Even though General Motors’ customers for Diesel locomotives were railroads and not the general public, the company still frequently advertised the locomotives in popular magazines such as The Saturday Evening Post, Holiday, and National Geographic. It also published a few booklets about the locomotives aimed at the general public.
Click image to download a 1.3-MB PDF of this booklet.
This 1948 booklet says that passenger trains hauled by Diesels enjoy faster schedules, quiet, restful rides, no annoying smoke, smooth starts and stops, and more reliable operation. Unfortunately, the booklet provided by Greg Palumbo has only six pages, which means two seem to be missing. But it is still an important indicator of General Motors’ push into the Diesel locomotive business.
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One of the pages has a black-and-white version of the color illustration of people departing on the Super Chief shown in this magazine ad.
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Another page has a small black-and-white version of this color painting of people riding in a dome car. The ad credits the Burlington for running dome cars on the Twin Cities Zephyrs and soon the California Zephyr and modestly doesn’t mention that dome cars were originally invented by General Motors. This ad appeared in National Geographic and other magazines.
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The booklet also has a small black-and-white version of this color ad for “restful rides” on New York Central sleeping cars hauled by General Motors Diesels. This ad appeared in Holiday and other magazines.
GM appears to have placed ads in popular magazines mainly in the 1940s. I can find some from during the war and others as late as 1948, though they could have continued later. Most ads included an illustration of a specific passenger train and mentioned the railroad that operated that train.
Click image to download a 1.2-MB PDF of this booklet.
By the 1950s, GM had stopped such popular advertising but still, of course, advertised to the railroads. This booklet describes the E9, the most powerful Diesel in the E series with 2,500 horsepower. This locomotive came out in 1954, which is probably when the booklet was published. The cover has a floor plan and page 3 has a cutaway view showing how the two engines, electric motors, and steam generator to heat the train were laid out.