Union Pacific 1966 Calendar

My 1966 calendar has two eastern scenes: the Liberty Bell in March and Chicago at sunset looking up the Chicago River for September. The corresponding photos for the western version were of Sun Valley and Mount Rainier with Tipsoo Lake surrounded by snow. A similar photo of Rainier/Tipsoo, but without the snow, appeared on the 1949 and 1957 calendars and a menu cover.


Click image to download a 31.7-MB PDF of this calendar.

Photos of Bryce Canyon, the Tetons, a lake in Rocky Mountain Park, the Grand Canyon, and Riverside Geyser in Yellowstone Park don’t look much different from photos in earlier calendars. But this calendar includes four photos of the Pacific coastline: Laguna Beach (which we’ve seen on a menu); Morro Bay in San Luis Obispo County; Greenwood Cove in Mendocino County; and Heceta Head in Oregon. Many previous calendars have also included coastal photos: Oregon’s Cannon Beach in 1949, Otter Crest in 1951, and Cape Mears in 1964; and California’s Carmel Bay in 1955 and Monterey in 1963. It makes me wonder why UP went from one coastal photo every third year to four in one year, and why I haven’t found any menus with coastal photos other than Laguna Beach.

MonthPhotoMenu?
December 1965Sun Valley Winter
1966Freight Train
JanuaryLaguna BeachYes
FebruaryGreenwood Cove
March EastLiberty Bell
March WestSun Valley
AprilBryce Canyon
MayTetons
JuneSprague Lake, RMNP
JulyGrand Canyon
AugustRiverside GeyserYes
September EastChicago
September WestMount Rainier Tipsoo Lake
OctoberHeceta Head
NovemberCovered Bridge
DecemberMorro Bay
1967Grain elevator
List of AgentsTrains & Truck

This calendar has no photos of dome diners, other passenger car interiors, or indeed any passenger trains at all except for a photo showing a freight train, Union Pacific motor truck and the locomotives of a passenger train while the train itself is hidden. Instead, the calendar has two more freight photos in addition to the freight/truck/passenger loco photo: one shows SD24s pulling a freight train in Wyoming and the other shows grain-filled boxcars being unloaded in Portland. This change apparently reflects the decline in passenger business.


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