Detroit United Railway - the 25 Dollar brand

Detroit United Railway herald

The Detroit United Railway, according to the Street Railway Review, driven by "the desirability of having some distinctive emblem to mark the property, stationary and general literature of the company", once organized a public contest. This contest was won by a Mr. William J. Ryan who submitted the herald shown here and who has been awarded the $25 prize money. 

This happened in 1903, the golden years of Traction Lines, and the 25 Dollars were a considerable sum in this days. Translated to actual values, the worth could be situated in a range between  $659 (using the Consumer Price Index), or about $4360 (using Production Worker Compensation as indicator).

I don't know what use was made of this trade mark, and if it was displayed on their cars. But you can download the editable pdf file here,

(Source : Street Railway Review Vol. 13, No.4, April 1903)

Interurban Traction Heralds

A small add : a special section for Traction heralds, logos, lettering schemes :

http://interurban.blogspot.com/p/interurban-heralds.html


Editable vector versions are available for download.

Bad weather, time for drawing

Northern Indiana Railway Inc.

Very bad weather, time for drawing.

I restarts with a small vector exercice, the awesome and somewhat cabbalistic emblem of the Northern Indiana Railway.

The editable vector file (Illustrator CS3) is here

Ohio Electric

The Ohio Electric Railway Company, formed in 1907, was a consolidation of 14 smaller interurban railways and one of the largest interurban systems.

It connected Toledo, Lima, Dayton, Columbus, and Cincinnati, providing passenger and express freight service to scores of small towns in western Ohio.

Beside my special interest for the Indiana traction lines, I am doing much research on the Ohio network, as both were connected and tried a last modernisation campaign in the 1930s.

A list of Interurban Railways in Ohio is here .