Happy birthday—to us

Diesel Progress North American Edition, May, 2005 by Mike Osenga

This will be the only place this month where we will note that this is the 70th anniversary issue of Diesel Progress. For those of you keeping score at home, that's 840 issues, every month since May 1935.

It's not that we're disrespectful or unaware of history, our own history. It's just that with everything the industry has in front of it, we figured this wasn't the time to be looking backward.

However, for our 75th anniversary, it's party time.

At the time of its Founding, it was a promotional magazine, Diesel Progress, for what was then an emerging technology, even as we describe it today.

As a publisher, the first item of note in that issue was the 13.58 pages of advertising. Not bad for a new magazine about an unproven technology, launched in the midst of the Great Depression.

Printed in tabloid size, Diesel Progress' tagline was "In the Air, On The Sea, In Transportation, In Industry."

A number of stories stand out from the 15 in the issue. There were the usual application articles: new power plants, new diesel trains and diesel boats, as well as a somewhat breathless look at the possibilities For "small" diesels in yachts.

But the article that stops you cold is our three-page look at the 1935 Berlin Motor Show. The international aspect, given how much larger the world was then is one thing, but the picture of Hitler looking at a "180 to 200 hp Vomag diesel in chassis for the German Railway" is the obvious show stopper. As is the accompanying article about the use of diesels in warplanes in Germany.

Second on the historical irony list is an article about diesels supporting PanAm's establishment of air service from San Francisco to Hong Kong. Fuel stops and airfields had to be built along the route and four Caterpillar power units and two Caterpillar diesel tractors were being sent to two of those stops For construction and maintenance and runway lights.

That those two stops happened to be Midway and Wake islands, soon to be infamous in World War II history, only adds to the "gasp" factor.

Then there's the Iraqi oil pipeline article. Again, while we think of ourselves as living in global times, it's obvious we didn't invent the concept. A new pipeline was being constructed from Kirkuk to Tripoli and Haifa and would use 45 diesels for 12 main pumping stations.

The most fun article in the issue told of Wild Bill Cummings driving a Cummins diesel powered car on the beaches of Daytona at 137.195 mph, shattering Dave Evans' Waukesha Silver Comet diesel speed record.

Finally, proving how little things change, was our one-page market study. The total for 1934 was a record--750,000! Except it was 750,000 installed horsepower, not units. That shattered the previous record from 1928 of 450,000 hp.

Happy birthday to us. We now return you to our regular programming.

Mike Osenga

mosenga@dieselpub.com