Origin of the ~WESTR Logo

If you were wondering where the logo at the top left of every page came from, here is its story.

When I came up with the layout for my website, I wanted a menu on the left side of every page, and a banner across the top. This is a very common layout, and works well. It also just happens to be the layout of the Milwaukee School of Engineering's website, on who's servers my own website is hosted. The background of my website, with the blue sidebar, is a modified version of MSOE's background, which has a red sidebar. MSOE puts their logo in the top left corner, and I though my website looked strange without a logo of some kind in that spot.

The address of my website is MSOE's address with "~westr" added to the end. I pronounce "westr" like "Westar" or "West Star," which got me thinking that I could incorporate a star into the logo for the top left of my website.

Once I reached the decision to use a star for the logo, I thought of a railroad-related emblem that I could adapt for my own use, making a connection between my website and trains, which are a major part of my website.

In 1947, General Motors built a promotional passenger train called the Train of Tomorrow. This train consisted of one of GM's new E7A passenger diesel-electric locomotives and four state of the art passenger cars. GM didn't build railcars, so the cars themselves were build by Pullman-Standard, but they were packed with modern technology from various General Motors divisions, including Detroit Diesel, Frigidaire and Delco. The train was styled by GM's own Harley Earl, painted in a dark green-blue with a band of stainless steel fluting below the window level, and each of the four cars featured a glass dome on a raised floor in the center of the car, giving passengers a nearly unobstructed view in any direction. Before the Train of Tomorrow cars, only one dome car had yet been built, and the Train of Tomorrow pioneered the idea of the Dome Dining Car and Dome Sleeping Car. The train toured the United States before being sold to the Union Pacific Railroad, who used the train in regular service between Portland and Seattle into the 1960s.

What does this have to do with the logo for my website? Well, take a look at the locomotive that pulled the Train of Tomorrow.

Look at that red shooting-star General Motors logo. That logo was the inspiration for the one I used for my website. Mine is not an exact copy: I changed the colors and simplified it a little, and I think I made it look a bit more contemporary.

For more information about the Train of Tomorrow, check out the following links.

Golden Trains by Harley Earl

The Train of Tomorrow at Web Lurker's DOME.main

Original blank image of E7A locomotive provided by:

All website content, including graphics and pictures are © Robert D. West unless otherwise noted.  Content is not to be used out of the context of this webpage without expressed permission.  Any opinions expressed herein are mine and are not necessarily shared by the Milwaukee School of Engineering, or anyone else.

Questions? Comments? Critiques? Corrections? Concerns? Email me at westr@msoe.edu.