Charles E. Burchfield (1893-1967)

Oct. 9, 1926—

A.M. to the Gowanda Hills – sketching –
On the car to the city line – the dappled sky with the blue & yellow fissures of the imminent sunrise – The black smoke & white steam of the roundhouse locomotives against it. –
Waiting for the train at Hamburg – a shifting locomotive – white it was standing still, something in its mechanism made a shrill noise like a miniature “wild cat” siren – going up the scale & then down in exact inverted  duplication – in regular rhythm like an animal breathing.

No electric locomotive will ever attain the sinister power of its steam predecessor with its rolling smoke & flickers of white steam at it’s front wheels.
The start up the Gowanda Hills – I realized I had too much to carry. The day is cold & raw, but very little signs of October color yet. Shortly after I past (sic) the water-works reservoir, the handle of my portfolio broke. I took a peculiar satisfaction it cutting a beech branch & whittling it to the proper size. It made