?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 4,000 - $ 6,000
LESLIE RAGAN (1897-1972) THE NEW EMPIRE STATE EXPRESS / NEW YORK CENTRAL SYSTEM. 1941. 40 3/4x26 1/2 inches, 13 1/2x67 1/4 cm. Brett Lithographing Company. Condition B+: replaced lower left corner; repaired tears and restored losses at edges, some affecting image. Steaming through an autumn landscape while making the run between New York City and Buffalo, this powerful engine is rounding a bend so that her rear car is also visible. In 1891, the Empire State Express made her first trip. On her 50th anniversary in 1941, the New York Central Line inaugurated the "New" Empire State Express. According to the hyperbolic commentary written in a booklet released by the railroad for the occasion, this train, "which is truly magnificent [is] as completely comfortable as modern science can make it." The brochure adds a few facts about the train, for example, it is composed of "16 cars . . . made up of a mail baggage car, a combination tavern-lounge-baggage car, three parlor cars, a diner, four coaches, a second diner, four additional coaches and an observation buffet. All cars are 85 feet in length, making an overall train length of 1360 feet - over a quarter mile." The railroad also used this poster image for the cover of a brochure. Zega 154.
