I’ve identified six different series issued by the Denver & Rio Grande Western going back to the mid-1930s. The Rio Grande had several menu series before then that featured black-and-white photos or drawings, but I haven’t yet systematically identified or inventoried them.
If you know of any menus or entire menu series that aren’t included below, please let me know. If you have such a menu or menus and a scanner, please send me scans. Thanks.
Black-and-White Photo Series
The oldest series I have includes these menus from 1935 and 1936. The back covers each tell “a true story from the old West” that usually has little or nothing to do with the cover photo. There is at least one other menu in this series showing the Royal Gorge, and I imagine there are several more.
 1935 Menu |  1935 Menu |  1936 Menu |
 1936 Menu |  Missing |
Pastel Series
I call these menus the Pastel Series as they featured pastel-colored artworks of various scenes along the railroad. The covers also identify the meal above and the railroad name below the art. The back covers have a few paragraphs of text that usually tell a historic or apocryphal anecdote related to the artwork. The front covers also have ragged edges on the right side.
 1938 Menu |  1938 Menu |  1938 Menu |
 1939 Menu |  1939 Menu |  1940 Menu |
 1940 Menu |  1941 Menu |
The Pastel menus I have date from 1938 to 1941, but Rio Grande could have used them earlier and may have used them in 1942. I haven’t found any other than these eight. Since each pastel could appear on a breakfast, luncheon, or dinner menu, there were potentially three different covers for each artwork, but I’m not attempting to collect all three meals for each piece of art.
Glued-On Photo Series
This menu series uses the same heavy paper and the same background tones but replaces the pastels with a color photo that has been glued on to each menu. Most of the photos are 4 inches high by 5 inches wide, but a few are 5 inches high by 4 inches wide.
As with the Pastel series, the back cover features a few paragraphs of text that is sometimes only vaguely related to the cover photo. The front cover has the name of the meal in script and the words “Rio Grande” in speed letters. A few have the name of the train instead of the name of the meal.
The menus I have in this series are dated from 1943 through 1950, though it’s possible Rio Grande began using them before 1943. The 35 menus I’ve found so far make this the largest menu series of any western American railroad whose name is not Union Pacific. Since I encounter new ones every few months, I suspect there are more I haven’t yet found.
Front & Back Cover Photo Series
In 1950, Rio Grande began using menus that printed a color photo right on the menu, using the entire front cover except for a small band of white at the bottom for the railroad name and meal. The back of each menu featured another photo with a brief description of both photos in the white band at the bottom. The back photo was either the Royal Gorge or the California Zephyr.
 1950 Menu |  1951 Menu |  1951 Menu |
 1951 Menu |  1951 Menu |
Front Cover Photo Series
Sometime between 1951 and 1954 the railroad changed the design slightly by putting text on the back rather than a photograph. Note that the Maroon Bells photo is used in both a 1951 and a 1956 version; presumably other cover photos from the front-and-back-cover photo series are also used on the front cover series. A 1954 menu I’ve identified but haven’t collected has the California Zephyr on the front and text on the back.
 1953 Menu |  Missing |  1956 Menu |
 1956 Menu |
Wrap-Around Photo Series
All of these menus date from 1967 but there is a slight difference that may indicate they are really in two different series. The first two menus shown here have a photo that wraps around to the back of the menu but leaving a white band on the left side for the railroad logo. The third one has a photo that covers the entire front and back covers. Since these menus are dated 1967, there’s a gap in my collection between 1956 and 1967 during which Rio Grande may have issued more menus in either of these series.
 1967 Menu |  1967 Menu |  1967 Menu |