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Seeing an Old Friend Again
Saturday, October 04, 2008
While volunteering today at the NARP table at the 100th anniversary of Washington Union Station celebration, I bumped into a couple of old “friends.” The first was the Pennsylvania Railroad’s famous GG-1 4935, the venerable motor that was restored back about 1976 and ran in regular Amtrak service until its retirement.
After it had been overhauled and repainted in its original Brunswick Green, its scheduled debut was at the head of the 3:05pm train out of WAS, the Murray Hill. Its consist was a string of Amfleet cars with the observation business car #120 Pennsylvania on the rear (this “friend” was also here at Washington Union Station’s centennial today).
So in those times and with this knowledge at hand, I positioned myself trackside by the old Railroad Inn in Bowie, MD to watch it pass by. The kicker here is that on the platform of #120 was a white-haired old gent to whom I waved and, as I recall, waved back.
This man was none other than one of the greatest industrial designers the world has ever known, Raymond Loewy!
Not only had he designed the great GG1 on the head end of that day’s Murray Hill, but also the streamlined Studebaker automobile, the paint scheme on Air Force One, the 7-Up logo and the Pepsi plant in Russia that heralded the closing of the Cold War.
As we turn the corner toward more and better American rail service, it is and has been great to be part of the effort and to remember some of the milestones that we passed on the way.
Jim Churchill
NARP Vice President-Northeast
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