This menu is similar to a 1950 menu we’ve seen in that the color photo of Colorado scenery on the front is paired with another color photo of a Rio Grande train on the back. In the 1950 example, the train on the back was a heavyweight Royal Gorge, while in this case it is the east- and westbound California Zephyrs meeting in Glenwood Canyon.
Click image to download a 2.4-MB PDF of this menu.
Both of these menus were used for tour groups, which means the meals were unpriced. This particular menu was used on a Prairie Farmer-WLS tour and offers trout, fried chicken, calf’s liver, or prime rib with soup, potatoes and vegetable, rolls, salad, dessert, and beverage. As previously noted, Prairie Farmer is a magazine that, from 1928 through 1960, owned Chicago radio station WLS. It began offering rail tours to various parts of the country as early as 1930 and continued them at least through the early 1950s.