Here’s a placemat from the Challenger, the Union Pacific’s answer to Santa Fe’s El Capitan. But where the El Capitan was an extra-fare train that happened to have exclusively coach seating, the Challenger was designed as an economy train, with special low-cost meals and services.
Click image to download a PDF of this placemat.
Photographic evidence indicates that, unlike the El Capitan diners, diners on the Challenger served meals over paper placemats, not linen tablecloths. No doubt the train’s patrons were happy to accept this compromise in exchange for the money they saved. Note that this placemat was actually printed in three different colors.