Rio Grande November 1957 Timetable

Posted on by April 29, 2024
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Rio Grande had one more passenger train a day going each way through the Moffatt Tunnel in 1957 than in yesterday’s 1952 timetable. The overnight service from Denver to Craig had proved unpopular, so in 1954 Rio Grande introduced a new day train called the Yampa Valley Mail. The train was popular with railfans because it was usually pulled by an Alco PA locomotive. But it wasn’t popular with passengers as it took twice as long as driving, so it usually consisted of just a baggage-mail car and a coach.

Click image to download an 9.8-MB PDF of this 20-page timetable.

The Yampa Valley Mail appeared on both the main schedules (table 1) and as a local service (table 3 on page 10). However, no other local trains were on page 10, meaning the Denver-Alamosa train had been cancelled. Rio Grande still operated the tourist-oriented train between Durango and Silverton that would be featured in a full-page ad in the May 1959 timetable. The train wasn’t mentioned in today’s timetable because it was mainly a summer train and this is a winter timetable. Continue reading →

Rio Grande June 1952 Timetable

Posted on by April 29, 2024
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Rio Grande operated five main trains a day plus several locals in 1952. The main trains were the California Zephyr; the streamlined Prospector, which was the overnight train on the same route as the Zephyr; the partially streamlined, dome-equipped Royal Gorge; the Pueblo-Denver portion of the Colorado Eagle; and the Mountaineer, an overnight heavyweight train between Denver and Montrose that followed the same route to Grand Junction as the Zephyr and Prospector but stopped at more than 30 towns that the other two trains skipped.

Click image to download an 11.1-MB PDF of this 20-page timetable.

Local trains included one between Denver and Craig. This was really the Mountaineer to Orestod, where a sleeping car and coach were detached and (after a three-hour layover) hauled to Steamboat Springs and Craig. This had been a daytime service until 1952. Continue reading →

Five Locomotives to Pull Ten Cars

Posted on by April 29, 2024
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This postcard says that it shows the eastbound San Francisco-Chicago Express climbing “Soldiers Summit.” The back spells it “Soldiers’ Summit,” but the modern-day spelling is “Soldier Summit.” The grade is so steep that five steam locomotives are required to haul ten passenger cars up to the summit. The postcard is marked “© F.H. Lieb,” referring to Frank H. Leib (whoever inscribed the copyright notice misspelled the name), a Salt Lake City photographer in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.


Click image to download a 1.2-MB PDF of this postcard.

The Denver & Rio Grande’s original grade up Soldier Summit was 4 percent, which is modest for an automobile but steep for a train. This was a major bottleneck for east-west traffic, so in 1913 Rio Grande opened a new route that made two switchbacks known as the Gilluly Loops, reducing the grade to 2.4 percent. The Google maps aerial photo below shows the loops and the original route, which is now followed by U.S. highway 6. Continue reading →

Rio Grande 1903 Lunch Menu

Posted on by April 29, 2024
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This menu cover features a beautiful cover photo, probably taken several years before by William Henry Jackson, of the Grand River (now called the Colorado River; I’m pretty sure the photo was taken in Glenwood Canyon) with a locomotive and rail car that was provided to the photographer by the railroad. But this menu’s configuration is different from more modern menus in that this photo is on the back cover while the front cover is lunch menu itself.

Click image to download an 758-KB PDF of this menu.

Inside, the left panel is another photo showing a train in the Royal Gorge while the right panel is a wine list. This photo is marked “The Carlson-Harper CO. Eng.” where “Eng.” is short for engravers. Carlson-Harper was a Denver company that published books, souvenir picture booklets, postcards, and other tourist items. The placement of this mark suggests that Carlson-Harper provided the photo, but it may have also printed the menu itself. Continue reading →

Colorado & Southern One-Day Excursions

Posted on by April 29, 2024
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The Colorado & Southern was really two different railroads. First was the standard-gauge, north-south line from Wendover Wyoming to Fort Worth Texas. Second were several lines into Colorado mining districts, including Leadville and Cripple Creek, that were mostly narrow gauge.

Click image to download an 5.0-MB PDF of this 12-page booklet.

Union Pacific consolidated many of these lines into the Union Pacific, Denver and Gulf Railway in 1888, but lost control of them in the Panic of 1893. In 1898 the lines were reorganized and named Colorado and Southern. Under James J. Hill’s regime, the Burlington took control of them in 1908. Continue reading →

Burlington January 1970 Twin Cities Timetable

Posted on by April 29, 2024
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Today we have one more look at the Twin Cities corridor before GN, NP, and CB&Q merged (which took place March 2 1970). It is about the same as the previous couple of timetables.

Click image to download an 782-KB PDF of this timetable.

That means the Empire Builder, North Coast Limited, and Afternoon Zephyr operated as one train westbound (or northbound as the schedule puts it), except Fridays and Saturdays when the Zephyr left Chicago 3-2/3 hours later. The westbound Black Hawk, Mainstreeter, and Western Star were also operated together, although “together” is a stretch since no more than one car from the Mainstreeter and none from the Western Star were transferred to the Black Hawk. Eastbound, the premiere trains were operated with the Morning Zephyr, the Mainstreeter with the Afternoon Zephyr, and the Western Star with the Black Hawk. Continue reading →

Burlington April 1969 Timetable

Posted on by June 9, 2024
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Issued six months after yesterday’s timetable, this one has all of the trains that were also on yesterday’s. One thing I didn’t note yesterday was that the California Zephyr had become an extra-fare train.

Click image to download an 2.7-MB PDF of this timetable.

“The following California Zephyr charges will be assessed,” says the October 1968 timetable: $20 first-class and $10 coach for passengers between Burlington and Western Pacific stations and $10 first-class and $5 coach for passengers between Burlington and Rio Grande stations. There were zero added charges for passengers riding between one Burlington station and another. Today’s timetable reduced the WP charges to $15 first class and $5 coach and the Rio Grande charges to $7.50 first class and $2.50 coach. Continue reading →

Burlington October 1968 Timetable

Posted on by April 29, 2024
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Yesterday’s 16-page June 1968 timetable was quite a come down for a railroad that once published 44-page timetables. The shrinkage wasn’t over: Today’s edition is a folded brochure that is the equivalent of just six pages long, the same as the condensed timetables of earlier years. This made June 1968 the last Burlington system timetable that was folded and stapled.

Click image to download an 2.9-MB PDF of this timetable.

The cover shown above used just half a page. The once-centerfold map is reduced to just over half a page. The two-page list of Burlington agents is reduced to half a page. General information, the station index, condensed timetables, fares, and connecting trains are all gone. Continue reading →

Burlington June 1968 Timetable

Posted on by April 29, 2024
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This timetable is only 16 pages long, cut from 20 in yesterday’s October 1967 timetable. Today’s timetable saved two pages by cutting the condensed schedules for all but the transcons (CZ, EB, NCL, WS, and Mainstreeter). Another page was saved by eliminating the list of connecting trains in Chicago and other cities. Finally, the 1967 timetable had a back cover ad that was cut from this one.

Click image to download an 9.0-MB PDF of this 16-page timetable.

The biggest loss I see is the Kansas City Zephyr, the daytime counterpart to the overnight American Royal Zephyr. However, a train with the same numbers, 35 & 36, continued to operate as the Quincy Local between Chicago and Quincy. It carried a dinette, while the American Royal, which once carried sleepers and a diner-lounge, was reduced to just coaches. Continue reading →

Burlington October 1967 Timetable

Posted on by April 29, 2024
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Three days ago, I posted the system timetable for November 1964. We’ve previously seen timetables for May 1965, November 1965, May 1966, November 1966, and June 1967. That brings us to today’s timetable.

Click image to download an 10.7-MB PDF of this 20-page timetable.

The intervening three years brought some major changes. Most apparently, after more than 80 years of publishing timetables with a deep red background with a prominent Burlington Route white-on-black logo, the railroad abruptly changed, in May 1966, to timetables with a white background, a large, cheery color photo, and a miniscule Burlington Route logo. Continue reading →