This is an elegant little menu for an elegant little motor train. An image of Mark Twain apparently groping a rather alarmed-looking Huck Finn (or perhaps Tom Sawyer) is deeply embossed on the cover. The menu is all printed on one side of the heavy paper and folded twice so it looks like a conventional menu folder. (Click here to download the menu completely unfolded.)

Click image to download an 330-KB PDF of this menu.

The Mark Twain Zephyr trainset was originally used on Burlington’s line between Burlington, Iowa and St. Louis. However, it was often “loaned” to other routes, including Chicago-Twin Cities, Chicago-Denver, and Dallas-Houston. In September 1938 (according to one source), the train was put on a St. Louis-Kansas City route, which required that it use the tracks of the Alton Railroad for part of the trip. Despite the different route, it was still called the Mark Twain Zephyr.

This menu has the logo of the Alton Railroad on the cover, showing it was used when the train was serving the St. Louis-Kansas City corridor. I’m dating it to 1938, though Wikipedia says the train used this corridor for “various extended periods” through 1942.

Although the Mark Twain Zephyr‘s kitchen was tiny, this menu offers a full selection of meals, including fish, lamb chops, roast turkey, dinner steak, or cold cuts, all coming with soup, appetizer, potatoes (whipped, not baked) and vegetables, bread, dessert, and beverage. All of these entrées also appear on the a la carte side, for 15 to 20 cents less than the full meals, along with a few sandwiches and other items.