I don’t have the 1947 calendar, so here is the 1948 edition. In either 1947 or 1948, Union Pacific graduated from the twelve pages used in the earlier calendars to a full sixteen pages. In addition to the twelve calendar months, one page shows December, 1947; two pages show full 1948 and 1949 calendars; and the final page has slightly longer descriptions of each photo. UP would continue to use this format through 1960.
Click image to download a 21.6-MB PDF of this calendar.
The opening (December 1947) page of this calendar has a completely unromantic photo of the Union Pacific ticket office building in downtown Los Angeles. While it’s true that part of a train trip was standing in line to buy tickets, people didn’t necessarily want to be reminded of that every time they looked at a calendar. The building was replaced in 1967 with a 24-story office building.
Also curious is the choice of E3 locomotives, known as LA-4, leading the City of Los Angeles on the photo description page of the calendar. These locomotives were nearly a decade old when the calendar was published and had been superseded by E7 locomotives on the daily train. Perhaps the inclusion was an admission that the slant-nose style of the E3s was more aesthetically appealing than the bulldog nose of the E7.
Month | Photo | Menu? |
---|---|---|
December, 1947 | Los Angeles Ticket Office | |
1948 | Freight Train | |
January | Sun Valley Dog Sled | |
February | Yellowstone Falls | |
March | Bear Lake | Yes |
April | Great White Throne | Yes |
May | Sun Valley Archery | |
June | Bryce | |
July | Grand Canyon | Yes |
August | Dude Ranch | |
September | Tetons with Horseback Riders | |
October | MacArthur Park | Yes |
November | Mount St. Helens | |
December | Hoover Dam Boating | |
1949 | Cattle | |
Photo descriptions | City of Los Angeles |
Four of the photos on this calendar would also appear on Union Pacific photo menus. The photo of the Great White Throne on the April calendar shows a man standing behind the seated woman; he is cropped out of the menu photo.
With the war long over and UP having finally placed enough streamlined cars in service to run its city trains on a daily basis, the “Strategic Middle Route” slogan has been replaced by “Road of the Daily Streamliners.”
Although my 1945 and 1946 calendars were the same size as later ones, 12-3/4″x23″, this calendar is the 10″x18″ size that was used in the early 1940s. Perhaps UP put out calendars in two sizes in some years.