 The Fine Arts Center for the New River Valley unveiled Harry
McDaniel's "Ghost Train on May 10th 2003. To commemorate this day in
the Center's history, local and state dignitaries were on hand to help with
festivities.
Congressman Rick Boucher; Bruce Wingo, Chairman of the Virginia
Board of Conservation and Recreation; Foster Billingsley, representing the
Virginia Commission for the Arts, and Michael Dowell, Executive Director of
the Artisan Center of Virginia and past Executive Director of the Fine Arts
Center, were joined by many members of Pulaski's town council and Pulaski
County's board of supervisors.
Delegate Benny Keister was master of ceremonies and Congressman
Rick Boucher brought those in attendance up to date on the New River Trail
Sculpture project. Congressman Boucher reminded everyone that former First
Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton designated the New River Trail as a Millennium
Legacy Trail in 1999, on of 50 trails selected in the United States. Harry
McDaniel's "Ghost Train" sculpture symbolizes the trains that once
ran along the New River Trail. They can no longer be seen, but the remaining
traces of the railroad still allow us to imagine the noisy mass of a train
swooshing past, the ground vibrating, the windpushing at us, the dust smells
of smoke, coal or lumber swirling all around.
The sculpture was designed with the help of a CAD program.
The placement of each sign and telescope was critical within 1/8" in
three dimensions. Each silhouette can only be seen clearly from one point.
Harry McDaniel spent some 1,300 hours designing and erecting "Ghost Train".
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