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 1.3-MB PDF of this brochure.
General Motors was so proud of its locomotives that pulled this train at an average of nearly 58 miles per hour that it provided passengers with this brochure. We’ve already seen a similar brochure for the streamlined Empire Builder, which Great Northern had inaugurated 79 days before.
The interiors of the brochures, which describe “the inside story of Diesel power,” are pretty much identical. The front covers, too, are similar except for the locomotive paint job, railroad logos, and colors. While the Empire Builder‘s orange and green are shown on that brochure, the orange of Illinois Central’s chocolate-brown-and-orange was redder than Great Northern’s, yet this brochure portrays it as yellow. The white “glow” that surrounds the locomotive and transitions into the orange/yellow color is identical on both brochures.
The big difference is on the back, which describes each train. I suspect the text in this area was written by the railroads themselves as the two are very different. “Never has there been a train quite like it!” today’s brochure breathlessly announces. “It offers an entirely new conception of travel — the opportunity to spend a full day so packed full of interest and excitement — and yet so restful — that every hour will be long remembered.”
The Empire Builder text is more prosaic, describing the train, how much it cost, and how many of each type of car were on the train. “Interior decorative schemes reflect the colors and beauty of the historic and scenic Northwest through which the trains travel,” the brochure says in the only paragraph that would interest most travelers. “Prominent too is the motif of the Blackfeet Indians, pioneer inhabitants of the region.”
The Empire Builder brochure dully concludes, “The route of the Empire Builder is that of Burlington Lines between Chicago and St. Paul and of Great Northern Railway between St. Paul and Puget Sound.”
The conclusion of City of New Orleans brochure is more inviting. “In short, everything possible has been done to make travel aboard the ‘City of New Orleans’ a great day on anyone’s calendar,” it says. “We know you’ll remember your first dayliner journey for many years to come.”
Just 21 days after the inaugural run of the City of New Orleans, Seaboard inaugurated the Silver Comet and Rock Island-Southern Pacific inaugurated the streamlined Golden State. Like the 1947 Empire Builder and City of New Orleans, both these trains were pulled by General Motors E-7 locomotives. That makes me suspect that General Motors made similar brochures for those trains as well.