Trains of the Past

I wrote about the trains of the future last week. That post was originally just going to be about all trains in science fiction, but a strange revelation hit me during the process: There's a sharp distinction between future trains and past trains.

Futuristic trains are all about looking forward towards an optimistic ideal: Splashy profiles in glossy mags, ads for transporation conglomerates, promotional material, government propaganda.

Not only do existing train models like steam locomotives and shop-worn trolleys evade this optimism, but they charge in the opposite direction.

Surrealist illustrations might use older models to instill a little tactile gravitas they can then subvert for their own means. Fantasy illustrators love old-school trains for the time-long-past nostalgia. Finally, post-apocalyptic settings might rely on them to depict their world's metaphorical decay (retrenchment to 1800s-era travel) as well as the literal kind (lots of rust).

That's a lot of different ideas, so this post will get weird. Let's start with the surreal, as seen in these panels from Paul Kirshner’s Dope Rider –

For fantasy illustration, you can't do better than this towering machine from Rodney Matthews.

Stan Mott has a typically unsettingly whimsical take on a train of the future-past: It's still steam-powered, but they've added loop-the-loops.

Les Edwards has a train that's best described as "evil circus" themed.

I'm not even sure what's going on with this 1977 René Brantonne cover art for Les arches de Noé, by Peter Randa. Is that a train? Maybe it's a laser cannon.

The uncredited cover art to The Cassandra Crossing, novelized in 1977 by Robert Katz, is taken right off of the original movie poster. This is much more in the vein of adventure pulp illustration, which really deserves an entire newsletter of its own (RIP Mort Künstler).

Before we leave our adventure pulp detour, however, let's check out this example of a Swipe – the term for when one artist traces over another's work without credit. It's barely related to trains, but I don't need much of an excuse to show off a good Swipe.

Richard Clifton-Dey makes a striking example of surrealism with the bright reds and yellows of the skull in the sky above a Holborn subway car. It's the 1973 cover for a collection of John Wyndham short stories that was titled – don't laugh – Jizzle.

Jim Burns has a few illustrations of locomotives in creepy post-apocalyptic future settings, all done for Planet Story, a combination art book/novella that Jim Burns and Harry Harrison teamed up for. Here's one titled Big Boy Loco.

Here's another Planet Story illustration by Burns, featuring a train along with that classic beast of burden, the... uh, Komodo dragon, I think?

Let's end with the most on-theme title of the bunch: The Celestial Steam Locomotive, by Michael Coney. Here's Clyde Caldwell's 1983 original art and the cover itself.

It looks like Caldwell pared down his original vision: Here's a preliminary version that he's made available on his website.

In other news, I did an interview with Transfer Orbit about my art blogging and my art book Worlds Beyond Time. You might want to check it out! I got a tiny bit more personal than I normally do for a few questions, for any Adam Rowe lore completionists out there.

Finally, I think I might start occasionally recommending music I've been listening to. Here's a mix with a great theme: Two hours of video game music from water-themed levels.

Next time: Cloudscapes