The Californian was Southern Pacific’s Chicago-Los Angeles economy train, operating from 1936 to 1947 in competition with Union Pacific’s Challenger. This 1938 menu folder is fancier than the ones used on the pre-war Challenger, which were usually just cards. But … Continue reading
We’ve previously seen a name-train booklet for the first Daylight train. This one is much fancier, with full color illustrations of train interiors and exteriors. It wasn’t unusual for railroads to produce two booklets to introduce new trains, one for … Continue reading
Austrian theater and film director Max Reinhardt staged A Midsummer Night’s Dream for five nights at the Hollywood Bowl in September, 1934, and then five nights at the San Francisco Opera House and two nights at UC Berkeley in October. … Continue reading
This is a flimsy paper menu that wasn’t actually used as a menu but as a come-on to get people to go to the dining car. The menu side says it is a sample menu that illustrates the type of … Continue reading
Here’s another beautiful painting by Michel Kady on the cover of a Southern Pacific menu. We’ve previously seen five others, all of which can be accessed on the SP menu series page. All of these menus were used for tour … Continue reading
“Southern Pacific of Mexico has just completed connection of its lines between Tepic and Guadalajara, opening a route of great importance for commerce and travel from the United States, via Tucson and Njogales, Arizona, through to Mexico City and the … Continue reading
I was attracted to this postcard because I recognized the location. The card says “the Three Sisters from the west,” but it doesn’t mention that the lake in the foreground is Scott Lake, which is more northwest than west of … Continue reading
The Southern Pacific may have still been friendly to passengers in 1949, but its coffee shop menus were a single card rather than a folder. If it seems like SP wasn’t pampering the coach passengers who frequented the coffee shop … Continue reading
We’ve seen these two booklets before, the main differences being that the others were from a different year. First is a 1947 booklet for the Shasta Route, which was served by the all-Pullman Cascade; the bargain Beaver, which left Portland … Continue reading
Union Pacific inaugurated the Challenger to Los Angeles in 1936. In 1937, UP and SP began a similar train to San Francisco that became known as (though this brochure doesn’t say so) the San Francisco Challenger. As shown in the … Continue reading
