Colorized History
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![The [_Commodore Vanderbilt_] was a streamlined version of the venerable Class J1-E 4-6-4 Hudson locomotive that ran on the New York Central System.
The first of its kind to be modified for streamlining on the New York Central, it was christened in 1934 and pulled the [_Empire State Express_] for the duration of its career. Two more locomotives were streamlined in its pattern, designed by Karl F. Cantola. Later streamlined engines on the system would take after the pattern designed by Henry Dreyfuss.
Sadly, none of the Hudsons survive today. All were scrapped by 1954](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/list/002/092/100/d07.png "Commodore Vanderbilt under steam")
![The [_Commodore Vanderbilt_] was a streamlined version of the venerable Class J1-E 4-6-4 Hudson locomotive that ran on the New York Central System. The first of its kind to be modified for streamlining on the New York Central, it was christened in 1934 and pulled the Empire State Express for the duration of its career. Two more locomotives were streamlined in its pattern, designed by Karl F. Cantola. Later streamlined engines on the system would take after the pattern designed by Henry Dreyfuss.](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/list/002/092/097/8e5.jpg "The Commodore Vanderbilt departs LaSalle Street Station in Chicago")
![A streamlined 4-6-4 [_Hudson_] locomotive, on display at the 1939 world's fair. Streamlined outer shell designed by Henry Dreyfuss.
[_The 20th Century Limited_] was one of the most prestigious passenger lines in the country during the heyday of steam. Running from New York to Chicago, the route was aimed at higher class and business passengers, and was considered one of the finest of its day.
The very term "red carpet treatment" originated on the [_Limited_] - passengers boarding the train did so walking over a red carpet leading to the coaches. The last train ran the route on December 2nd, 1967.](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/list/002/083/766/921.jpg "The 20th Century Limited")
![This picture is of a streamlined New York Central Railroad 4-6-2 Pacific type locomotive preparing for departure on the [*Mercury*] route.
The [_Mercury_] was a passenger train that ran throughout all the Midwest, with routes radiating out from Detroit to Chicago, Cincinnati, and Cleveland. The locomotives were streamlined a la Streamline Moderne - a type of Art Deco style that gained traction in the 1930s. Designed by Henry Dreyfuss, It's success lead to the NYCR commissioning him to redesign another famous passenger route, [_The 20th Century Limited._]](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/list/002/083/754/3cf.jpg "New York Central - Mercury")
Colorized History
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About
Colorized History are historical black and white images that have been colorized using image manipulation software.
Origin
Prior to the advent of image manipulation software, black-and-white photographs were colorized using hand-coloring[1] techniques with watercolors, oils, crayons, pastels or other paints applied to the original image surface. Computerized colorization came with the proliferation of digital image processing with cheaper computers in the 1970s.[2] On July 25th, 2002, the earliest known photo colorization tutorial was posted on the photo manipulation blog Worth 1000.[10]
Spread
On November 1st, 2003, the BlackMagic[3] photo coloring software was released for computers running the Microsoft Window operating system. On October 22nd, 2010, Redditor chadathin posted his colorized photograph of a man and his wife from 1939 (shown below, left) to the /r/pics[6] subreddit. Before it was archived, the post gained over 1,300 up votes and 200 comments. On April 17th, 2011, Redditor Moishaha submitted a colorized portrait of former United States President Abraham Lincoln (shown below, right) to /r/pics,[4] where it garnered more than 3,900 up votes and 410 comments prior to being archived.
On December 27th, the /r/colorization[7] subreddit was launched by Redditor Hulde, which is dedicated to black-and-white photo colorization. On December 2nd, 2012, Redditor zuzahin created the /r/ColorizedHistory[8] subreddit, which features user-submitted colorized historical photos. On May 23rd, 2013, Redditor mygrapefruit posted a colorized version of an auto wreck photograph from 1921 (shown below) to the /r/pics[5] subreddit, receiving upwards of 54,000 up votes and 1,600 comments in the first three months. On June 7th, Redditor mygrapefruit submitted a colorized photograph of a street in Saratoga Springs, New York from 1915 to the /r/HistoryPorn.[9] Within two months, the post accumulated over 7,200 up votes and 260 comments.
Notable Examples
D-Day, World War II
On June 6th, 2012, in celebrating the anniversary of the Allies' Invasion of Normandy, LIFE Magazine[11] released a collection of colorized photographs captured by American wartime photographer Frank Scherschel in France during the days leading up to and after the D-Day. As the majority of the photographs had never been published before, the LIFE collection of colorized D-Day photographs quickly went viral after spreading through online news sites and WWII-related communities.[12][13][14]
Search Interest
External References
[1] Wikipedia – Hang coloring
[2] Wikipedia – Digital image processing
[3] BlackMagic Color – Coloring photographs
[4] Reddit – Thought I'd share this, as I'd not seen one before – a colorized portrait of Abraham Lincoln
[5] Reddit – Auto Wreck in Washington DC
[6] Reddit – A Man and his wife
[7] Reddit – /r/colorization
[8] Reddit – /r/colorizedhistory
[9] Reddit – Broadway Saratoga Springs New York
[10] Worth 1000 (via Wayback Machine)- Colorization Tutorial
[11] LIFE – Before and After D-Day: Color Photos From England and France
[12] Huffington Post – D-Day Anniversary Marked With Release Of Rare Color Photos
[13] TIME – Before and After D-Day: Color Photos From England and France
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