Rio Grande ran only five trains in 1960 yet printed a 20-page timetable. The Moffat Tunnel Route, featuring the California Zephyr and Prospector, could have fit on one page but took two. The Royal Gorge Route, featuring the Royal Gorge … Continue reading
Rio Grande had one more passenger train a day going each way through the Moffatt Tunnel in 1957 than in yesterday’s 1952 timetable. The overnight service from Denver to Craig had proved unpopular, so in 1954 Rio Grande introduced a … Continue reading
Rio Grande operated five main trains a day plus several locals in 1952. The main trains were the California Zephyr; the streamlined Prospector, which was the overnight train on the same route as the Zephyr; the partially streamlined, dome-equipped Royal … Continue reading
This postcard says that it shows the eastbound San Francisco-Chicago Express climbing “Soldiers Summit.” The back spells it “Soldiers’ Summit,” but the modern-day spelling is “Soldier Summit.” The grade is so steep that five steam locomotives are required to haul … Continue reading
This menu cover features a beautiful cover photo, probably taken several years before by William Henry Jackson, of the Grand River (now called the Colorado River; I’m pretty sure the photo was taken in Glenwood Canyon) with a locomotive and … Continue reading
In addition to the color photos on the cover, this timetable makes some interesting if questionable uses of color. The inside front cover pictures two cars from the Prospector and one from the California Zephyr using black-and-white photos but with … Continue reading
This 108-page booklet is a combination of advertisement, travel advisor, and along-the-way guide for all of the routes of the Denver & Rio Grande Western in 1925. Although the Moffat Tunnel route was still nearly ten years away, the Rio … Continue reading
As of 1887, three different railroads — the Denver & Rio Grande; Denver, Texas & Gulf (later Colorado & Southern); and Santa Fe — had lines from Denver to Pueblo. They competed until 1918, when the federal government temporarily took … Continue reading
The Rio Grande installed this “monument to an idea” in Glenwood Canyon in 1950, a year after the inaugural run of the California Zephyr. As much as it was a monument to the dome car, it was also a monument … Continue reading
“Colorado is the “highest of all the forty-eight states,” notes the back of this menu. “Forty-nine of Colorado’s peaks push skyward more than 14,000 feet above the level of the sea [today it is supposed to be 53, though some … Continue reading
