FWIW

Carribean locomotives carrying (er could be sugar or could be banana) had extra extra wide funnels with pronounced double frustra shape. This was to create a more swirls so that the heavier hot particles were flung to the walls and dropped back rather than flying into the surrounding plantations and creating uncontrolled fires. What I saw of archive footage showed that there was still a quantity of light embers flying skyward.

Wood burning locos would be similar if not as bad. I think they had larger funnels than coal burners.

Of course lightning and lightening may be the connection to consider. In art - even folk art - these referrences are meant to be ambiguous and not mutually exclusive.