Yesterday’s brochure featured giant Boulder Dam; today’s features giant Hoover Dam. Of course, they are both the same dam; the name simply depended on whether the Democrats or Republicans were in control of Congress. Of the two, Hoover was probably most appropriate as the dam wasn’t even built in Boulder Canyon.

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In 1953, it was still possible for Union Pacific passengers to get off one train in Las Vegas, tour the dam, and get on another train the same day without having the extra expense of spending the night in Vegas. Eastbound passengers would take the Gold Coast, get off at the early hour of 5:30 am, then after their tour continue east on any of three evening trains.

Westbound passengers from St. Louis or Omaha could take the City of St. Louis to Vegas, get off at 7:20 am, then catch the 8:45 pm Gold Coast to Los Angeles. Passengers from Chicago would take the Los Angeles Limited to Omaha and transfer to the City of St. Louis, which left Omaha 5 minutes after the LA Limited.

By 1956, enough trains had been dropped from the timetable that people wanting to tour the dam would have had to spend the night at a hotel. This added enough time and cost to the trip that later Union Pacific brochures advertised the joys of stopping over at both Las Vegas and the dam.