This beautiful if imaginary scene shows the Colorado Eagle arriving somewhere in its namesake state. Missouri Pacific tracks only went as far as Pueblo. From there, the train was turned over to the Rio Grande, which took it north to Colorado Springs and Denver.
Click image to download a 3.1-MB PDF of this menu.
The Pueblo train station was (and is) several stories tall, which doesn’t fit with the corner of the station visible on the left side of this picture. It certainly isn’t Denver, which leaves Colorado Springs. Photographic evidence suggests that MP locomotives may have continued to handle the train on the Pueblo-Denver leg, but even there it was quite a ways from the mountains. But railroad marketing departments never hesitated to exaggerate the scenery that could be viewed from their trains.
This 1944 menu is eight pages rather than the usual four, though the inside front and back covers are blank. In addition to the menu itself, the other pages are an advertisement for MP’s many Eagle passenger trains and a political page pointing out that the railroads pay a lot of taxes and subtly arguing against government ownership or control of the railroads.
The menu offers eight different table d’hôte selections, including fish, French toast, omelet, and fried corn meal mush. The most expensive meal costs $1, which is about $15 today.