Dated 1917, this booklet is similar to one we have seen from 1923 and not quite so similar to one from 1935. Although this booklet has a color cover, while the 1923 booklet is sepia, many of the graphics in … Continue reading
Category Archives: SP&S
While SP&S secondary trains (3 & 4) in the 1950s carried solarium-observation cars, the primary trains (1 & 2) connecting with the Empire Builder and North Coast Limited did not have observation cars, thus making switching easier in Portland and … Continue reading
The Spokane, Portland & Seattle owned two steel heavyweight solarium-observation cars with extra-large windows in the rear rather than a rear platform, as SP&S trains went too fast (79 mph) for passengers to be safe or comfortable on an open … Continue reading
These two blotters from the Dale Hastin collection were both issued in the same era. The first was clearly from 1939 as it encourages people to go to the Golden Gate Exposition. Click image to download a 463-KB PDF of … Continue reading
White border postcards such as these are supposed to date to somewhere between 1915 and 1930, and all three show locomotives and cars that could be from those years. The first is a colorized photo by Fred Kiser, the Portland … Continue reading
For the first 27 years after its completion in 1910, the SP&S Railway was powered by hand-me-down locomotives from its parents, the Great Northern and Northern Pacific. But in 1937 and 1938, it took delivery of its first brand-new locomotives, … Continue reading
This edition of SP&S’ along-the-way brochure proudly features Bonneville Dam, which was completed in 1938, on the cover. That dam, which produces electricity for the Pacific Northwest, was one of the proudest accomplishments of the New Deal. Click image to … Continue reading
Here’s an eastbound version of SP&S’ along-the-way brochure. At least, the segment from Portland to Spokane is listed in an eastbound direction; the segment from Portland to Seaside is still listed westbound. Where the previous brochures mentioned the Cascade Rapids … Continue reading
This 1932 booklet and one for Clatsop Beach are mentioned in the airplane-map brochures of yesterday and the day before. The cover painting shown below (which is the back cover) is based on a photo from that brochure of an … Continue reading
Here is another SP&S “airplane” or relief map of its route, this one from 1931 and, like yesterday’s, specifically designed to serve westbound travelers. Other than the cover photo, there are few differences between the two maps: the name Empire … Continue reading