Locomotive project: Back on track and off the rails
The Baldwin 4-4-0 the vocational art classes have been building has been a work in progress.
To spice up Powell High School and to one-up last year’s project, it had to be bold and unique; adding to the creativity and aesthetics of the school.
PHS art teacher James Gilman has found yet another one-of-a-kind project to add to the previous.
The Baldwin 4-4-0 Locomotive is still on track on being finished on the end of May, a great addition to the high school.
Mr. Gilman and approximately 30-40 vocational arts students have been working on this project since the beginning of the school year in August.
“On the whole project, we are two-thirds of the way there,” Mr. Gilman said. “The individual parts of the project we are further along in other places and not so far along.”
By the end of the year, around 70 students will be helping when the project is completed. The work that still needs to be done are the robotics, some of the basic installation, small details, and more still needs to be done.
I have to remember that people are going to be looking at the mural far away rather than up close and I have to make sure the painting is proportional to everything around it.
— Senior Olivia Hobby
The progress consists of learning along the way with the students and using the knowledge of previous projects and incorporating it into the task at hand.
“The challenge is that there’s no rules set in stone so it’s a problem solving game,” Mr. Gilman said. “It makes me excited to go to school everyday and learning along the way.”
In this time frame, Powell High School Vocational Arts classes has completed the basic construction and the basic details of the locomotive, the tunnel in which frames the train as it’s exiting the wall, and parts of the background in the breakout room closest to Gilman’s room.
Senior Olivia Hobby has been painting the mural for the locomotive, specifically the rocks and boulders coming off the tunnel.
“Personally my biggest challenge painting is that I have to paint much larger objects than what I’m used to,” Hobby said. “I have to remember that people are going to be looking at the mural far away rather than up close and I have to make sure the painting is proportional to everything around it.”
Junior Joe Schneider has worked on a little bit of everything on the train, such as the pipes on the sides and motor underneath.
“Just trying to figure out where the parts go here and there to make it look realistic,” Schneider said, referring to the challenges he’s personally faced.
This can be frustrating, time-consuming and difficult, Hobby still enjoys these projects.
“I’ve worked on all the installation projects since I was a freshman it’s fun knowing that you’ve worked on something people will be looking at for years and years after I graduate,” Hobby said. “I love how this lets students get involved in a lot of different ways.”
Although it is frustrating at times, the vocational arts students think the same way about the locomotive.
“Well it’s fun and it’s something to look forward to everyday and it’s an adventure to work through the problem solving processes and we feel like a team doing it,” Mr. Gilman said.
