Southern Pacific April 1944 Timetable

In the midst of war, Southern Pacific continued publishing 56-page timetables and the print runs were upped to 115,000 copies. The main difference between this and pre-war timetables was that the full-page advertisements in this one emphasized war-related freight shipping (while subtly reminding potential travelers of where they could go on SP).

Click image to download a 27.0-MB PDF of this 56-page timetable.

The front cover of this timetable, for example, focuses on the industrial growth along the Sunset route in Texas and Louisiana. A full-page ad on page 2 is headlined, “South of the Border, Too, Our War Trains Roll,” but the text of the ad emphasizes “SP’s scenic and interesting West Coast of Mexico route” and the friendly people who inhabit it. “We cannot ask you to travel now, because of our great war load,” the ad laments. “But when peace comes again we hope you’ll ride with us to Mexico.”


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