Altaplana, world of Francois Schuiten and Benoit Peeters

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Loewy, Raymond

Raymond Loewy (November 5, 1893July 14, 1986) was a French-born American industrial designer who achieved fame for the magnitude of his design efforts across a variety of industries. He was recognized for this by Time magazine and featured on its cover on October 31, 1949 1).

He spent most of his professional career in the United States, becoming a naturalized citizen in 1938. Among his designs were the Shell, Exxon, TWA and the former BP logos, the Greyhound Scenicruiser bus, Coca-Cola vending machines and bottle redesign, the Lucky Strike package, Coldspot refrigerators, the Studebaker Avanti and Champion, and the Air Force One livery. He was engaged by equipment manufacturer International Harvester to overhaul its entire product line, and his team also assisted competitor Allis-Chalmers 2).

He undertook numerous railroad designs, including the Pennsylvania Railroad GG1, S-1, and T1 locomotives, the color scheme and Eagle motif for the first streamliners of the Missouri Pacific Railroad, and a number of lesser known color scheme and car interior designs for other railroads. His career spanned seven decades 3).

For the Pennsylvania Railroad, his most prestigious client, he designed the K4s, S1s, T1s and the GG1 locomotives, which used the monocoque skirted sheet metal system, prefabricated and welded in the workshop before being simply placed on the machinery.

The PRR Class S1 steam locomotive (nicknamed “The Big Engine”) was a unique experimental duplex drive locomotive of the Pennsylvania Railroad. It was the longest and heaviest rigid frame reciprocating steam locomotive ever built. The locomotive's streamlined Art Deco style hull was designed by Raymond Loewy.

Raymond Loewy locomotive project (1930s)


Image page 29 box 4 and image page 31 box 1 Casterman 1985


Image page 29 box 4 and image page 31 box 1 Casterman 1985|


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