Monday, February 16, 2009

The railman's rest / O descanso do ferroviário


There was a special atmosphere in the picturesque railway stations of our narrow-gauge network, from which almost nothing remains today, and few of my memories are still so alive, especially when the old steam locomotives are part of the picture. The railman takes a rest in his tiny house just close to his workplace, after another busy day in the ficticious São Pedro da Eira station.
Havia uma atmosfera muito especial nas pitorescas estações da nossa rede de via estreita de que quase nada resta hoje, e poucas recordações permanecem tão vivas, sobretudo quando as velhas locomotivas a vapor fazem parte do quadro. O ferroviário descansa na sua pequena casa adjacente ao local de trabalho, após mais um dia de movimento na fictícia estação de São Pedro da Eira.
Fabriano cold-pressed 7"x 5" - 140lb (18x12,5cm - 300g/m2) paper
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6 comments:

Stephen Dell'Aria said...

Terrific painting Paulo. Al those three foot gauge railroads are gone in America too except for a few tourist lines (Two good ones are the East Broad Top RR in Pennsylvania and Cass Scenic RR in West Virginia) both of which I have ridden.

Paulo J. Mendes said...

I envy you for those railway trips. We still have a few narrow gauge sections of formerly longer lines. Two of them are in the beautiful Douro valley area, both the most valuable, scenic and dramatic of these, the Tua line, is now endangered by the construction of a huge dam that is to flood most of the remaining track bed :((

Unknown said...

Oh Paulo....I love your animals. You've got the bird, the two cats and the napping dog. You even have all that detail of the chain to his house! Is that a shovel handle sticking out of a coal bin by the house by chance? Amazing...

Paulo J. Mendes said...

I can't resist to add some animals every time I can, they give so much life to a scene... And yes, you have a good guess: It is a shovel handle, coming out of a disused goods wagon in which the rail people put every sort of disused things :)

Julio Rodrigues said...

Levou-me uns bons cinco minutos ate' absorver as riquezas desta cena.

Paulo J. Mendes said...

É caso para dizer que andou a passear pela estação, observando todos os cantos: Era um dos meus passatempos preferidos na época que este trabalho retrata :)