World’s Fair Pullman railway car design

The 1939 New York World’s Fair required a large area within the city’s boundaries that was also conveniently accessible to the public. Rather than settle on any existing space, the planners and city officials chose to use the fair as an instrument of urban planning, selecting Flushing Meadows and the Corona Ash Heap to realize their ambitions.

Between groundbreaking at the end of June 1936 and the fair’s opening in April 1939, the ash heap was transformed into Flushing Meadows Park. Public transportation stations, Grand Central Parkway, and a marina were constructed to bring revelers to the venue.

This design for a Pullman railway car references the Trylon and Perisphere—the first a 600-foot-high obelisk and the second a 180-foot-wide orb—that were built at the center of the fair and served as its thematic emblems. Branding innovator Edward Bernays, the fair’s director of public relations, ensured that these two distinctive structures were featured on all World’s Fair advertisements and publications.