by Kiesa Kay

Metal tracks spiral upward in Barney Eiserloh’s sculpture, and a train car at the bottom looks ready to roll. The names of the towns show at north, south, east and west, and metal represents the mountains here.

The Town of Tryon owns the piece and once displayed it at the Tryon Depot, but they’ve allowed Eiserloh to offer it to the Landrum City Council for use at the Landrum Depot.

The Landrum will be taking a close look to determine whether it will fit, as the sculpture stands six feet tall and ten feet wide.

“I was taking a class from Anna Pack Conner on how the railroad brought the world to these foothills, and it inspired me to create this sculpture,” Barney said. “The Tryon Garden Club commissioned the piece, and it used to be there at the depot.”

Linda Eiserloh, Barney’s wife, said Tryon officials decided that they needed the space beneath the sculpture for receptions and events, so they put the sculpture in storage.

“Tryon had no immediate plans for the piece, and people kept asking me what had happened to it, because many people really liked it,” Barney said. “I hate to see it waste away in a warehouse, and it’s made to represent railroads in this area. I’m proud of it because I put eight months of effort and time into it, and I got a great deal of satisfaction from the work.”

The sculpture filled up the couple’s garage in their Tryon home.

“It was wonderful watching him do this,” Linda said. “He never had made anything quite like it, and he took a tremendous amount of time and focused energy.”