Homecoming by Mark Keathley

Few of us have experienced the reality of rail travel as a way of life. It was a thing of the distant past - I’d say about 1950 when that way of life came to an end, and we all began to have our own cars for traveling. When the whistle would blow, back then, people came from the nearby neighborhoods to see who might be coming home, or to pick up a loved one they had been expecting for some time. It is these warm feelings that I’m trying to portray in this winter scene - a contrast of bitter cold and warm feelings of reunion and joy. I know my grandparents traveled quite a bit like this, as they were broadcast performers for radio stations around the south, singing and playing the piano live for an audience over the airwaves. My how things change.