More SP advertising

In a previous post, I showed a number of examples of Southern Pacific’s “institutional advertising” of the 1950s, meaning promoting the company itself to a general audience, not its specific products or services. Many were striking and colorful ads, produced by Foote, Cone and Belding, SP’s ad agency then and for some time afterward. That post is here: https://modelingthesp.blogspot.com/2025/05/sps-public-advertising.html .

Another in a substantial series of these ads is the one below, simply promoting the idea that SP was a progressive railroad, and as usual, including the “Golden Empire” graphic. You can tell when these ads were from the latter part of the 1950s, because they then included a Cotton Belt “add on” to the Golden Empire. (You can click on the image to enlarge it, if you wish to read the text.)

Another example, this one touting the railroad’s progress in dieselization, interestingly notes that dieselization should be complete by 1958. In fact, the last steam operations were in the fall of 1956. The emphasis on horsepower is interesting too.

An additional interesting example promotes SP’s perishable shipping, including a refrigerator car, though not mentioning Pacific Fruit Express or PFE’s co-owner, Union Pacific (the same as a PFE brochure I showed previously; see it at: https://modelingthesp.blogspot.com/2025/05/other-sp-advertising.html ). The paint scheme on the car chosen for illustration is actually imaginary, since PFE mechanical reefers were never painted this way, but instead had both SP and UP railroad emblems. And I find the ice block combined with the mechanical reefer amusing too.

But not all these ads were entirely institutional. SP also advertised in business publications, such as Fortune and Business Week, promoting the “Golden Empire” for plant locations. In the 1950s, there was substantial growth in on-line industries in SP territory. (Again, you can click on the image to enlarge it.) Inclusion of both steam and diesel power shows the ad dates from the late 1940s.

Last, occasionally one of the colorful Foote, Cone & Belding ads did promote passenger trains. The one below, in fact, promotes West Coast routes, and specifically the overnight trains, Lark and Cascade.

I find it quite interesting to see what aspects of itself the railroad wished to publicize, to the public readership of general circulation magazines. And the striking quality of the advertisements is certainly noteworthy. One of many characteristics of a vanished era.

Tony Thompson