Copies of this beverage menu were used in the lounge cars of both the Empire Builder and Western Star in 1964. The menu offers a few wines, bourbons, whiskeys, and numerous mixed drinks. Playing cards were 80 cents (about $6.50 today) a deck, $1.60 for a pair of decks. The menu also advertised GN souvenir travel bags for $1.50 (about $12.50 today). These bags are collector’s items today but were so cheaply made they really weren’t good for travel.
Click image to download a 664-KB PDF of this menu.
eBay (and elsewhere).
The front cover celebrates the Rocky Mountains of western Montana, cattle ranching in eastern Montana, and the Williston oil basin in western North Dakota. The artwork is signed “a r noble.” The only thing I can find about this artist is that he also did a painting called “The Old Depot” that Brown & Bigalow issued as a print, probably in the 1960s. One of these prints is available for sale onThe style of this painting by A. R. Noble doesn’t really resemble the cover on the beverage menu, but at least it is of a railroad subject, albeit one that is imaginary. Click image for a larger view.
It may not be on the GN, but it looks like a real scene depicting the Minneapolis & St. Louis depot in Victoria, MN.
https://www.west2k.com/mnpix/victoria.jpg
DavidBGates77,
Thanks for finding that photo. Noble’s painting is far more bucolic than the real thing, but the depot in the photo does look like the inspiration for the painting.