“The Train of Tomorrow” was called the Mercury Train, an iron titan that challenged the railway industry between the 1930s and 60s in the United States. Its Streamline Moderne style has maintained it over the years as a work of art, as its design was inherited from Art Deco.
Horizontal and curved lines predominate in the style, which is also better known as retrofuturistic, which is still recognized in buildings, cars, furniture and films such as The Rocketeer, produced by Walt Disney, Fritz Lang's Metropolis or The Great Gatsby. In any of these cases you can see the splendor of the time, which is kept in the memory of people.
The Mercury Train is a great representative of the Streamline Moderne, which was designed by Henry Dreyfuss, who challenged the conventions of that time in the United States with his modern designs. But not everything was aesthetic, since he also endeavored to make the Train state-of-the-art engineering, leading the colossal iron to travel up to 130 kilometers per hour.
But not everything was “rosy”, since initially the project had had a setback when the tender documents were abruptly canceled. At that time, it was believed that the powerful trains would no longer be manufactured, however, it occurred to Dreyfuss that they could recycle old materials for construction.
The proposal was accepted and they managed to carry out the Mercury train line. Using some of the cars and wagons that were in disuse inside the abandoned warehouses, they built the trains for a quarter of the original figure. In addition, the design was not only exterior, but the retrofuturistic style had also been included in the interior.
Another aspect that had revolutionized trains, is that for example, inside the second car, the rows of seats were placed in two pairs, facing each other across the aisle, in addition, they had a living room and a dining room with three sections. Back outside there was driving wheel lighting, the first of its kind.
Regardless of budget limits, trains were an icon in New York, Chicago, Cleveland and Cincinnati. Over the years and some misfortunes the trains were forced to retire early. Still, the line is remembered for its unique design, luxuries, innovation and high speeds.
But the Mercury Train wasn't the only Henry Dreyfuss model that has gone down in history. During the 1930s and 40s, his designs included telephones, watches, tractors, thermostats, vacuum cleaners and more. Among all his iconic retrofuturistic creations, he highlighted the model “The City of Tomorrow” that he made for General Electric and which was part of the World's Fair in New York in 1939.
The Mercurys stopped operating in the late 1950s. The Cincinnati Mercury was the first to stop running, when rail service declined, being completely eliminated in October 1975. Chicago Mercury was subsequently decommissioned in April 1958. Finally, the Cleveland Mercury was suspended on July 11, 1959. After its end, new models and designs arrived, such as the Cardinal that was established in 1977 and is still in operation.
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