After the Southern Crescent was taken over by Amtrak in 1978, the last private long-distance train in America was the Rio Grande Zephyr. This was a remnant of the California Zephyr, using cars from the Rio Grande’s share of the … Continue reading
This eight-page, black-and-white brochure is quite a come-down from the colorful 20-page brochure the Rio Grande published some two decades earlier. Perhaps, having just emerged from bankruptcy in 1947, the railroad was trying to save money. But wait! Did you … Continue reading
Like yesterday’s Rio Grande brochure, this one is undated. Unlike yesterday’s, the maps in this one include the Moffat Tunnel route, which dates it to after 1934. The Rio Grande initially only had trackage rights over the Denver and Salt … Continue reading
There’s no date on this brochure, but the centerfold map has no hint of a rail line from Dotsero to Denver, which means it was published before 1932, when the Denver & Rio Grande Western began building that line. The … Continue reading
Here’s a breakfast menu from 1939 that’s a mate to the 1941 dinner menu I posted last May. Where the dinner menu featured Mesa Verde on the cover, this one has Pikes Peak. Click image to download a 1.1-MB PDF … Continue reading
After the Panoramic and the Scenic Limited but before the California Zephyr was the Exposition Flyer, the first through train allowing coach as well as sleeping car passengers to go from the Midwest to California over the Rio Grande route. … Continue reading
Wall Street financial whiz Jay Gould gained and lost control of the Erie, Union Pacific, and numerous other railroads. When he died at the age of 56, the largest railroad he left to his son, George Gould, was the Missouri … Continue reading
By 1950, the Rio Grande no longer operated a train called the Panoramic, but it retained the name “Panoramic Views” in this updated brochure featuring streamliners and dome cars. As with the 1930s edition of the brochure, this one is … Continue reading
The Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad justifiably called itself “the scenic line of the world,” but its main east-west route from Pueblo to Salt Lake City by-passed Denver and lacked convenient connections with Chicago. Meanwhile, the Denver & Salt … Continue reading
Today we take a break from menus to present this eight-page brochure about the Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad. It doesn’t have a date, but a map on page 7 shows the railroad as it appeared before 1963, when … Continue reading
