Engine with 9 cars including first being coal car; headed toward left in image alongside a second set of tracks.
Currier & Ives recognized the American public’s fascination with the railroad and produced over 30 prints with the train as the main subject. Trains grew in importance throughout the 19th century as, traveling on more than 30,000 miles of track, they crisscrossed the nation providing transportation for both people and goods. Currier & Ives produced meticulously detailed “portraits” of select trains in order to satisfy the demand for images of the iron horse. In this work, a locomotive pulls a tender, a baggage car and seven passenger cars around a curve in the track.
