It may be true that nothing could be finer than eating in a diner, but waiting in line for a seat in the dining car was a hassle. A few railroads avoided that by offering passengers reservations. What medications interact … Continue reading
While the dining cars of premiere trains such as the Empire Builder and–in its early years, at least–the Western Star used heavy linen tablecloths, secondary trains such as the Red River and Internationals used paper placemats instead. Paper placemats were … Continue reading
Like its cross-border rival, the Canadian Pacific, the Great Northern published a brochure advising photographers how to take photos through the tinted glass windows of the dome cars. But where the Canadian Pacific brochure merely advised photographers to account for … Continue reading
Here’s a used ticket envelope from the 1947 streamlined Empire Builder. The inner flap of the envelope has a photo of a spectacular mountain in Glacier National Park. The ticket agent wrote on the outer flap that the passenger spent … Continue reading
Here are two different versions of the same brochure. The first, published when the train was inaugurated in 1951, advertises the Mid-Century Empire Builder. Perhaps because it was no longer mid-century by 1954, when the second brochure was printed, the … Continue reading
The 1947 Empire Builder was Great Northern’s greatest train (at least, up until 1951, when the railroad replaced the train with an entirely new train). Many illustrations advertising the 1947 train showed five locomotives representing the five complete train sets … Continue reading
The 1950 version of the westbound here-you-are brochure is superficially the same as the 1949 brochure, but in fact the text and graphics have been almost completely redone. Click image to download a PDF of this four-page brochure. The GN … Continue reading
Here is the 1950 eastbound counterpart to yesterday’s “Here You Are” brochure for Empire Builder passengers. Eastbound passengers had to get up early to see Glacier Park, as the train arrived at West Glacier (Belton) at about 7:30 am. Click … Continue reading
Passengers traveling westbound on the streamlined Empire Builder in 1949 woke up their first morning to this little brochure–which possibly was given only to sleeping car passengers. Page 1 explains what passengers can expect to see that morning, while page … Continue reading
My final Charlie Russell menu, at least for now, isn’t actually in my collection; I found this 1956 Buffalo Hunt lunch menu at Waterlevel.com, a web site that allows people to share their rail and other collectibles. This menu, and … Continue reading
