​​​​​Sculpture in the Parklands

​2002-2010

Having grown up in the area, my abiding memory is of the machines that Bord na Mona brought in to work the bogs: the ditchers, ridgers and trains. Looking at a line of peat wagons, flat on the horizon, I decided to take this image and commemorate it by translating it into a sculptural context- using Bord na Mona trains and wagons in a different plane- hence the introduction of the rainbow curve.

To emphasis the train going up into the sky, ditcher wheels were introduced to form tunnels in the supporting mound so the light can be seen through it. The engine is a “Rustin”. One of the oldest models and the wagons are of the open creel type, reminiscent of the creels used to carry turf on horse or donkey.

This piece is a celebration of Bord na Mona machines and the men who operated them.

Lough Boora International Sculpture Symposium 2002

Photographs: James Fraher

Mike Buffin’s Sky-Train is somewhat nostalgic in its inspiration, and recalls the era of high peat harvesting activity at Bord na Mona with the ditchers, ridgers, and trains would traverse the land, moving to and fro on a flat horizon, animating the scene. Curving on the ridge in rainbow-like configuration, and overlooking the visitor’s trail the Sky-train moves along its imaginary, no longer extent track along the Lough Boora landscape. Sky-train has a Rustin engine (one of the oldest models) while the wagons are open, creel type, like those creels used to carry turf with the assistance of horse or donkey. 

John Grande   Art/Nature Dialogues

Sky Train

2002

Mike Bulfin  (Ireland)