Other UP Menus

Menus shown here include photo menus that mostly date from before 1947; menus with Howard Fogg paintings commissioned by the UP for the 1969 Golden Spike centennial; children’s menus; and menus for special meals or occasions. I’ve divided these menus into several groups or series with a name based on the menus’ design themes. Click on an image to download a PDF of that menu. Click on the brief description below to go to the page describing that menu.

Art Nouveau Series

These menus were used from the late 1920s to 1935. The early ones feature black-and-white photos that were hand colored and printed using the lithographic process. Later ones use “natural color” photos, probably printed using the four-color process. The photos and text are surrounded by a busy border in an art nouveau style. Curiously, the Bryce and Zion menus come in at least three slightly different versions even though they are clearly based on photos taken from nearly the same spot. As far as I know, all of the menu covers in this series are represented here.


1927 Menu

1928 Menu

1929 Menu

1929 Menu

1929 Menu

1929 Menu

1929 Menu

1929 Menu

1930 Menu

1930 Menu

1930 Menu

1930 Menu

1931 Menu

1934 Menu

1934 Menu

1934 Menu

1934 Menu

1935 Menu

1935 Menu

Lodge Menus

These menu cards with colorized photos were used in Bryce, Grand Canyon, and Zion lodges from about 1929 to 1934. I haven’t seen any that aren’t included here and suspect these are all of them. After 1934, the same size of cards were used without the photos, as shown here by a 1936 menu.


1929 Menu

1929 Menu

1929 Menu

1929 Menu

1929 Menu

1929 Menu

1929 Menu

1931 Menu

1931 Menu

1936 Menu

Moderne Series

In 1935, the railroad simplified its Art Nouveau menus by replacing the busy borders with a white background and a few stripes, but still using the same photos and text as in the Art Nouveau series. I originally called this the Modern series, but Moderne is more appropriate. Moderne “is almost the exact opposite” of Modern, another web site observes. “‘Modern’ design values only the functional and eschews all ornament; moderne design insists that the functional must be made artistic before it can show its face in public.” In addition to the seven menus in my collection, plus one more that will be posted soon, I’ve identified one with Mount Rainier.


1935 Menu

1935 Menu

1935 Menu

1935 Menu

1935 Menu

1935 Menu

1935 Menu

1936 Menu

1936 Menu

1936 Menu

Missing

Black-and-White Series

The Modern series lasted less than a year, as UP introduced a series with black-and-white photos of parks and other sights in 1936. Instead of photos that wrapped around the menu, these used two different photos on the front and back covers. The menus shown here include all the ones I know about. All of the menus I’ve seen in this series were used on special trains, which makes me wonder: if the Premiere series (below) was used on major trains and the black-and-white series was used on special trains, then what menus were used on secondary trains between 1936 and 1940?


1938 Menu

1938 Menu

1938 Menu

1938 Menu

1938 Menu

1938 Menu

1939 Menu

1940 Menu

1940 Menu

1940 Menu

1941 Menu

1941 Menu

1941 Menu

1945 Menu

Premiere Series

At least as as early as 1929, UP designed specific menus for each of its premiere heavyweight trains including the Los Angeles Limited, Overland Limited, Portland Rose, Columbine, and Pony Express. Early in the history of these menus, the premiere status of these trains was displaced by the streamliners, but the streamliners initially did not go every day. By 1949 or so, UP was using color wraparound menus on these trains. I’ve included a menu for the Mountain Bluebird that is missing from my collection.


1939 Menu

1939 Menu

1942 Menu

1942 Menu

1943 Menu

1946 Menu

1946 Menu

1948 Menu

1949 Menu

1949 Menu

Missing

Streamliner Series

The first streamliners used menus with the Winged Streamliner logo on the front. Although these were largely replaced by the color wraparound menus in 1947, I’ve seen a couple of City of San Francisco streamliner menus dated 1964.


1946 Menu

1946 Menu

1946 Menu

1950 Menu

Patriotic Menus

World War II led UP to issue a series of patriotic menus. I only have one plus three more whose scans were contributed by a Streamliner Memories reader. Curiously, although the numbers that I rely on as date codes suggest the menus were used in 1945 and 1946, menu inserts indicate they were used in 1943. This makes more sense as all four shown here are from UP’s 1943 calendar. I imagine there were other menus in the series that used other photos from the calendar.


1943 Menu

1943 Menu

1943 Menu

1943 Menu

Menu Cards

UP sometimes used cards instead of folders for menus in its coffee shop cars. These two date to shortly after the war.


1946 Menu

1947 Menu

Postcard Menus

Probably starting after World War II, UP used postcard menus in its lodges and on the Challenger trains. The top of these menus was a postcard that could be torn off and mailed to a friend. In addition to the ones identified here as “missing,” I know I am missing ones with boaters in Lake Mead, Laguna Beach, the Mormon Temple, and I imagine several others.


1953 Menu

1953 Menu

1954 Menu

1954 Menu

1954 Menu

1954 Menu

1955 Menu

1956 Menu

1961 Menu

1961 Menu

1965 Menu

1965 Menu

1965 Menu

1965 Menu

Children’s Menus

Union Pacific appears to have had three children’s menus before the war (bear, rabbit, and squirrel) and three after the war (bear, deer, and cowboy).


1930 Menu

1930 Menu

1930 Menu

1933 Menu

1950 Menu

1957 Menu

1964 Menu

1965 Menu

1969 Menu

Centennial Series

UP commissioned railroad painter Howard Fogg to do sixteen paintings to commemorate the centennial of the last spike. UP used six of these paintings on lunch and dinner menu folders and the same six on breakfast, lunch, and coffee shop car menu cards.


1969 Menu

1969 Menu

1969 Menu

1970 Menu

1970 Menu

1970 Menu

1970 Menu

1970 Menu

1970 Menu

1970 Menu

1970 Menu

1970 Menu

1971 Menu

1971 Menu

1971 Menu

Special Menus

This is a catch-all category that includes a cute beverage menu, some “French” or “Continental” dinner menus used on the early streamliners, a Sun Valley Lodge menu (one of at least two in a series), a Chef’s Salad menu that was used on UP passenger trains for many years, Christmas menus, and menus used on special trains after UP ceased to operate passenger trains.


1936 Menu

1937 Menu

1939 Menu

1940 Menu

1955 Menu

1960 Menu

1964 Menu

1964 Menu

1969 Menu

1969 Menu

1970 Menu

1971 Menu

1974 Menu

1979 Menu