—By: Tyler Friedman – Special to the Shepherd Express—
Arrival of The Ghost Train is still a ways off, but it’s not too early to get excited about the forthcoming “artistic sensory experience.” The installation will recall the round-trip journey of the Twin Cities 400, a celebrated passenger train that ran between Chicago and Minneapolis from 1935-1963. The train derived both its name and its popularity from its unprecedented ability to traverse its 400-mile journey in 400 minutes.
The Ghost Train is being designed by Marty Peck of Creative Lighting Design and Engineering, a Germantown-based firm that specializes in enhancing architecture through creative use of light. With innovative light and sound technology, the installation will create the illusion of the Twin Cities 400 hurtling by twice a night on a historically accurate schedule and at a historically accurate speed. Like the Twin Cities 400, the Ghost Train will cross Capitol Drive at the Oak Leaf Trail Bridge.
“This will be a first-of-its-kind experience that blends art, history and technology, and we believe it will draw interest not only in Shorewood but throughout Wisconsin and beyond,” said Village President Guy Johnson. A tentative timeframe has the Ghost Train operational for Halloween 2016—the perfect way to inaugurate Shorewood’s 100th anniversary celebration the following year.
