, always a fan of the behind, I do a caboose.
Now a
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18 comments:
A fan of the behind? Cabooses were always my favorite as well. Sort of like a big trailer at the end of the long line. Nowadays, the only places you find them are either in museums or some converted business.
I love cabeese too, and have always felt a little sad that my kids have never seen a caboose in action. I was thrilled (well really, a little scared) when Mario came home last summer with some smashed pennies. At least she's experiencing THAT fun.
Great rendition of a train's behind, btw. A little worn and saggy, but still has the allure it did back in the old days.
They do make quaint little cafe's/coffee shops. I want one.
OH yeah, smashing pennies. I remember retrieving them and thinking "cool!", and then "now what?"
Worn and saggy, yes. Gotta take what you can get.
My sister and her husband collect cabeeses, restore them completely, and set them around various places in New Albany, Indiana. During the Christmas season they always decorate each caboose and it has become quite a local attraction.
You have THE most difficult word verification known to man. arghhh
That's beautiful! thanks for the behind the scenes video too :)
I always liked cabeeses too. I'm not sure if it really soaked into my consciousness that I haven't seen one for a very, very long time. Makes it extra nice to see yours :)
Cool rendition! I always wondered what they look like inside. I imagine a sparse setting with a couple of vinyl benches with a small table in between, and a"booster step" to look through the roof windows (y'know, to see if everything's still connected....). Maybe a transmitter to talk to the engineer but not much else.
Well, how cool is that?!
Sorry, I'll discuss your comment at the next staff meeting. Thank you for your persistence!
Thanks Tony!
That's about what I remember them looking like from my many museum visits. I always imagined the guys playing poker back there.
Can't remember the last time I actually saw one in operation. This is a subject to save for the old lady talks of the future.
That drawing is absolutely fabulous. And also, I love LOVE love trains!
Great sense of weathered wood on the sides of the caboose. Funny, I wrote about our local History Museum that is housed in an old red caboose.
I wonder what determines the font of WV. It comes to me in a readable way on this blog... but on a few others, I need big concentration. I'm reminded of those flat, but actually, 3D pictures sold at the mall kiosks a few years back. :)
Love the Caboose. Your major motion picture was cool,too. I found myself thinking about how I would have started off drawing it - that I would have felt like I had to draw the entire perimeter before any details - unlike you, a real artist!
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