This 1923 booklet has an unusual format. Instead of the typical 8″x9″ pages, this one’s pages are 16″x9″. The cover shown below is the left side of the back cover. The text begins on the right side of the back … Continue reading
Category Archives: Southern Pacific
In late 1901, Rock Island completed a 264-mile extension from Liberal, Kansas to Santa Rosa, New Mexico. Its goal was to reach coal mines that were opening up in the territory, which wouldn’t become a state until 1912. To that … Continue reading
As the Santa Fe was growing its service to Los Angeles from Chicago, the Southern Pacific was expanding its own service between Los Angeles and New Orleans. While Wikipedia and other web sites seem to be confused about the railroad’s … Continue reading
This is an update of the 1884 timetable shown here a month ago. At that time, I noted that the timetable was “peculiar” because it focused on connections with other railroads rather than displaying the Southern Pacific’s own timetables. The … Continue reading
In its 1884 timetable, Southern Pacific included condensed schedules of the Houston and Texas Central. At the time, this was part of the Charles Morgan family of railroads in the Gulf Coast area, but in 1927 it would become part … Continue reading
Today’s timetable is peculiar in several ways. Like several we have seen before, it mainly has westbound schedules, probably because its goal is to entice people to emigrate west. (It does have one very brief eastbound schedule.) Also like several … Continue reading
Here are two more Union Pacific-style menus that were actually used on the Southern Pacific. Like other menus with photos of the San Francisco Bay Area, these two were usually used on the City of San Francisco or San Francisco … Continue reading
At least three Union Pacific menus showed San Francisco’s Nob Hill. I’ve previously presented two of them, including one dated 1957 (though I’ve seen this photo on a 1950 menu) and one dated 1963 (whose photo I’ve seen on a … Continue reading
Having lost the speed race when UP and Santa Fe reduced the times of their premiere Chicago-Los Angeles trains to 39-3/4 hours, Southern Pacific/Rock Island’s Golden State was a distinctly third-rate train in the 1950s. So this six-panel welcome-aboard brochure … Continue reading
This issue of West, the first I’ve seen dated later than 1942, celebrates the 75th anniversary of the completion of the Central Pacific and Union Pacific transcontinental railroad. The cover drawing shows Chinese workers being “lowered in baskets to chip … Continue reading