The speed wars that reduced New York-Chicago and Chicago-Denver train times to 16 hours and Chicago-West Coast train times to under 40 hours were driven by the desire of business travelers to minimize the number of business hours lost in … Continue reading
We’ve seen both these menus before, but one of mine was heavily faded from being on display. Though I never let it be in the direct sun, apparently even a little light causes the yellows and reds to disappear. Fortunately, … Continue reading
The three railroads that operated the California Zephyr issued numerous postcards in the two decades that train ran. Here are a few we haven’t seen before. Click image to download a 244-KB PDF of this postcard. The Alco locomotives shown … Continue reading
California Zephyr passengers were greeted with this card on their tables when they sat down to eat in the dining car. Note that the printing uses green ink but they took the trouble to print one letter in red, giving … Continue reading
We’ve previously seen a 1941 booklet advertising the Exposition Flyer. Today’s brochure was published in 1939 to announce the inauguration of that train on June 10. The train, said the brochure, would offer “fast new thru train service” between Chicago … Continue reading
The first cover today commemorates the 30th anniversary of the first run of the California Zephyr. Postmarked March 17, 1979, in Bond, Colorado, the envelope includes a printed note saying that it was carried from Denver to Bond on the … Continue reading
By 1968, the railroads operating the California Zephyr had changed the Vista-Dome Views booklet into a brochure. This might have made it less expensive to print, but it probably made it harder to use as it unfolded to an unwieldy … Continue reading
Here’s the 1965 edition of yesterday’s timetable. Except for the cover date, six of the eight pages in the two timetables are identical in almost every respect. The page listing Western Pacific agents is different as some of the agent … Continue reading
Of the three railroads that shared the California Zephyr, Western Pacific was the only one that, after 1960, published a timetable exclusively for that train. This was for the very good reason that, while both Burlington and Rio Grande operated … Continue reading
We’ve previously seen a 1949 edition of the California Zephyr‘s along-the-way booklet. The basic site-by-site text is the same with the addition of scheduled times, both eastbound and westbound, at each of the cities or sites. Click image to download … Continue reading
