Beautiful 1940s rail ads

From Vintage Ads participant write_light, a triptych of 1940s illustrated rail ads of surpassing loveliness.

Sunday Surplus: The Luxury of Rail Travel in the Forties

I write books. My latest is a YA science fiction novel called Homeland (it's the sequel to Little Brother). More books: Rapture of the Nerds (a novel, with Charlie Stross); With a Little Help (short stories); and The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow (novella and nonfic). I speak all over the place and I tweet and tumble, too.

MORE: ad • happy mutants • illustration • Old school • transport

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coffee100

Back when America was actually capable of building beautiful things to be advertised.
lesserlesserwashington

And using the name of a Native American tribe for advertising…*shakes head*. I guess it isn’t as bad as the military taking all our tribal names for weapons…Kiowa, Apache, Commanche…
aynrandspenismighty

This harkens back to an age when men wore hats, women knew their place and the only brown people you saw were dressed to serve.
http://ryandavidjahn.com Ryan David Jahn

Am I the only one who immediately thought of “Ode to Billie Joe”? Probably.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvocoG9eOdY
thequickbrownfox

There was another such railway of the period which advertised the adventures of an intrepid traveller by the name of “Phoebe Snow”.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoebe_Snow_%28character%29
grimatongueworm

Sadly, Amtrak looks like this, today.
http://twitter.com/nlongtin Nicholas Longtin

Riding the rails is the way to go! I took a train ride in Norway this spring and rode the 1940s Flam railway. It was awesome. So relaxing, such beautiful scenery. I shot some video with my iPhone out the window if you care to see the incredible view I had. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJDvlbQch5Y
scifijazznik

I think Xeni needs that black hat with the flower and feather. Too cool.
yukon1898

As a lucky rail buff in Canada (I have been able to travel across Canada and the Rockies many times by train) the CPR had great trains a great train posters

Here are 3
http://www.matthewpetty.com/ Matthew Petty

I have an original poster very similar to the Choctaw Rocket, the Miami something, framed on my wall. I like trains.