The New Haven RR Image Page -- The Rail-Auto Travel Plan

THE IMAGE PAGE

The 'image page' is where we put a changing variety of New Haven Railroad photographs and advertising material for you to enjoy. Be sure to check back here often because we plan to refresh these images on a regular basis.

The Rail-Auto Travel Plan

June 1st, 2001

By the mid 1930s it had become obvious that the private automobile was becoming the favored means of transportation for the American masses. The New Haven Railroad adopted a "if you can't beat them, join them" approach during 1939 when it introduced the Rail-Auto Travel Plan. Under the Rail-Auto Travel Plan, New Haven Railroad passengers could make prior arrangements to have a rental car waiting for them at their destination station. The concept was to get people to take the train for the long-haul and then use the rental car to get around the local area once they arrived at their destination city or town. All advertising items from the collection of Marc Frattasio.

Early Rail-Auto Travel Plan Folder From 1939

This uninspired piece is one of the earliest Rail-Auto Travel Plan folders produced by the New Haven Railroad. It was distributed during late 1939. The Rail-Auto Travel Plan was administered in cooperation with the Hertz automobile rental company.

By late 1940, the New Haven's PR people had smartened up enough to put the railroad's name on the front of the Rail-Auto Travel Plan folder instead of on the back! This colorful folder also features artwork of one of the New Haven's I-5 class streamlined Hudsons. The ten I-5s, which were delivered by the Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1937, were the only streamlined steam locomotives ever rostered by the New Haven Railroad.

The Second World War's gas and tire rationing forced the New Haven to put the Rail-Auto Travel Plan on hold for the duration. Once the war was over the Rail-Auto Travel Plan came back, as demonstrated here with this folder from 1946. By this time, the I-5 streamlined steamers had been replaced as favored advertising icons by the New Haven's sixty Alco/GE DL-109 diesel-electrics.

The New Haven took the Rail-Auto Travel Plan very seriously and promoted it everywhere imaginable. Here, the Rail-Auto Travel Plan is pitched on the back of a ticket envelope from 1939/1940.

A related service that was offered by the New Haven before the war was shipping your car by freight train to wherever you wanted to go. This service was intended mainly for people who had second homes or who were planning to take extended vacations.