Washington, the City Beautiful

In 1927, Grif Teller was assigned to paint the 1928 calendar scene for the Pennsylvania Railroad. Teller was a painter from New Jersey who took a job with the Osborne Company, an advertising and color calendar company.  Teller painted for the railroad until 1942, when they hired a more patriotic designer to paint their calendar for World War II.  In 1947, Teller came back and painted for the Railroad until 1959.

I was looking for posters that were vintage Washington, DC. This was much harder than you could imagine.  In my search, I came across the Teller images above and below, of course making me nostalgic for the days of train travel. 

This then reminded me of a fantastic article I read in Time magazine a few weeks back about the future of high speed rail in the United States and how we're so car-centric we've fallen behind the rest of the modern (and not so modern) world in these efforts.  It's an interesting read, unfortunately, it can only be read in it's entirety on an iPad or in the print edition. I suggest picking it up especially if you're a transportation geek like I am.  I can't wait for the day when I can take a train from Washington to Cleveland without having to go through another city.  Sigh, someday.

All Aboard? By Michael Grunwald; Time Magazine, July 19, 2010