1950 City of Denver

Here’s a post-war update to the inaugural booklet for Union Pacific’s Chicago-Denver train. This one has fewer pages and is slightly smaller in size and indicates both the similarities and differences between the 1936 and 1950 versions of this train.

Click image to download a 4.3-MB PDF of this 20-page booklet.

Similarities include the locomotives, as the City of Denver was the last Union Pacific train to be pulled by elevated-cab engines. These were replaced by E-units in 1952 and (like all early UP streamliners) soon scrapped. The observation car and coaches also appear unchanged from 1936.

Contrary to Wikipedia’s claim that “the UP kept the original trainsets on the route until 1953,” this booklet indicates some major differences in the other cars on the train. The diner-lounge of the 1936 train was replaced by separate dining and lounge cars, while the Frontier Shack disappeared, or at least was not mentioned in the booklet. The sleeping accommodations were also different: the “private sections” with aluminum privacy screens advertised in 1936 were replaced by roomettes by 1950. The 1950 booklet also mentions a drawing room (with three beds) that wasn’t available in 1936.


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