(The following story by Sarah Hagen appeared on the News10Now website on February 11, 2010. For images of the snow locomotive, visit: http://tinyurl.com/y9cathb)
NORWOOD, N.Y. — One tiny North Country village is being reminded, in a big way, of its history.
“This whole community is the railroad,” said artist Michael Tuper.
Local artist Michael Tuper sculpted a life-size locomotive out of snow. And now frozen solid, it’s an impressive work of art.
Norfolk community member Jean Grady said, “It’s a great big train made out of ice. I thought it was just a small thing, but it’s big, it’s big, it’s remarkable.”
It’s 160 feet long and 16 feet tall, an exact replica of the last steam engine that rolled through Norwood before its tracks were shut down in the 1960s.
Tuper said, “This is where all the trains came back in the day. There are five or six rails that came through here and dropped coal off down in the back behind the train.”
But bringing that history back to life wasn’t so easy to do.
“There was a picture that I just looked at. It was actually headed the opposite way, so I had to turn it around in my head and make it like this,” said Tuper.
The project took about a month to complete and the community is now turning out to see the finished product.
Village of Norwood Mayor James McFaddin said, “When you have something unique in the heart of your village, it brings people, causes them to speak to one another and that is where ideas to improve our community are generated from.”
The Village of Norwood has hopes of starting a train museum, as well as a train tour throughout the North Country. They have already received $15,000 from state funding and they are hoping for $450,000 more.
McFaddin said, “We are trying to bring back the railroad history that is so rich in our village.”
Mayor McFaddin says the life-size locomotive has given new life to revitalizing that history.