WORLD'S FIRST STREAMLINED STEAM LOCOMOTIVE. Gouache maquette. Circa 1934.
38x24 inches, 96½x61 cm. Condition B+: water stains throughout. Gouache on board. Framed.
For this exceptional maquette for an unrealized poster, Ragan depicts the Commodore Vanderbilt, America's first streamlined locomotive, which went into service for the New York Central Lines towards the end of 1934.
"On December 27, 1934 the 'World's First-powered Streamlined Steam Locomotive' was exhibited at the Grand Central Terminal" (nycshs.org, from a 1981 article by Carl Kantola, a civil engineer for the railway). After this exhibit, the Commodore Vanderbilt was sent on an exhibition tour of the principal cities on the New York Central, then placed in regular 20th Century service. (Ibid).
Although a realized version of this poster has never come to market, this exact image (in black and white) appears on the cover of The Lionel Magazine, March - April 1935. A variation of Ragan's depiction of the locomotive was also used on a 1936 New York Central Lines brochure which read "The 20th Century Limited / 16 ½ Hours Between New York and Chicago." In addition to the image of the train itself, Ragan also most likely designed the streamlined typography for this poster.
