Mountain Tunnel Poster

Mountain Tunnel My fascination with trains seems to come and go. Those whose lives seemed to be dominated by their fondness for the old steam engines often puzzled me. I used to think all this was an unhealthy obsession until I realized how deeply the railway had incorporated itself into the world of art. In the 1880s, steam locomotives were used to haul giant redwood logs out of the mountains, coal from the mines and supplies to the cities. The noise was often deafening as they crossed over trestles, through towering forests, up the winding narrow grades of the mountains. The view from many of the rail lines have remained unchanged: towering trees, deer drinking from a river or lake, an isolated miners cabin set back in the forest. With occasional whistles and chugging pistons, as it makes is way out of the tunnel, the steam engine made its way into the past…. ALSO BY DENNIS BUCKMAN: