The decade of the 1960s was clearly a time of significant progress. Characterized by scientific and engineering vision, the period spawned extraordinary ideas and sparked technology advances that made possible the future exploration of new horizons. The year 1964 was memorable on several fronts. For starters, there was the New York World's Fair which was held on Long Island; the 18-month exhibit had an average daily attendance of 271,000 visitors. Although impressive, it was not that year's only significant event:

• NASA's Ranger VII Lunar Lander took 4300 high-defintion photos prior to landing on the Moon's surface, thus paving the way for Apollo 11 and mankind's historic walk in July 1969.
• Bell Laboratories / AT&T's introduced the "picturephone;" it was far from a commercial success due to cost and a fear of lost privacy. The concept got renewed life thanks to the internet. It is best recognized today as Skype, Zoom Meeting & Facetime applications.
• Ford Motor Company brought its 1964-1/2 Mustang to market. The new pony car was designed in record time, and built on a bare-bones budget.The iconic-looking, performance beast had been the leading selling sports car for close to six generations.
• Color television arrived in time for 73-million viewers to watch the Beatles during the mop-head foursome's U.S. visit and their August appearance on network TV.
• Lastly, Japan's high-speed "bullet train" (approximately 125 mph) began operating in October just ten days before the Olympic games got underway in Tokyo. In contrast, the fastest passenger train in the U.S. was Burlington's (CB&Q) Morning Zephyr with an average speed of 82.3 mph between Aurora and Rochelle, Illinois.

There were also a number of interesting changes taking shape in the U.S. railroading industry, which you can read about at 1964.

One more vintage locomotive brochure has been added to The Diesel Shop promotional literature archives. This month's addition is both vintage and extremely unique. Published by Ingalls Shipbuilding, the multi-page catalog introduces the company's proposed new line of passenger, yard and freight locomotives, including the 4-S model. Click here for Part 1 and use this link for Part 2 to learn more. Chris Skow was instrumental in us receiving these informative brochures.