Several years ago, I presented a painting of an SP&S E-7 locomotive prepared by General Motors design staff. I noted that the locomotive wasn’t actually delivered in those colors; instead, it was painted in the Great Northern Empire Builder colors. … Continue reading
Category Archives: General Motors
On April 27, 1947, Illinois Central inaugurated its all-coach, daytime train, the City of New Orleans. The train left each terminus at 8:00 am and arrived at the other end a few minutes before midnight. Click image to download a … Continue reading
This card shows F3 #291, which General Motors built as a demonstrator for this type of locomotive in July, 1945, which was 150 horsepower more powerful than its predecessor, the FT. Photographs of the four demonstrator units show that they … Continue reading
This is an original watercolor painting by General Motors artist Harry Bockewitz showing the proposed color scheme for E7 locomotives that the manufacturer was hoping to sell to the railroad. The paint design is nearly identical to the F3 locomotives … Continue reading
I’ve shown this ad before in a post on Bern Hill’s artwork for General Motors. Since then I’ve acquired these sample advertisements distributed by the Kudner Agency of New York. Click image to download a 836-KB PDF of this ad. … Continue reading
Based on a speech by General Motors vice-president in charge of public relations, Paul Garrett, this booklet only briefly explains why GM built (or had built for it) the Train of Tomorrow. The company’s goal, says the second paragraph, wasn’t … Continue reading
Although the cover is so non-descript that I’m using the title page in the image below, this booklet contains 31 color illustrations of General Motors passenger and freight locomotives and another 48 black-and-white photos of General Motors switch engines. The … Continue reading
Ralph Budd was one of more than 10 million people who saw the General Motors Century of Progress exhibit in 1933, and for 1934, this brochure says, “Everything has been changed” except for the Chevrolet assembly line (which was the … Continue reading
In 1933, no one had any idea that General Motors would soon become the nation’s largest builder of railroad locomotives. So it is not surprising that this brochure, which was distributed at Chicago’s Century of Progress exposition, focuses on GM’s … Continue reading
Frisch liked the six E7 locomotives (numbered 2000 to 2005) it purchased in 1948 for the Meteor and Texas Special so well that it soon added sixteen E8s (which were first made in 1949) for its other passenger trains. This … Continue reading