I Ride The Harlem Line

Tagged: leslie ragan

A visit to the former Cleveland Union Terminal

History / Photos

A visit to the former Cleveland Union Terminal

1930 poster of Cleveland Union Terminal by Leslie Ragan There’s no denying it… the star ceiling in Grand Central Terminal is wonderful (and even cool enough for someone to actually get a Grand Central tattoo). But I must admit that after recently visiting Tower City Center (the former Cleveland Union Terminal), I was absolutely mesmerized by the ceiling there. It isn’t hard to see why – the repetitive pattern of flowers is not only beautiful, but almost hypnotic. Besides the two terminals having attractive ceilings, Cleveland’s terminal was influenced by some of Grand Central’s innovative designs. Tracks were built below...

History / Photos / Train Stories

The Budd Rail Diesel Car, and more art from Leslie Ragan

If you’ve been following our little series of posts chock full of lovely Leslie Ragan art in advertisements for the Budd company, you may have noticed a few ads featuring Budd’s RDC – or Rail Diesel Car. Today’s post completes our collection of Ragan ads, and focuses on the RDC. The RDC’s were widely used here and around the world – Australia, Canada, Brazil, and even Saudi Arabia all had RDC’s operating at some point in time. The versatile RDC was an all stainless steel, self propelled railcar that could be operated as a single unit, or multiple cars could...

The Paintings of Leslie Ragan – Advertisements for the Budd Company, Part 2

Advertisements / History

The Paintings of Leslie Ragan – Advertisements for the Budd Company, Part 2

Another Leslie Ragan painting that gets you in the mood for Spring. Last week I shared with you a collection of advertisements for the Budd Company, all featuring paintings by artist Leslie Ragan. When I said he created a significant number of paintings for the ads, I wasn’t kidding. In fact there are so many different ads featuring lovely paintings, I think I’ll have to split this into yet another post! Enjoy another round of lovely art!     Budd didn’t only make railcars – here are a few ads by Budd for things other than trains.                 

The Paintings of Leslie Ragan – Advertisements for the Budd Company, Part 1

Advertisements / History

The Paintings of Leslie Ragan – Advertisements for the Budd Company, Part 1

Well it might not be very Spring-like outside right now, but at least this week we did have a few days with some enjoyable temperatures. I’m not sure about all of you, but I’m certainly ready for the cold weather to be done. I always joke that my camera hibernates for the winter, which isn’t quite true, but I would much rather be taking photos of trains in some nicer weather (And yes, I suppose it is somewhat ironic that despite all that I took my recent vacation to Alaska). The good thing is that hunting for railroad ephemera is...

Friday’s From the Historical Archive: Leslie Ragan, Artist of the New York Central

Advertisements / History / Photos / Train Stories

Friday’s From the Historical Archive: Leslie Ragan, Artist of the New York Central

Back in February I spent a good majority of a Saturday hanging out at the Research Library at the Danbury Railway Museum. I was interested in seeing what they had in their collection regarding the Harlem Line, especially timetables. I wasn’t intentionally looking for the entire system-wide timetables published by the New York Central, but when I saw them, I really fell in love. These system timetables were really where Central showed off, with some really gorgeous art. It wasn’t later on after researching that I found out that many of these timetables were based off of art previously commissioned...