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[[image - hand holding a miniature hoe in dirt next to a flower labeled "20 TON BETH."]]
Naturally, a large steel plant like the Bethlehem Lackawanna Plant is followed very closely, but nevertheless a little extra cultivation rising out of this survey landed an early order for a 20-ton diesel-electric for the charging floor.


  Lest the false impression be given that every shoot became a beautiful flower, lend an ear to this heart-rending experience with the American Brass Company.  This plant is relatively small, so we were not surprised to be told, "We don't need a locomotive.  Our plant is too small.  With the railroad doing our switching, we get along very nicely."  Nevertheless, as part of the follow-up campaign, we continued to see this customer, making at least half-a-dozen additional calls.
  Our persistence was rewarded.  Something very unusual had happened.  The railroad's steam switcher belched smoke and gas when it entered one of the buildings.  This had become intolerable to the workers, and management was being pressed to install a ventilating system.  However, management foresaw that a diesel-electric not only would remove the cause of the objection, but also would be very

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[[image - three flowers, each labelled 80 TON INT. SALT]]
Another surprise of this business was that large industrial corporations have small subsidiary railroads that are ideal prospects for diesel-electric locomotives, to wit the International Salt Company and the Genesee and Wyoming Railroad.  The latter has bought three 80-tonners to date.


handy for moving cars about the plant when a railroad locomotive was unavailable.  Would a G-E quote a 25-tonner?
  The plant officials were anxious to place an order with us immediately.  Unfortunately, items such as locomotives have to be purchased by headquarters at Waterbury.  Whereupon unpropitious circumstances resulted in the order going to one of our competitors--that which had given every indication of blooming into a beautiful flower, suddenly turned into an ugly cabbage.
  We lost the order, but from it we learned more about selling locomotives.  This illustrates how persistent promotional work, no matter how discouraging it may seem at first, can develop into real business.  When the need for a locomotive arose, the customer's first thought was of General Electric, and the local people wanted to place the order with us.

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[[image - flower labeled "25 TON AMER. BRASS"]]This beautiful rose bud turned into an ugly cabbage at the crucial moment, but the moral unfolded was a stimulus to locomotive promotion.[[image - flower labeled "35 TON CABBAGE (WILTER)"]]