#voca1ion

[voca1ion]

Beautiful stylized art deco postcard sent in 1938 from the railroad post office on the inaugural journey of the new streamlined 20th Century Limited from New York to Chicago

[1863-project]

what’s your favorite train (steam, electric, diesel)

I think I've answered similar questions to this before, but it's been a while so I might as well talk about it again!

Steam Locomotives:

Most people who follow me know about my obsession with LNER 4468 Mallard. Mallard is the current steam traction speed record holder. Are there chances other locomotives managed to go faster at some points? Sure. Were any of those officially recorded? No, and Mallard's record was, so that's the one that stands. 126 mph was the maximum speed. Mallard is also exceptionally beautiful and has incredible streamlining.

Strasburg #90, a beloved childhood friend of mine I grew up going to see every spring/summer as a kid. In 2022, she became the first steam locomotive I ever drove, and it was the most fulfilling experience of my life. Having that experience for the first time with a dear friend was so much more meaningful than it would have been had it been another locomotive.

I'm also fond of New York Central Hudsons (bonus points for Dreyfuss streamlining), the Milwaukee Road's Atlantics, Pennsy K4s and G5s, the Norfolk and Western J Class Northerns, C&O 614 (also a Northern), Southern Pacific GS-4s...the list goes on and on. I've never met a steam locomotive I didn't like...though you'd never catch me driving a camelback.

Electric Locomotives:

This is generally something people know within a few minutes of meeting me, especially since the ita bag I take around is filled with pins of them - I have been utterly obsessed with the Pennsylvania Railroad GG1 since I was a really little child. Normally I tend to do steam stuff, but the Art Deco Cyclops is my electric exception and I am so, so fond of them. Special shoutout to the prototype, OId Rivets, who I love so much I named an Eelektross after her. She's the only one without the welded, smooth streamlining, instead having a riveted body, hence her name. They were just the most perfect electric locomotives (except for the PCBs in the insulating oil in their transformers, which is why none of the preserved ones are operational).

Diesel Locomotives:

I'm not a big diesel person, so sorry to the people who are. They just don't usually capture me the way steam locomotives do - steam locomotives feel like they have souls to me in a way I don't feel like I can accurately put into words. That said, I do have one diesel I'm attached to - NJT 4100, a locomotive that's been running where she is since before the current operating agency she works for, New Jersey Transit, even existed. She's over 50 years old with no signs of slowing down. I affectionately refer to her as "The Old Fuck." I have a tag for when I have the great fortune to have an Old Fuck sighting here, but it's been a while since I last saw her in person. Luckily, there's Railroad Picture Archives, where I can keep tabs on any locomotive or other rolling stock I want. Since those photos go by the date they were taken, I can see when the most recent ones of The Old Fuck were taken, make sure she's still on the rails, and prepare to try to fight for her preservation whenever that time comes.

[voca1ion]

This postcard shows a different design of the hotel than the one actually built. It is possible it was made before the Biltmore was done, and it could give an interesting look at earlier design stages. Here is the Biltmore as it was completed!

1913 Postcard of The Biltmore Hotel, New York City. From New York City-Vintage History, FB.

[voca1ion]

Many of the postcards from the 1930s and 1940s do a very bad job touching up the Chrysler Building, particularly mangling the crown. It’s nice to see that this one is very faithful to the real thing.

[voca1ion]

1930s trifold postcard depicting the then-new Chrysler building on Lexington Avenue 42nd street.

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Magazine from 1923 promoting the United States Lines’ S.S. Leviathan, including many photos of her interior.

[penn-central-official]

Answering @voca1ion because I cannot reply on this account on mobile and won't be at a PC with Tumblr.

A New York Central Geep that made it to Conrail before being sold and an ATSF observation car that Penn Central turned into a commuter car before offloading it on NJT.

Riding on and behind former Penn Central equipment today, as god intended

[voca1ion]

Late 1930s photo booklet of New York City, with a beautiful nighttime photo on the cover. The cover typeface takes inspiration from the neon tubes that would’ve covered the city at the time, in the two most popular colors available at that time.

[voca1ion]

The New York Central Building was built as the headquarters of the New York Central Railroad and as a companion to Grand Central Terminal. Both sat in the middle of Park Avenue, and looking north from south of 42nd one would see this tower looming over the Beaux-Arts terminal. This view is looking south, so the terminal is out of view. The construction of the Pan-Am building between the terminal and tower has since prevented people from viewing both at the same time as was intended. Today, the tower is called the Helmsley Building.

[voca1ion]

Luna Park, Coney Island

[voca1ion]

New York Harbor was once bustling with life and activity. Most of this activity has left with the deindustrialization of the city and rise of containerization. Most former shipping piers are used as parks or recreational space now if they exist at all.

[voca1ion]

Late June 1927 program from the Paramount Theatre in Times Square. The theatre was the flagship of paramount pictures back in a time when movie studios also owned the theatre chains (MGM had Loew’s).

[voca1ion]

United States Lines’ S.S. Leviathan leaving New York sometime in the 1920s.

[voca1ion]

Airship docking at the top of the Empire State Building in Manhattan, 1930s

[voca1ion]

1929 Life Magazine about New York City.

[voca1ion]

Tom-Boy Rag sheet music from 1916 featuring the only cute drawing of a cat on sheet music that I have ever seen.