![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgobcqsiJC8-SRrlSpuAOAe319DL_yW2zzOg6TSzkKQ3_ufm-f4xHT8GBOynt3QXYANagewD-W_gZyTpKamDN74vYnYqCqPcCIpcmh4MVX2B_etF9jIwmwtF1W5DRBIKygEQ3HI2n5xFx0/s320/train_pe_1952.jpg)
A portion of an illustration for Park East magazine (June 1952).
Jim Flora's affinity for the railroad yard and its denizens dates back to the mid-1930s when he returned to his home state of Ohio after exploring a brief scholarship granted to him by the Boston Architectural League, unfortunately cut short by economic hardships of the Depression. Flora's uncle, a night foreman for the Cincinnati Railroad Terminal Roundhouse, procured the architectural dropout a job wiping soot from steam locomotives for 25 cents an hour. It was nephew Jim's rent gig for the next two years while he attended the Art Academy of Cincinnati.