The cover of this menu says “Monument Valley,” but the spire in the painting is a specific formation known as the Totem Pole. While it is far from obvious in the painting, it measures a full 381-feet tall. The photograph … Continue reading
The Navajo Indians in this menu’s cover painting are pointing to a steam train in the distance, which at once is supposed to convey the wildness of the West and how it has been tamed by the railroad. The 1911 … Continue reading
In 1954, Santa Fe added a full-length dome to its all-coach El Capitan. Just two years later, it replaced the Big Domes (as the railroad called them), along with the rest of the train, with Hi-Level cars. This 1954 brochure … Continue reading
This 1957 brochure is twice as big as the Kansas City Chief brochure shown here a couple of days ago, which is probably appropriate as the Texas Chief went almost three times as many miles. The brochure also doesn’t have … Continue reading
Many of the restaurants Fred Harvey operated across the country included bars selling cocktails, whiskies, and similar drinks. Someone at the Fred Harvey headquarters thought that it would be amusing to have beverage menus with paintings of “the seven stages … Continue reading
Although Burlington tried to compete with the Kansas City Zephyr, Santa Fe dominated the route between Chicago and Kansas City. This was partly because Kansas City was on the route for all of its Chicago-California and Chicago-Texas trains. Thus, the … Continue reading
We’ve seen timetable cards like this for the Grand Canyon. The ones I have for that train are all from the 1960s, but this is from 1953 or before, as indicated by the “Extra Fare” notation: Santa Fe stopped charging … Continue reading
This 1948 lunch menu was used in Grand Canyon’s El Tovar Hotel, which was owned by Santa Fe and leased to Fred Harvey. The menu has seven entrées that appear on both the a la carte and table d’hôte sides, … Continue reading
In 1929, Burlington issued a California escorted tour booklet jointly with the Santa Fe railroad. That booklet described just one 22-day tour that went on the Santa Fe from Chicago to Los Angeles with stopovers in Santa Fe and the … Continue reading
. . . from the Brotherhood of Railway, Airline & Steamship Clerks, Santa Fe System Board of Adjustment. Although there is a jet airliner on the top of the Christmas tree, this booklet is filled exclusively with photos of (and … Continue reading
