Champion of the Track

Posted on by November 11, 2024
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The Milwaukee Road Olympian was named after the Olympic Mountains of northwest Washington, but in 1932 a very different Olympics were held in Los Angeles. This Milwaukee brochure takes advantage of this to compare the railroad’s premiere train with the champions of the Olympics.

Click image to download a 3.0-MB PDF of this brochure.

“Comparable to the champion of Olympic champions is America’s premier transcontinental train,” says the brochure, “which fittingly takes its name from the same mythology.” This was true only in the sense that the Olympic Mountains were based on the same mythology. The International Olympic Committee, which was created in 1894, must not have been as vigorous about protecting its brand identity in 1932 as it is today, as there is no indication in this brochure that the Milwaukee Road was a sponsor of the Olympics or otherwise had paid to be able to mention the Olympics in this advertisement. Continue reading →

New Olympian Luggage Sticker

Posted on by August 29, 2024
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When the St. Paul went bankrupt, the receivers asked Coverdale and Colpitts — the company that later wrote a series of reports on streamline trains — to prepare an evaluation of the railway. The report concluded that the railroad’s infrastructure was in fair shape, the locomotives were in “first class condition,” and freight cars were old and deficient in both condition and number.

Click any image to download a 916-KB PDF of this luggage sticker.

While the passenger cars were in “fair condition,” due to uncertainties about ridership (which was declining on all railroads), “it is not proposed that additional purchases of passenger cars be made.” Yet the receivers ignored this and ordered new equipment for the railroad’s flagship Olympian. Continue reading →

The New Olympian on Display

Posted on by August 29, 2024
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We’ve previously seen a glorious full-color booklet advertising the 1927 edition of the Olympian. That booklet was dated July 15 for a train that would first enter service on August 1.

Click any image to download a 5.2-MB PDF of this 8-page booklet.

Today we have a more prosaic booklet about the train that was dated June 30th. “The Milwaukee Road invites you to a critical inspection of The New Olympian and will gladly welcome constructive suggestions for its further improvement,” says the booklet. Apparently, the new train did a tour of major cities and this booklet was handed out to members of the public, while the color one was probably reserved for the press and travel agents. Continue reading →

Introducing the Milwaukee Road

Posted on by December 5, 2024
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1927 was an auspicious year for the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad. On June 18, it opened the Gallatin Gateway Inn, its entrance into Yellowstone National Park. In August, it began operating the new Olympian, a completely new train and the first train to the West Coast equipped with roller bearings.

Click any image to download a 12.7-MB PDF of this collection of 16 advertisements.

Most importantly, it was emerging from bankruptcy, having entered receivership in 1925 due to its inability to pay off bonds sold to construct its Pacific Coast extension. Although revenues had been well above the company’s operating costs, it had a massive debt due to that construction costing four times as much as anticipated. Because of the Great War and the opening of the Panama Canal, among other factors, revenues were simply not sufficient to pay off the debt, so when $48 million worth of bonds became due in 1925, it defaulted. Continue reading →

The Steel Equipped Pacific Limited

Posted on by August 29, 2024
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When the Pacific Limited was inaugurated on April 3, 1913, most of Union Pacific’s transcontinental trains connected to Chicago over the North Western line. For some trains, UP’s 1912 timetables also showed connections at Omaha with the Chicago Great Western, Illinois Central, and St. Paul roads, plus other connections to Minneapolis and St. Louis. In most cases these were just connections, meaning passengers had to change trains, but the St. Paul sent through cars from Chicago to Colorado and the West Coast on several different trains.

Click image to download a 27.3-MB PDF of this booklet.

For Pacific Limited, however, the primary road for the Chicago-Omaha portion of the was the St. Paul, not the North Western, at least for most of the early years that train ran. According to Wikipedia, the train went over St. Paul tracks from its inauguration in 1913 to the beginning of government control in mid-1918. For some reason the government routed the train over the C&NW, but when government control ended in November 1920, the train returned to the St. Paul. In September 1930, Depression-related issues returned it to the North Western where it stayed until it was discontinued in 1947. Continue reading →

The New Golden State Limited

Posted on by August 29, 2024
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In 1946, railroads aspired to replace their aging passenger equipment that was worn out from the Depression and war. Anticipating a boom in rail travel, they ordered thousands of new cars from the three main builders, Pullman, Budd, and ACF. The builders were unable to immediately meet the demand, and so railroads resorted to ads such as this one.

Click image to download a 3.4-MB PDF of this brochure.

The cover shows Diesels pulling fluted, stainless steel passenger cars. The inside pages show the top halves of the cars painted bright red with bare stainless steel below the window line. These pictures supposedly represent “an even finer, more luxurious Golden State Limited” that was “streamlined” and “new cars are being placed in service as fast as the builder turns them out.” Continue reading →

A Map That Talks

Posted on by August 29, 2024
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“If you are contemplating a trip anywhere in the United States or Canada, this map will help you,” it says. “Spread it before you, mark your starting point and destination (or the nearest city shown), and trace with a pencil the direct route from one point to another. If your route leads to or though any part of the Middle West, the chances are that your penciled line will consider with the Rock Island for a part, if not all, of the way.”

Click image to download an 8.7-MB PDF of this brochure.

I don’t know how that is a “map that talks.” Even for what it is, there are lots of places where people could go that wouldn’t easily be reached via the Rock Island. People in Chicago or further east would find the Rock Island useful for getting to parts of Texas, Colorado, southern Arizona, or southern California. But people trying to get to San Francisco or the Pacific Northwest would not find Rock Island useful for any part of their journeys. Continue reading →

The Rocky Mountain Limited in 1931

Posted on by August 29, 2024
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In 1931, when this booklet was issued, three Denver-bound trains left Chicago every morning at 10:30. From the North Western station, the Columbine expected to take 26-2/3 hours to travel 1,048 miles and arrive at Denver Union Station at 1:10 in the afternoon of the next day. From Union Station, the Aristocrat‘s route was 14 miles shorter and it was scheduled to arrive five minutes sooner at 1:05 pm. Finally, from LaSalle Street Station, the Rocky Mountain Limited had the longest journey, 1,083 miles, yet Rock Island was able to get it to Denver at 1:05 pm, the same time as Burlington’s train and five minutes earlier than Union Pacific’s.

Click image to download a 2.0-MB PDF of this 12-page booklet.

Inaugurated in 1898, the Rocky Mountain Limited and its 1939 successor, the Rocky Mountain Rocket, were also-rans in the Chicago-Denver passenger train market. Yet this booklet indicates that the Limited was at least as luxurious as the Aristocrat or Columbine. The observation car included a barber, valet, and an “exclusive lounge for the ladies.” The booklet claimed the train’s dining car had “meals [that were] the best on wheels.” Continue reading →

Under the Turquoise Sky in 1908

Posted on by August 29, 2024
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From at least 1902 through 1930, Rock Island regularly published a booklet about Colorado subtitled Under the Turquoise Sky. We’ve previously seen eight editions here including ones from 1907 and 1909. This one is from 1908 and not surprisingly is something of a combination of the 1907 and 1909 versions.

Click image to download a 23.0-MB PDF of this 84-page booklet.

All three have 84 pages with similar chapters and text that follows similar outlines though not word for word. Most of the photographs are different but the 1908 version does have a few photos in common with either 1907 or 1909. Continue reading →

Rock Island Shops Postcard

Posted on by August 29, 2024
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This postcard isn’t particularly pretty, but it shows the “new shops” opened by the Rock Island in (the caption says) East Moline, Illinois. Actually, the shops are in Silvis Illinois, which is next to East Moline and both are part of what in the 1930s would become known as the “Quad Cities,” meaning Davenport, Iowa, and East Moline, Moline, and Rock Island, Illinois.

Click image to download a 602-KB PDF of this postcard.

Construction on the shops began in 1903. This postcard has space for a message on the front while the back was to be exclusively used for the address and stamp, as until 1907 the Post Office didn’t allow messages on the backs of postcards. That dates this card to somewhere around 1904 to 1906. I’ve seen one postmarked 1905, which seems the most likely date it was issued. Continue reading →