Mercury (NYC)
Encyclopedia
Mercury was the name used by the New York Central Railroad
for a family of daytime streamliner
passenger trains operating between midwestern cities. The Mercury train sets
were designed by the noted industrial designer Henry Dreyfuss
, and are considered a prime example of Art Deco
design. The success of the Mercury led to Dreyfuss getting the commission for the 1938 redesign of the NYC's flagship, the 20th Century Limited
, perhaps the most famous train in America.
The first Mercury, operating on a daily roundtrip between Cleveland and Detroit, was introduced on July 13, 1936. The Chicago Mercury, between Chicago
and Detroit, and the Cincinnati Mercury, between Cincinnati and Detroit, followed. The Mercuries lasted until the 1950s, the final survivor, the original Cleveland Mercury, making its last run on July 11, 1959.
A fourth train, the James Whitcomb Riley between Chicago and Cincinnati, used the same design for its train sets and is considered part of the Mercury family, although it did not bear the Mercury name. The Riley debuted in 1941 and lasted into the Amtrak
era, though no longer a streamliner.
, was chosen for its connotations of speed. The new train was marketed as the "Train of Tomorrow" (not to be confused with the General Motors
concept train of the 1940s), reflecting the emphasis on innovation.
In 1934, Dreyfuss had gained attention for the New York Central with his streamlined design for the Commodore Vanderbilt locomotive. This was his first railroad design; he was best known for his work on consumer products like telephones, fountain pens and vacuum cleaners. In 1935, the Central asked him to take on the new project.
Here is his description of how the plan developed:
It has been said that, "As opposed to [some of his] contemporaries, Dreyfuss was not a stylist: he applied common sense and a scientific approach to design problems." However, it can be seen from his treatment of the driving wheels that Dreyfuss was not above paying close attention to merely stylistic, non-functional details.
The exterior of locomotive and cars was medium gray with brushed aluminum trim. On each side, the passenger cars displayed the Mercury logo in the form of a silver medallion, showing the god Mercury in traditional representation with winged cap and sandals.
Although each car was functionally separate, Dreyfuss's design minimized the divisions between cars. He did this partly by having interior sections that spanned car boundaries. For instance, the coach section comprised the rear of the first car, the whole of the second, and the forward part of the third. The kitchen was in the rear of the third, while the dining room was in the following car.
He also sought to integrate the cars by the design of the vestibules
. He made each vestibule semi-circular and widened the passageway between cars to 1.60 meters (5 feet, 3 inches). The intended effect, when cars were coupled together, was of a single circular room, like a miniature rotunda.
Within cars, Dreyfuss applied several techniques to break up the space and make it less linear. In the second car, for instance, he interrupted the rows of seating by placing two pairs of seats facing each other across the aisle in the middle of the coach section. Similarly, in the sixth, a parlor car, he broke the seating into two sections with a small private compartment, seating six, in between them. The dining room had three sections. Two of them were conventional seating, but the middle section was made up of tables for two people seated side-by-side, facing the center aisle. The dining car also had a small lounge section, seating six, for people waiting to be seated.
Dreyfuss also applied innovation to the round-ended observation car
, a common amenity of premier trains of the time. To maximize the view, he lowered the sills in the observation area by 30 cm (12 inches), allowing 1.23 m (four foot) high windows. Instead of having the seating around the walls, facing in, he placed the seating in the center, facing out towards the windows. There were banquettes for three facing each side, and one for two facing the rear. In an extra touch, a speedometer was built into the center banquette, a reminder of how the Central was marketing speed with the Mercury.
The James Whitcomb Riley was introduced on April 28, 1941, running between Cincinnati and Chicago on a 5:15 hour schedule. It was named after the popular poet
because of his association with Indiana
and Americana
. The equipment was basically the same as the other Mercurys, although it was an all-coach train. The Cincinnati Mercury, running between Cincinnati and Detroit on a 6:30 schedule, followed the Riley into service.
The Cincinnati Mercury was the first to fall as rail service contracted, ending in 1956. It was replaced by the light-weight Xplorer in a brief experiment. The Chicago Mercury was combined with the Wolverine
in 1958. The Cleveland Mercury was discontinued on July 11, 1958. The Riley was retained, although it was no longer a streamliner. In 1971, Amtrak
combined the Riley with the George Washington. The combined service was renamed the Cardinal in 1977, which is still running to this day.
New York Central Railroad
The New York Central Railroad , known simply as the New York Central in its publicity, was a railroad operating in the Northeastern United States...
for a family of daytime streamliner
Streamliner
A streamliner is a vehicle incorporating streamlining in a shape providing reduced air resistance. The term is applied to high-speed railway trainsets of the 1930s to 1950s, and to their successor "bullet trains". Less commonly, the term is applied to fully faired recumbent bicycles...
passenger trains operating between midwestern cities. The Mercury train sets
Train set
A train set is a set, normally consisting of a model train and a small circle or oval of track. A set of rail tracks of more appropriate size for a train set is a model railroad layout...
were designed by the noted industrial designer Henry Dreyfuss
Henry Dreyfuss
Henry Dreyfuss was an American industrial designer.-Career:Dreyfuss was a native of Brooklyn, New York. As one of the celebrity industrial designers of the 1930s and 1940s, Dreyfuss dramatically improved the look, feel, and usability of dozens of consumer products...
, and are considered a prime example of Art Deco
Art Deco
Art deco , or deco, is an eclectic artistic and design style that began in Paris in the 1920s and flourished internationally throughout the 1930s, into the World War II era. The style influenced all areas of design, including architecture and interior design, industrial design, fashion and...
design. The success of the Mercury led to Dreyfuss getting the commission for the 1938 redesign of the NYC's flagship, the 20th Century Limited
20th Century Limited
The 20th Century Limited was an express passenger train operated by the New York Central Railroad from 1902 to 1967, during which time it would become known as a "National Institution" and the "Most Famous Train in the World". In the year of its last run, The New York Times said that it "...was...
, perhaps the most famous train in America.
The first Mercury, operating on a daily roundtrip between Cleveland and Detroit, was introduced on July 13, 1936. The Chicago Mercury, between Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
and Detroit, and the Cincinnati Mercury, between Cincinnati and Detroit, followed. The Mercuries lasted until the 1950s, the final survivor, the original Cleveland Mercury, making its last run on July 11, 1959.
A fourth train, the James Whitcomb Riley between Chicago and Cincinnati, used the same design for its train sets and is considered part of the Mercury family, although it did not bear the Mercury name. The Riley debuted in 1941 and lasted into the Amtrak
Amtrak
The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak , is a government-owned corporation that was organized on May 1, 1971, to provide intercity passenger train service in the United States. "Amtrak" is a portmanteau of the words "America" and "track". It is headquartered at Union...
era, though no longer a streamliner.
Design
In the mid-1930s, the New York Central launched an experiment to enhance its passenger traffic in the midwest. The goal was a new streamlined service focusing on speed and innovation. "Mercury," the name of the Roman god of messengersMercury (mythology)
Mercury was a messenger who wore winged sandals, and a god of trade, the son of Maia Maiestas and Jupiter in Roman mythology. His name is related to the Latin word merx , mercari , and merces...
, was chosen for its connotations of speed. The new train was marketed as the "Train of Tomorrow" (not to be confused with the General Motors
General Motors
General Motors Company , commonly known as GM, formerly incorporated as General Motors Corporation, is an American multinational automotive corporation headquartered in Detroit, Michigan and the world's second-largest automaker in 2010...
concept train of the 1940s), reflecting the emphasis on innovation.
In 1934, Dreyfuss had gained attention for the New York Central with his streamlined design for the Commodore Vanderbilt locomotive. This was his first railroad design; he was best known for his work on consumer products like telephones, fountain pens and vacuum cleaners. In 1935, the Central asked him to take on the new project.
Here is his description of how the plan developed:
Locomotive and Exterior
Of Dreyfuss's railroad designs, the locomotives got the most notice, so much so that his work on passenger cars is often overlooked entirely. For the Mercury, he achieved a streamlined appearance by covering the exterior pipes, whistles, and other fittings in a smooth "bathtub" cowl. The sides of the cowl were cut away to show the driving wheels.It has been said that, "As opposed to [some of his] contemporaries, Dreyfuss was not a stylist: he applied common sense and a scientific approach to design problems." However, it can be seen from his treatment of the driving wheels that Dreyfuss was not above paying close attention to merely stylistic, non-functional details.
The exterior of locomotive and cars was medium gray with brushed aluminum trim. On each side, the passenger cars displayed the Mercury logo in the form of a silver medallion, showing the god Mercury in traditional representation with winged cap and sandals.
Interior
For the Mercury, Dreyfuss, approached the design of the train as an integrated whole, interior and exterior, from the locomotive to the rear observation car. His goal was to recreate the atmosphere of a private club . His primary concern toward that end was to mitigate the rigid uniformity and long, narrow form of the conventional railroad car.Although each car was functionally separate, Dreyfuss's design minimized the divisions between cars. He did this partly by having interior sections that spanned car boundaries. For instance, the coach section comprised the rear of the first car, the whole of the second, and the forward part of the third. The kitchen was in the rear of the third, while the dining room was in the following car.
He also sought to integrate the cars by the design of the vestibules
Vestibuled train
A vestibuled train is a passenger train whose cars have enclosed vestibules at their ends, in contrast to the open platforms on early cars. Typically, a vestibule has doorways on either side to allow passenger egress at stations, a door into the body of the car, and, at the end of the car, a...
. He made each vestibule semi-circular and widened the passageway between cars to 1.60 meters (5 feet, 3 inches). The intended effect, when cars were coupled together, was of a single circular room, like a miniature rotunda.
Within cars, Dreyfuss applied several techniques to break up the space and make it less linear. In the second car, for instance, he interrupted the rows of seating by placing two pairs of seats facing each other across the aisle in the middle of the coach section. Similarly, in the sixth, a parlor car, he broke the seating into two sections with a small private compartment, seating six, in between them. The dining room had three sections. Two of them were conventional seating, but the middle section was made up of tables for two people seated side-by-side, facing the center aisle. The dining car also had a small lounge section, seating six, for people waiting to be seated.
Dreyfuss also applied innovation to the round-ended observation car
Observation car
An observation car/carriage/coach is a type of railroad passenger car, generally operated in a passenger train as the last carriage, with windows on the rear of the car for passengers' viewing pleasure...
, a common amenity of premier trains of the time. To maximize the view, he lowered the sills in the observation area by 30 cm (12 inches), allowing 1.23 m (four foot) high windows. Instead of having the seating around the walls, facing in, he placed the seating in the center, facing out towards the windows. There were banquettes for three facing each side, and one for two facing the rear. In an extra touch, a speedometer was built into the center banquette, a reminder of how the Central was marketing speed with the Mercury.
Original Train Set
The original, Dreyfuss-designed Mercury train set comprised seven cars:- Baggage/Coach
- Baggage compartment
- Smoking compartment - capacity 12
- Coach section - capacity 40
- Coach
- Coach section - capacity 48
- Smoking compartment - capacity 12
- Coach/Kitchen
- Coach section - capacity 18
- Kitchen
- Pantry
- Dining
- Dining room in 3 section - capacity 56
- Waiting lounge - capacity 6
- Lounge
- Lounge section with bar - capacity 31
- Parlor
- Parlor section - capacity 14
- Private compartment - capacity 6
- Parlor section - capacity 11
- Parlor/Observation
- Parlor section - capacity 26
- Observation section - capacity 11
Operation
Revenue service for the Cleveland Mercury began on July 15, 1936, following a publicity tour. It proved so popular that the Chicago Mercury was introduced in November 1939. Two train sets serviced these trains, but the schedule was such that one train set began the day in Cleveland, ran to Detroit as the Cleveland Mercury, and ran from Detroit to Chicago as the Chicago Mercury, while the other set did the reverse run (the eastbound Chicago Mercury arrived in Detroit after its westbound counterpart had left, so the NYC would have needed an extra train set, if it had not shared sets across trains). The Cleveland run was on a 2:50 hour schedule and the Chicago run took 4:45.The James Whitcomb Riley was introduced on April 28, 1941, running between Cincinnati and Chicago on a 5:15 hour schedule. It was named after the popular poet
James Whitcomb Riley
James Whitcomb Riley was an American writer, poet, and best selling author. During his lifetime he was known as the Hoosier Poet and Children's Poet for his dialect works and his children's poetry respectively...
because of his association with Indiana
Indiana
Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...
and Americana
Americana
Americana refers to artifacts, or a collection of artifacts, related to the history, geography, folklore and cultural heritage of the United States. Many kinds of material fall within the definition of Americana: paintings, prints and drawings; license plates or entire vehicles, household objects,...
. The equipment was basically the same as the other Mercurys, although it was an all-coach train. The Cincinnati Mercury, running between Cincinnati and Detroit on a 6:30 schedule, followed the Riley into service.
The Cincinnati Mercury was the first to fall as rail service contracted, ending in 1956. It was replaced by the light-weight Xplorer in a brief experiment. The Chicago Mercury was combined with the Wolverine
Wolverine (passenger train)
The Wolverine is a passenger train service operated by Amtrak as part of its Michigan Services. The line provides three daily round-trips along the Pontiac–Detroit–Chicago route...
in 1958. The Cleveland Mercury was discontinued on July 11, 1958. The Riley was retained, although it was no longer a streamliner. In 1971, Amtrak
Amtrak
The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak , is a government-owned corporation that was organized on May 1, 1971, to provide intercity passenger train service in the United States. "Amtrak" is a portmanteau of the words "America" and "track". It is headquartered at Union...
combined the Riley with the George Washington. The combined service was renamed the Cardinal in 1977, which is still running to this day.
See also
- Cardinal
- Ohio State LimitedOhio State LimitedThe Ohio State Limited was a named passenger train of the New York Central Railroad, which either started or terminated at Grand Central Terminal in the heart of New York City to or from the Cincinnati Union Terminal. The Ohio State Limited was the Central's answer to the Pennsylvania Railroad's...
- Henry DreyfussHenry DreyfussHenry Dreyfuss was an American industrial designer.-Career:Dreyfuss was a native of Brooklyn, New York. As one of the celebrity industrial designers of the 1930s and 1940s, Dreyfuss dramatically improved the look, feel, and usability of dozens of consumer products...