This from Terry Link's Canada Southern web site: {Blue and yellow Script herald of 1956 applied only to NYMX mechanical refrigerator cars ( A modified version of this herald was also applied to some locomotives during 1956 through 1959 ). This herald is approximately 45" x 30".}
The NYC 4044 ran the TWILIGHT LIMITED between Detroit and Chicago and is best known for it's cameo appearance in Alfred Hitchcocks's North by Northwest. The herald which graces the 4044 in this photo was short lived and was replaced by the traditional NYC oval. To me there is nothing like a NYC passenger train.
Hi NYCNut, Welcome to the Trainboard, we're happy to have aboard the NYC Forum, among all the others. Thanks for clearing up The Case Of The Unfamiliar Herald. I had never seen it, or if I had, I didn't remember it. From reading this thread, I doubt if many other NYC fans remember seeing it either. Thanks for being a "NYC Nut", we wish there were more of us!
Hey, I can't tell you how excited I was to find this forum, especially with a special section for the NYC. Flat out awesome!!! Long live the NYC!!!!:tb-biggrin:
Welcome aboard, NYC nut. I am one too, having grown up along the Mohawk Division and ridden local trains there before the end of steam. BTW, guys, I found that logo on some other NYC trains, maybe the experimental Train of Tomorrow or whatever they called that machine. :tb-biggrin:
Yup, the script herald was on the pilot and cab sides of the Xplorer locomotive. The Aerotrain had the script herald applied to the pilot during the short time it ran on the New York Central. The Alco RS-11s (8000-8008) that were built in 1957 came with the same script herald on the cab sides. All diesels that were delivered later came with the "cigar band" herald. That script herald was repainted onto several other locomotives as they were shopped and painted during that short period. I have seen it on Alco HH-600 switcher #801, EMD E-7A 4006, EMC SW-1 switcher #604, and there were probably many others.
1957....wasn't that about the time that Perleman (sp?) took over as NYC President, and instituted massive changes to reduce costs?
June 15, 1954 - Robert Young gains control of the New York Central and Perlman becomes president. No stock dividend paid this year. Young brought his passenger train ideas over from the C&O. He was the driving force behind the Xplorer, and to some degree, the Aerotrain. His quest to revive the failing passenger service blinded him to real world realities. We all dislike what Perlman did (and didn't do), but the New York Central had lost its passenger base and was already on the way to losing the industrial base that provided the freight service. He probably did what he had to do as far as cutting costs and redesigning the entire railroad.
