This is the first edition of a booklet that we’ve seen before with a different cover and many different interior photos. The painting on the cover of this booklet was done by Leslie Ragan for the Budd Company and, while the vertically exaggerated mountains are very dramatic, the painting on the later booklet by an anonymous artist gives a better idea of what life was like aboard one of the North Coast Limited‘s domes.
Click image to download a PDF of this 20-page booklet.
This booklet was issued in July, 1954, a month before NP introduced the first of its new domes. Interior photos of a dome car on page 6 actually show a Burlington dome. An exterior view of a dome car on page 8 (previously seen here) shows a smooth roof — NP’s domes had ribbed roofs — and full-width diaphragms, which were never used on NP domes or, as far as I know, any NP passenger cars.
A photo on page 3 showing a family about to board a train appears to be from the 1930s, judging by their clothing. The “North Coast Limited” sign in the photo is definitely from the pre-streamlined era. While most of the photos on pages 4 and 5 appear in both booklets, many others including the one on page 3 were updated for later editions of the booklet.
I was intrigued to see that Teton National Park and Sunlight Basin each get half of page 9. Teton Park is famous but few have been to Sunlight Basin. While it is one of my favorite places, it is out of the way for people going to or from Yellowstone, most of whom, if they use the Cooke City entrance at all, go over the Beartooth Highway to or from Red Lodge rather than Sunlight to or from Cody. Sunlight Basin is omitted from the later edition of the booklet.