We’ve previously seen this menu cover on an example taken from the collection of the New York Public Library. The cover of that one also noted that it was for “Southern Pacific Service.” This one doesn’t say whether it is for Union Pacific or Southern Pacific (or C&NW) service, but I suspect it was UP.
Click image to download a 1.5-MB PDF of this menu.
The 1935 SP menu had full meals with eight entrées, but this one–possibly reflecting war-time rationing–has just six: Utah trout, chicken, lamb chops, poached eggs on fried tomatoes, roast beef, and a deluxe sirloin steak. Most of the entrées were $1.40 to $1.50, but the steak was $2.25–multiply by 15 to get today’s dollars. A la carte items include fish, lamb chops, ham steak, and an individual sirloin steak for $1.50, as well as many other items.
Since most UP dinner menus featured the sirloin steak while the Southern Pacific menu did not, this is a good reason to think this is a UP menu. While the California Zephyr dining car crews went the entire trip, and the three railroads rotated which trains their commissaries served, SP/UP/C&NW dining car crews may have served only in their home territories, at least on heavyweight trains.