The flying locomotive

Pennell, Joseph, 1857-1926 · 1917

"Yes, locomotives can soar - and fly - and, like Mahomet's coffin, stand in the air; and they do these things in a blaze of glory - because the shop where they are built is not big enough to shift them about in any other way. As the engine sailed toward me I tried to make a note of it. 'Why - would you like to draw it?' said the manager, as I frantically went on making notes of the approaching monster. 'Which end would you like up?' He made a signal - they don't talk in these shops - it stopped, and there it hung. 'Bring on another,' signalled the manager - and so I drew and so the creature posed till I had finished - an excellent model in a wonderful studio." Joseph Pennell.