New York Central Passenger Advertising

[Miningman]

When all was well with the Railroads and they were proud of their services in the Golden Age, this was offered and was the style, very classy and wonderous.

Fast Forward to post war 1947.  We have a the iconic streamlined Hudson, the magnificent Niagara and some bulbous nosed thing-a-ma-jig. As a kid this would make me both excited about the steam but with a cold chill about that thingie, which I was sure was not a real serious threat. Why is that thing there?

One lousy year later and this would destroy my faith in humankind.

Bunch of look alike evil soulless stupid things.... I'm sure the steam is ok. The real important stuff is still steam and it will be around for a long time. 

Well because of the Diesels ( I TOLD you so!... I KNEW it! ), everything was going to pieces and people did not like trains anymore. 

So they tried getting movie stars to pretend they like Diesels.

Then things got weird and more disaster Diesels. I knew they were no good just by looking at them. Don't they understand these things are no good

They try again with even weirder things. The bosses are really dumb. 

I was hopeful for steam to come back when this thing rapidly failed. It's so obvious!

Epilogue

It was not to be and passenger service declined to embarrassing levels and finally fizzled right out on the mighty New York Central. I knew all along what the problem was but it fell on deaf ears. 

All the romance was gone.. so people left the trains. 

 

 

 

 

[gmpullman]

When The Century was just a kid —

NYC_25-Ani-cover by Edmund, on Flickr

One of my favorites:

NYC_25-Ani_0004 by Edmund, on Flickr

NYC_25-Ani-5-6 by Edmund, on Flickr

---

NYC_Century-ad-1937 by Edmund, on Flickr

old4a_368 by Edmund, on Flickr

   — and, yes, there's nothing more inviting than a made-up bedroom suite aboard The Century:

Pullman_NYC-suite by Edmund, on Flickr

Cheers, Ed

 

[Flintlock76]

Yeah, somehow I don't think railroad management recognized the fact that steam was part of the adventure and "show-biz" aspect of train travel.  

It's been said passengers don't care what pulls the train as long as it gets where it has to be "on the advertised" but sometimes I've got to wonder.  Maybe now, but back then?

By the way, I don't think Cary Grant's thinking about steam OR diesel in that shot, do you?

Love those old ads!  Classy all the way!

[Overmod]

Flintlock76

It's been said passengers don't care what pulls the train as long as it gets where it has to be "on the advertised" but sometimes I've got to wonder.  Maybe now, but back then?

Miningman carefully omitted the great preponderance of NYC advertising after about 1948 because it so raises his blood pressure, but he alludes to it in kind of the "He Who Must Not Be Named" way.

Google "Dieseliner" and see how synonymous NYC made it with their passenger service...

[Miningman]

One thing I've never had a problem with is high blood pressure. My Doc states " you need to get mad and upset, gets things going" . Last summer I was a 60/40 which is darn near zombie land. When I looked at a tree all the leaves were just one big green blob. I'm up to 110/70 so it's better now.. but I still need to get mad sometimes so Diesels are the ticket!

It is quite accurate that as a kid 6-13 I felt real bad when Diesels were featured in ads. I said to myself " what is wrong with these people". Even though featuring Diesels was true it was not reflected in what was happening in my home town of Burlington, or Port Dover and Simcoe as steam ruled until mid 1959. The CASO and the TH&B, also close by and observable was a different story. 

So I need to get fired up over something instead of my default position.