Painting by Bob Dylan

The Bullfrog-Goldfield Railroad Yard

I recently came across a photograph of this painting by Bob Dylan. I haven’t yet been able to find the title or year that it was painted — I can see that it was on display at the Retrospectrum exhibition at Modern Art Museum, Shanghai. 28 September 2019 — 31 March 2020.

I was initially drawn to the sky in this painting (as I seem to be with many of his paintings) — A singular painted sky (I had an unusual sense that it was closer to me than the train) — A different scene, a different place and time (I am not sure if that is the case)… After having that idea, I suspected that the train had been placed somewhere that it originally was not — that it would be ‘out of place’ ..

(Photograph, Melissa Whitney. 2016. Goldfield, Nevada.)

Photographs of this and other places in Goldfield

The Bullfrog Goldfield Railroad was one of five railroads that ran through Goldfield.

“The Bullfrog Goldfield freight depot and maintenance building was situated at Fifth Avenue and Pearl Street across from the Santa Fe Saloon and is under reconstruction today.”

Looking into this further, it appears that this train engine was brought here in recent times from a different area, it didn’t actually run on this line (although it does resemble ones that did). — The ‘Goldfield Consolidated Mines Company’ sign doesn’t belong on this actual train engine (which I find interesting, considering Bob Dylan’s painting of signs in his paintings, placing them in places that they weren’t originally (I am still wondering about the sky in this painting — I sense there will be more levels to this).

I have found a photograph of what may be part of the old wooden ‘maintenance building’ that stood on the spot of where this train engine now is.

These images are from February, 2008. The wooden shed is located where the train engine (and tracks) now stand. Opposite is Santa Fe Club Saloon (Established in 1905).

Map

More recently:

Google Earth 'Photo Sphere' of the area

(A screen recording of me looking around the area, whilst listening to some Bob Dylan music).

Bullfrog Goldfield Railroad Yard Display Project:

“Just Working on the Railroad…

The Society was thrilled to acquire two boxcars to add to the Bullfrog Goldfield Railroad Yard display across the street from the Santa Fe Saloon on Fifth Avenue in Goldfield. However, volunteers needed to lay some new track in order to move the engine forward and make room for the cars… no easy job.”

“This engine was given to the Society by the California Railroad Museum in Sacramento and never actually ran on any of our railway lines. However, this engine looks a little like a Baldwin side tank engine used on the Goldfield Consolidated Mines RR during the boom years.”

“The boxcars were rescued from a storage yard in Fernley, NV. These two cars were actually a part of our history and ran on the local rail lines. They were moved with the help of our friends at Central Nevada Museum in Tonopah. The cars are currently receiving a new coat of paint as weather permits. We will be updating the project as it progresses. This display site is Number 130 in the Goldfield Walking Tour Booklet.”

Bullfrog Goldfield Railroad Yard Display Project

The History of Goldfield

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I found it interesting that Bob Dylan has painted a scene that has been brought together in this way. The engine from California, the boxcars rescued and ‘brought home’, placed here on new tracks laid at the site of the old freight depot maintenance building, opposite the Santa Fe Saloon.

In some of Bob Dylan’s paintings he has brought together parts from different scenes, different times,

..where as here in the railroad yard, that has already been done in the actual scene — the sky though.. I sense has some kind of connection — possibly to water / steam / a different scene that connects to this bringing together of different parts of history, together in one place — painted on canvas by Bob Dylan at this certain time.

Another painting of Bob Dylan’s that I think connects to this in some kind of way is, No Vacancies:

…

The laying of rails, the bringing together of this old train engine with boxcars, reminded me of this,

“His largest sculpture to date, site-specific ironwork sculpture, created for permanent installation, placed alongside the old Roman road.

Rail Car - an immersive, ironwork freight car installation set on train tracks – engages prominent motifs in Dylan’s art, as well as relating to aspects of his past. As Dylan describes in his Chronicles: Volume One, 'I’d seen and heard trains from my earliest childhood days and the sight and sound of them always made me feel secure. The big boxcars, the iron ore cars, freight cars, passenger trains, Pullman cars. There was no place you could go in my hometown without at least some part of the day having to stop at intersections and wait for the long trains to pass.'

The repurposed freight car that Dylan has integrated into the sculpture is a WIIX 723 double-door boxcar used to transport paper rolls for Willamette Industries, a timber and paper company based in Oregon. Work began on Rail Car in the summer of 2019, involving engineering teams in both France and the United States. The artwork was first created in Los Angeles, then disassembled, crated and shipped to France to be installed onsite at Château La Coste.”

…

I found a few other photographs of the The Bullfrog-Goldfield Railroad Yard on Flickr, photographs by Don Barrett.

“I’m always fascinated by old locomotives, so this old locomotive has been one of my reasons for repeatedly exploring Goldfield. It’s only from researching for these current pictures that I discovered that the locomotive is somewhat of an impostor. Per the historical society link, this locomotive is similar to what would have been used in the local mines but this actual locomotive never ran in Goldfield – it’s a gift from the California Railroad Museum in Sacramento.

If you compare this photo to the older photo linked below, you’ll notice a few changes. In the 15 years I’ve been stopping in Goldfield, I’ve regularly seen efforts to increase tourist appeal to the town, but it’s always hard to tell if they’ve paid off – I seldom see other tourists stopping.”

26th December, 2008:

Goldfield, Bullfrog Goldfield Railroad (BGRR) Yard

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Unrelated to this, but in the area — if you watch the video earlier in the post of me searching around this place on Google Earth, I came across The International Car Forest. It seems like an interesting place — kind of like the surface of the moon with cars sticking out of it.

I have set Theme Time Radio Hour — Trains (and More Trains) to play again here. I will keep a look out for higher resolution photographs of this painting .

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nightly moth.