(erielack) Logos

["JG at graytrainpix" <graytrainpix_@_hotmail.com>]

I recall reading in Men of Erie that the Erie logo represents the sun (inner 
circle) shining on the four corners of the earth (outer diamond).  The four 
corners reflected the fact that the Erie shipped freight to all parts of the 
world via ocean connections.  It’s possible that this symbol has a history 
that goes back before the Erie started using it (around what, 1920?).  The 
“four corners of the earth” metaphor is clearly rooted in the Bible, e.g. 
Isaiah 11:12 in the Old Testament and Revelations 7:1 in the New.  I recall 
once seeing a diamond / circle logo in a Baptist church up near the pulpit, 
which was proportioned just like an Erie / EL / BEDT logo except for having 
a Christian cross inside the circle.  The religious symbolism is not hard to 
grasp.  I wonder which came first, the railroad’s use of this symbol, or the 
religious use?

If you want to further explore the spiritual aspects of the Erie, then get a 
copy of Thomas Merton’s autobiography The Seven Storey Mountain.  In his 
early adulthood (in the 1930s), before becoming a Trappist monk and later a 
noted author, Merton frequently rode the Erie Limited between Jersey City 
and Olean on his way to visit friends upstate.  At the time, Merton was 
losing interest in being a New York City socialite and gaining interest in 
religion, and he describes how much he enjoyed praying the Catholic Liturgy 
of the Hours while riding along the Delaware west of Port Jervis.  In 1941 
he finally committed himself to becoming a monk at the Gethsemani Abbey in 
Kentucky, and described his final trip from Olean (where he worked for a 
while as a college professor) to Louisville.  He took the PRR to Buffalo 
(doubleheaded K4s), then got on an NYC train via the Big Four to Cincinnati. 
  He recalled falling asleep near Cleveland, then woke up during the wee 
hours to say the Rosary, only to realize that he was in Galion and was 
crossing the Erie.

So yes, despite all the rough things that the Erie has been called over the 
years, some people did sense the spiritual side to it.

One little coincidence that made me think of all this: the word “logos” is 
also the Roman transliteration of the ancient Greek term for “word”.   The 
Greek term is found at the start of the ancient manuscripts for the Gospel 
of John, i.e. “In the beginning was the logos . . . “

Jim G.



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