Train – Larry Johnston, Nostalgic Artist

“The Train”

Thurmond, West Virginia

The mountains of Vest Virginia are beautiful, so while in the area, we went picture-taking and ended up in Thurmond, West Virginia. It was a Coal Town, but I was told it had no roads at one time. You had to travel by train to get there. I took many photos of the area and later painted “The Train”. I made sure to show the low clouds in the mountains along with the beautiful fall colors. In my photos, there was an old oil tanker car sitting on the tracks, so I turned it into an old steam train.

Thurmond was used in a movie in 1987, called “Matewan” about a 1920’s coal mining town, dramatizing “The Battle of the Matewan Coal Strike in 1920”. It included Actor James Earl Jones.

Thurmond is located, in the New River Gorge. The 2010 Census shows the town is made up of a total population of 5 people. There’s not much Real Estate action around there. The whole town is on the Historic Register.

The South Shore,

South Bend, Indiana.

Since I lived in South Bend, Indiana, I exhibited in shows in the area and wanted to capture some of the history of South Bend. The South Shore Line was popular in earlier years, which ran from South Bend to Chicago. The South Bend station was located downtown across from the LaSalle Hotel. The South Shore still runs from South Bend to Chicago and stops between, but the station was moved to the airport on the west side of South Bend. I wanted to focus the painting on the end of the line, where the passengers exit the train at the South Shore Station. To capture the reflections of the lights, I painted the scene as if it was a light rain, creating the wet pavement I even put a Studebaker in the background, since Studebaker was the main industry in South Bend at the time. I hope you enjoyed your trip back in time.

around the sides of the wood.

24” x 36” ………. Original Painting on stretched canvas not available.