Although the Industrial Revolution in Europe was well under way by the 1870s, industrial subjects were still not considered appropriate for fine art. Academic artists abhorred modern themes. Barbizon painters were also conservative in their choice of subject matter, prefering to depict rural life shorn of all modern references. When Manet exhibited The Railroad (Wildenstein no. 207, National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.) at the Salon of 1874 the clouds of steam and smoke billowing in the background must have appeared very ominous indeed. Monet in the same year painted the railroad bridge at Argenteuil, and in 1877 a series showing the commotion and smoke in the Gare Saint-Lazare, a veritable furnace of modernity.

The Impressionists did not look upon industrial subjects as intruders in the landscape. Indeed, following the Utopian, Saint-Simonian ideals of the period, they considered such emblems of progress to be a natural part of man's new environment. The Impressionists actually followed the thinking of the railroad builders, who, in their effort to counter public resistance to their plans, made the point that the rail lines would bring people from the city to the countryside, where they could enjoy touring and other leisure activities.

Unlike Manet or Monet, Sisley was not inclined to make philosophical statements about modernity in his pictures, although he also painted railway bridges and painted scenes which show industrial work along the rivers near Paris. He normally incorporates these subjects into his compositions in an entirely matter-of-fact or natural manner. In the present work the railway embankment fills the left-hand portion of the scene, and we can see the guard-rails and signal posts along the route. The embankment is not the center of attention, however, and the view is idyllic and harmonious.