Railroads' mascots, symbols, legendary characters

denwoz · Post by **denwoz** » Wed Mar 08, 2023 3:21 pm

The mascots, symbols and so on of railroads in legendary characters for their advertisement that I've encountered thus far are the following:

. Algoma Central Ry.: Black bear
. Santa Fe: Chico, a small Indian boy
. Boston & Maine: Minuteman
. Canadian Pacific: Beaver, Canada's national symbol
. Chesapeake & Ohio/Chessie System: Chessie the cat. Sleep like a kitten and arrive fresh as a daisy overnight on C&O's passenger train in an air-condition comfort. Created in 1933 by C&O's public relations official, L. C. Probert. Male counterpart: Peake
. Lackawanna/Erie Lackawanna: Phoebe Snow, dressed in white, rides the road of anthracite
. Detroit & Mackinac: Mackinac Mac
. Great Northern: Rocky the mountain goat. Mountain goats often seen in mountains of Glacier National Park. Adopted in 1921 by Louis W. Hill, James J. Hill's son and Great Northern executive.
. Long Island RR: Dashing commuter. Dashin' Dan created in the 1960's. Female counterpart: Dashin' Dottie
. Norfolk & Western: Pocahontas, service of its overnight passenger train of this name commenced in 1926.
. Norfolk Southern: Thoroughbred, represents speed and reliability of its freight service. David, the first Thoroughbred, introduced in 1982.
. Quanah, Acme & Pacific: Chief Quanah Parker, a Comanche leader and shareholder of the QA&P

denwoz · Post by **denwoz** » Wed Mar 08, 2023 3:24 pm

Can anyone of you identify any other railroad mascots and what. including for these in the previous message, is the origin, background, and meaning?

Marty_Knox · Post by **Marty_Knox** » Wed Mar 08, 2023 5:17 pm

Jersey Central Lines (CNJ) Lady Liberty - The Statue of Liberty.

Fender · Post by **Fender** » Thu Mar 09, 2023 1:54 pm

Burlington Zephyr (can the wind be a mascot?)

Bill Shields · Post by **Bill Shields** » Thu Mar 09, 2023 6:47 pm

I just couldn't resist the most famous one of all

: reading.png (213.43 KiB) Viewed 1723 times

who doesn't know this guy?

Bill Shields · Post by **Bill Shields** » Thu Mar 09, 2023 6:51 pm

anyone else know this fellow?

: no free name from the file.png (195.97 KiB) Viewed 1722 times

Atkinson_Railroad · Post by **Atkinson_Railroad** » Fri Mar 10, 2023 8:40 am

For symbols.... Rocky Mountain & Pacific, later absorbed into the Santa Fe used the swastika.

Photo of rolling stock
https://nmdigital.unm.edu/digital/colle ... a/id/1178/

Herald (or monogram) Illustrated in April, 1935 Model Railroader

NP317 · Post by **NP317** » Fri Mar 10, 2023 11:50 am

Swastika: An ancient honorable religious symbol, sadly perverted in the 20th century.
I have never seen it as a railroad symbol.
RussN

Pontiacguy1 · Post by **Pontiacguy1** » Fri Mar 10, 2023 4:36 pm

Used to be known in this country as a Navajo Indian symbol, I believe. It was on the side of equipment, including locomotives, for some small southwest line. I've seen pictures of a steamer with it on the side of the cab. Of course Ol' Hitler and his party had to ruin it for everyone else.

denwoz · Post by **denwoz** » Thu Mar 23, 2023 12:49 pm

Thanks to those who reply. Here's further information about the railroads' symbols and mascots:

Canadian Pacific's beaver. The beaver symbol was created in the 1880's in honor of Donald Smith of the Hudson Bay Co. He had been in beaver further trade and a CPR financier; and, in 1885, participated in the last spike driving to complete the transcontinental line.

Jersey Central Lines Lady Liberty. The symbol was adopted in 1944. The Statue of Liberty was visible from its Jersey City terminal, which was at the Liberty State Park.

DL&W/EL Phoebe Snow. Known as the Route of Phoebe Snow, the Lackawanna commenced its train, the Phoebe Snow, in Nov. 1949 between Hoboken NJ and Buffalo NY, and on Erie Lackawanna, to Chicago. It was an overnight with sleeper and lounge cars.

Long Island RR dashing commuter: Known as the Route of the Dashing Commuter. There're Dashin' Dan and Dashin' Dottie.

Missouri Pacific Eagle. The symbol was adopted in 1939 for the railroad as swift, graceful and powerful, a symbol of American progress. In 1946 the MP began inaugurating Eagle passenger trains from St. Louis to Denver, El Paso, San Antonio, and Galveston.

N&W Pocahontas. Service began on N&W's passenger train, the Pocahontas, in 1926 between Norfolk and Cincinnati overnight.

Norfolk Southern Corp. Thoroughbred. In 1982 NS Corp's freight service began as the Thoroughbred. In an advertisement, "From the Championship Heritage of Two Great Railways Come the Norfolk Southern Corporation", by merger, the N&W and Southern Ry. brought superior service, lower distribution cost, and shorter transit time to shippers.

From another source with additional note: Milwaukee Road Hiawatha. Known as the Route of the Hiawathas, the Milwaukee Road first inaugurated Hiawatha passenger trains in May 1935, from Chicago via Milwaukee and the west, the most noticeably, the Olympian Hiawatha, to Seattle and Tacoma. They consisted superdome and observation cars, and streamlined steam locomotives powered the trains until 1941 when diesels were brought to the railroad. These trains were named for Hiawatha, a co-founder of the Iroquois and leader of the Onondaga in the 12th century, as "swift of foot" as specified in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem, Song of Hiawatha.

More mascots for railroads I've encountered:

KCS Southern Belle. Known as the Route of the Southern Belle, the KCS inaugurated the Southern Belle passenger train in Sept. 1940, overnight between Kansas City and New Orleans.

Oregon Pacific & Eastern and Yreka Western goose: This was an idea from Willis Kyle of Kyle Railways. The Yreka Western is know as the Route of the Blue Goose.

Ontario Northland polar bear: The ONR commenced its Polar Bear Express in 1964 between Cochrane and Moosonee, Ontario.

Berlin Mills Ry. Bird or flyer

McCloud River RR bear and Mt. Shasta

Brillion & Forest Junction crewman standing on a flatcar carrying an oilcan in one hand, lantern in the other

Colorado Midland Ry. Indian, seen on pamphlets and timetables

Also seen: A pig on IC/ICG piggyback trailer (freight); and falcon, C&NW Falcon Service (trailer, freight)

Beside the mascots and symbols attached in this post, I’ll attached more of them in my next post of this thread.

Furthermore, can anyone of you provide any more information about the mascots and symbols mentioned in this post and in my beginning post about their origin, background, and significance? I’d especially like to know more about AC&HB black bear, B&M minuteman, D&M Mackinac, LIRR dashing commuter, O&W Owen W., and NYS&W Susie-Q.

denwoz · Post by **denwoz** » Sun Mar 26, 2023 8:27 pm

Attached are other images of railroad mascots and symbols.

Other images of mascots and symbols I cannot upload are these:
Berlin Mills Ry. flyer
Canadian Pacific beaver
Colorado Midland Indian
Great Northern mountain goat
Kansas City Southern Southern Belle
Long Island dashing commuter
McCloud River bear and Mt. Shasta
Missouri Pacific eagle
NYS&W Susie-Q
Norfolk & Western Pocahontas
Norfolk Southern thoroughbred
Ontario Northern polar bear
Oregon Pacific & Eastern goose (also for Yreka Western)
Quanah Route Quanah Parker

These individual images cannot be uploaded to this forum board. These image files came from another computer and might be blocked.

Blessings, Denny