This is the 1931 edition of yesterday’s booklet, which was from 1927. One major change is that, instead of having a centerfold map of Alaska, this one has photos on the center pages and a much larger map that unfolds from the inside back cover. This map is glued into an otherwise blank page; since I was unable to scan all of the back of the map without detaching it, my scan includes part of the back cover (which is the cover shown below).

Click image to download an 20.2-MB PDF of this 20-page booklet plus map.

That cover shows an intensely colored painting of a train passing Mount McKinley. The train must be headed south because the mountain is on the right. Like a Bern Hill painting, the passenger cars are subtly and impossibly bent to match the curve of the tracks. Unfortunately, the painting is unsigned.

The timetable in this booklet for trains between Seward and Fairbanks is similar to the 1927 one, but the previously-daily Seward-Anchorage portion has been reduced to three days a week (Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday). After spending the night in Curry, the Wednesday and Saturday trains go on to Fairbanks but the Friday train only goes as far as McKinley Park. In addition, a new train has been added that goes from Curry to Fairbanks on Mondays but doesn’t connect with a train to Seward. Finally, on Tuesdays only there is a train between Fairbanks and McKinley Park.

The 1931 timetable also names the trains, though the naming is somewhat haphazard. One of the Seward-Fairbanks trains is called the Aurora. This that is still used today, sometimes spelled AuRoRa (the ARR denoting Alaska Rail Road), but the train operates only in the winter months. The other Seward-Fairbanks train is called the Midnight Sun even though it operated on exactly the same schedule (but different days of the week) as the Aurora. The Seward-McKinley Park, Curry-Fairbanks, and McKinley Park-Fairbanks trains were all called the Mt. McKinley Special even though they had different end points and operated different days of the week.