A portion of a railroad painting by Michael T. Zyla showing the old railroad station at Shamokin, Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, at the time of the transition from steam locomotives to diesel engines.
The painting was featured in an undated advertising supplement to the Citizen-Standard, Valley View, Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, and was accompanied by the following caption:
Noted Pennsylvania railroad artist Michael T. Zyla‘s “Passing the Torch” is a captivating work focusing on the end of the steam era and the beginning of diesel reign.
A “double header” Pennsylvania 1-1 steam ore train is depicted making its crawl upgrade through Shamokin, belching spoke and cinders on its way to eastern Pennsylvania steel mills. Meanwhile, a “King Coal” FP passenger diesel glides into the Shamokin Reading Station ready to pickup passengers. The steam trains were soon to disappear from the scene, replaced by both passenger and freight diesels similar to the pictured FP.
Zyle centers the important transition around a then bustling Shamokin, Pennsylvania. The train station, now dismantled, was a social gathering spot, particularly at the newsstand. Background specifics and flawless train detail highlight the impressive rendering. “Passing the Torch” is a nostalgic look at small town America and the heyday of railroading during the busy decade of the Fifties.
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For a prior blog post on the artist, see: