This calendar appears to have been printed before December 7, 1941 — at least, it has a page for that month — yet the cover suggests the Union Pacific was already prepared for war as part of the “strategic middle route.” Inside, there are scenic views of Sun Valley, Mt. Hood, and the Grand Canyon, but most of the photos are of industries such as mining, wood processing, and agriculture. It is doubtful those industry photos would have been included if there were no war clouds on the horizon considering that the 1940 calendar exclusively used scenic photos or photos of UP trains.

Click image to download an 8.0-MB PDF of this calendar.

The photos for January (Sun Valley) and June (Grand Canyon) would later appear on post-war menus. The Grand Canyon photo had also previously appeared on the July 1940 calendar. Although UP had several post-war menus featuring Mt. Hood, the photo of Mt. Hood on the April 1942 calendar does not appear to have been used on a menu cover.

The only photo of a Union Pacific train is an interior picture of a heavyweight Challenger coach with its pre-Sleepy Hollow seats. The photo shows a registered nurse-stewardess admiring a young mother’s baby. A back-cover caption says each stewardess was a “hospital graduate” and they could be found on “practically all Union Pacific transcontinental trains.”

Union Pacific published calendars like this one (though later a little larger and dispensing with the comb binding) from 1940 through 1996. I have now posted all of them except 1941.