When it was released in December of 1941, the event cover commemorating the first trip of New York Central’s flashy, streamlined Empire State Express train – serving New York, Cleveland, Buffalo, and Detroit – was scheduled to be front page news across the country.  While the cover certainly achieved status as railroad postal history in 1941…other news of the day eclipsed its significance. 

Passengers on the inaugural run were very surprised at the low turnout at trackside en route.  But as it happens, the Empire State Express made its inaugural run on December 7th , the day that 350 planes under the command of Japanese admiral Chuichi Nagumo attacked the U.S. fleet at Pearl Harbor. American dead numbered 2,403.