Legacybox

Before bullet trains, there was the Mercury.

In 1936, industrial designer Henry Dreyfuss reimagined what a train could look like and the result was gorgeous. Meet the New York Central Mercury: an Art Deco masterpiece that traveled between Cleveland, Detroit, and Cincinnati.

From the smooth bullet nose to the sweeping steel body, every inch of this locomotive was designed to make speed feel like elegance. Dreyfuss would go on to design the iconic 20th Century Limited just two years later, but the Mercury was where the dream began.

This colorized photo (restored in 2016 by Imbued with Hues) brings back a moment frozen in a rail yard with workers in overalls gathered around a machine that looked like it had arrived from the future.

Some designs are so good, time can’t touch them.