Photo by Taymar
By the fridge
“The rumble of the two trains, faint and far off at first, but growing nearer and more distinct with each fleeting second, was like the gathering force of a cyclone. Nearer and nearer they came, the whistles of each blowing repeatedly.… As they approached the fatal meeting place the rumbling increased, the roaring grew louder… a crash, a sound of timbers rent and torn, and then a shower of splinters…. There was just a swift instance of silence, and then as if controlled by a single impulse both boilers exploded simultaneously and the air was filled with flying missiles of iron and steel varying in size from a postage stamp to half of a driving wheel.” — The Dallas Morning News. Sept. 16, 1896.
If that sounds like fun, you’ve come to the right place. The Great Train Wreck is an interactive art installation with two full-size, wooden replicas of steam locomotives facing off at opposite ends of a 200-foot length of track, an homage to the spectacle of staged train collisions from the turn of the 20th century. Each is 46 feet long, 8 feet wide, and 11 feet tall, and will be lit up with programmed LED effects. The team is building in interactive elements, including a steerable lantern, flames, steam and whistles, and creating an ambient field of train sounds that will emanate from the piece. The crew plans to destroy the locomotives in a staged, simulated crash and explosion on Friday, with mechanical wizardry and pyrotechnics.
The Wreck is unique in multiple ways. The installation was built at three locations. The locomotives are the work of the Collaborative Artisan Reno-Sacramento (CARS) team, which is descended from two former Circle of Regional Effigies (CORE) groups in the two cities, and the work was undertaken in Reno at the Generator and at a nondescript Sacramento back yard. A train depot that will grace the track was created by the Sacramento Foothills Region Burning Man Project near Auburn, California. The ambitious plan for the final burn on Friday includes a VW engine that will pull the locomotives together using a cable tow for the final crash, combining large scale moving elements with a pyrotechnic burn, unusual even for BRC. The goal is a pyrotechnic event that will be remembered for years, on the scale of the Crude Awakening fireball from 2008.
The Great Train Wreck was funded by an honorarium from Burning Man that covered about 20 percent of the $40,000 budget; a grant from Reno Burners, as well as individual contributions, covered the rest. The Playa provides, even in advance: The builds benefited from a donation of lumber from a marijuana operation that went legal and replaced its wood grow-house structure with steel; while heavy equipment, skills, and time came from the local community. More than 140 people have worked on this project. The Wreck is the brainchild of, and managed by, Sacramento’s Debby Brower (Red Vixen). Key people who made it happen include John Thompson, Jeremy Evans (build leads), Jon Fadhl, Jacque Weimer, Bill Tubman, and Dale Weber. The team acknowledged Lynda Traves, Mark Cappel, Steve Durkee, & Rene Venegas for their support. Pyrotechnics are being managed by David Best’s Black Rock Effects team – they have adopted this as their pyro-project for the year – and by Dimitri Timohovich who has overseen the Man Burn and also does fireworks for major public events like the Super Bowl and the Olympics.
On Playa, the piece is at 3:45, and 1700’ from The Man. From Wednesday to Friday, come watch “Art Speaks: A presentation of the artists’ vision for The Great Train Wreck” at Everywhere Pavilion next to the Artery (6:15 and Esplanade) at 2 p.m. And, last but not least, on Friday at 9 p.m.: Total destruction and associated mayhem.