Untitled Document
here now
Logomotive
Railroad Graphics and the American Dream
By Ian Logan & Jonathan Glancey.
Color laminated hardcover, 8x11" horizontal format, 272 pages, 400 color photos. 2020.
"‘We were chatting to some guys in a bar,’ recalls Ian Logan, ‘when the glasses started to rattle on the table and I heard a train approaching.’
In that moment Ian Logan became a logo spotter. During the 1960s and 1970s he made numerous return trips photographing the bold, energetic railroad graphics he found painted on locomotives, wagons and guard’s vans. His 35 mm transparencies are now a valuable historical archive. Over the years he has built up a collection of related magazines and newspapers, letterheads, timetables, brochures, matchbooks, ashtrays, badges, posters and postcards. Together they form a visual feast, a salute in his own words to ‘the most exciting collection of graphic imagery ever to have been produced in this field anywhere in the world’.
"A celebration of marketing magic
"To this cornucopia of vintage railroad graphics, the distinguished design commentator Jonathan Glancey - another lifelong railway enthusiast - brings a well-informed, perceptive analysis of its iconography, of the way every aspect of the railroads, from the locomotives and rolling stock to architecture, advertisements and timetables, was designed to project an image of speed, efficiency, adventure and the American dream.
"In his Foreword, the internationally known architect Norman Foster adds his own trumpet call, reminding us of the enduring inspiration provided by this ‘ultimate marriage of machinery, branding, graphics, colour and lifestyle’.
"Designed with energy and flair, and generously laid out with more than 400 illustrations, many published here for the first time, Logomotive will appeal to both railway enthusiasts and to all those who love that blend of technology and art, grease and adventure that pulses through a period of hectic innovation. It offers a unique glimpse into the past, a rare archive of a railroad graphics, preserved on film and paper thanks to Logan’s infectious enthusiasm."
