Western Pacific April 1957 Timetable

Posted on by April 29, 2024
Reply

This timetable shows minor tinkering with schedules since yesterday’s 1954 edition. The eastbound California Zephyr left Oakland 3 minutes earlier but arrived in Salt Lake City 20 minutes later. Westbound, the train left Salt Lake 20 minutes earlier and arrived in Oakland 25 minutes earlier.

Click image to download a 4.7-MB PDF of this 8-page timetable.

The eastbound Zephyrette schedule is advanced exactly one-half hour. Westbound, its departure from Salt Lake is unchanged but it managed to arrive in Oakland 1-3/4 hours sooner. Continue reading →

Western Pacific April 1954 Timetable

Posted on by April 29, 2024
Reply

While the timetable schedules didn’t change between 1950 and 1952, there are some changes in today’s 1954 timetable. The eastbound California Zephyr operated 30 minutes later and the westbound 30 minutes earlier in 1954 than in 1952. The eastbound Zephyrette operated three hours earlier, while westbound it was only a few minutes earlier.

Click image to download a 4.0-MB PDF of this 8-page timetable.

One minor point to note is that Western Pacific didn’t print the effective date of these timetables on the cover. This wouldn’t matter if the times didn’t change but it could be important when they did. The date of each timetable was listed inside, but the location wasn’t consistent. In 1952, for example, it was on page 6, while in 1954 it was on page 3. This could lead to confusion and I’d be surprised if some passengers didn’t miss trains because they were unknowingly using out-of-date timetables.

Western Pacific September 1952 Timetable

Posted on by April 29, 2024
Reply

The schedules and even the advertising in this timetable are almost unchanged from the 1950 timetable presented here yesterday. The biggest difference is that the timetable now lists Missouri Pacific as the California Zephyr‘s connection to St. Louis, instead of Union Pacific-Wabash as in previous timetables. The Missouri Pacific connection was in Omaha instead of Denver, which meant eastbound passengers had to get off the Zephyr at 4:55 am instead of 7:00 pm for the UP connection, and then wait three hours for the MP train instead of an hour for the Denver connection.

Click image to download a 4.7-MB PDF of this 8-page timetable.

With negligible other changes in the timetable, this is a good time to discuss one of the technologies that made twentieth century railroading possible. I’ve discussed such technologies before, including Diesels, metallurgy, air conditioning, and paint. Today’s technology is more prosaic. Continue reading →

Western Pacific December 1950 Timetable

Posted on by April 29, 2024
1

The Interstate Commerce Commission responded to Western Pacific’s application to discontinue train 1 & 2, formerly called the Royal Gorge, by allowing the railroad to reduce it from daily to tri-weekly service. To provide this service, the railroad purchased two Rail Diesel Cars from the Budd Company. Although the train kept the numbers, 1 & 2, it was renamed the Zephyrette, which also happened to be the term used to describe the California Zephyr‘s on-board stewardesses.

Click image to download a 4.3-MB PDF of this 8-page timetable.

RDCs were able to stop and accelerate faster than the steam train they replaced, allowing Western Pacific to cut 40 minutes from the schedule of westbound train 1 and 90 minutes from eastbound train 2. They also cost less than half as much to operate as the steam train. Although they operated only three days a week, two RDCs were needed because their 24-hour schedule didn’t leave enough time to service the car between trips and as scheduled the eastbound and westbound trips heavily overlapped. Continue reading →

Western Pacific December 1949 Timetable

Posted on by April 29, 2024
2

Western Pacific operated two passenger trains in 1949. The California Zephyr was numbered 17 & 18, consistent with the numbers used by the Burlington and Rio Grande. The other train was numbered 1 and 2. It was a remnant of (and used the numbers of) the Royal Gorge, but that train attracted so few riders after the Zephyr was introduced that Western Pacific dropped the name. Just before this timetable was issued, it had applied to the Interstate Commerce Commission to drop the train completely.

Click image to download a 4.3-MB PDF of this 8-page timetable.

The Zephyr made nine stops between Oakland and Salt Lake City. Train 1 & 2 made as many as 38 more, some of them as little as three miles apart from one another. Despite all the extra stops, train 1 & 2 took only about five hours more than the Zephyr to make the trip. Many, if not most, of its passengers were railroad employees and it also carried mail, food, and supplies to many of the small communities on its route. Continue reading →

Rio Grande October 1960 Timetable

Posted on by May 3, 2024
Reply

Rio Grande ran only five trains in 1960 yet printed a 20-page timetable. The Moffat Tunnel Route, featuring the California Zephyr and Prospector, could have fit on one page but took two. The Royal Gorge Route, featuring the Royal Gorge and Colorado Eagle, could also have fit on one page but took two. Half of a third page would have been enough for the Yampa Valley Mail.

Click image to download a 13.1-MB PDF of this 20-page timetable.

The inside front cover is devoted to a welcome letter from H.F. Eno, Rio Grande’s passenger traffic manager. As if that is not enough welcome, the inside back cover is devoted to a welcome letter from R. Knox Bradford, Rio Grande’s vice president. Pages 16 and 17 have black-and-white photos of Rio Grande freight and passenger operations. That’s four pages that could have been deleted with no loss if information transmitted to the public. Continue reading →

Rio Grande November 1957 Timetable

Posted on by April 29, 2024
Reply

Rio Grande had one more passenger train a day going each way through the Moffatt Tunnel in 1957 than in yesterday’s 1952 timetable. The overnight service from Denver to Craig had proved unpopular, so in 1954 Rio Grande introduced a new day train called the Yampa Valley Mail. The train was popular with railfans because it was usually pulled by an Alco PA locomotive. But it wasn’t popular with passengers as it took twice as long as driving, so it usually consisted of just a baggage-mail car and a coach.

Click image to download an 9.8-MB PDF of this 20-page timetable.

The Yampa Valley Mail appeared on both the main schedules (table 1) and as a local service (table 3 on page 10). However, no other local trains were on page 10, meaning the Denver-Alamosa train had been cancelled. Rio Grande still operated the tourist-oriented train between Durango and Silverton that would be featured in a full-page ad in the May 1959 timetable. The train wasn’t mentioned in today’s timetable because it was mainly a summer train and this is a winter timetable. Continue reading →

Rio Grande June 1952 Timetable

Posted on by April 29, 2024
Reply

Rio Grande operated five main trains a day plus several locals in 1952. The main trains were the California Zephyr; the streamlined Prospector, which was the overnight train on the same route as the Zephyr; the partially streamlined, dome-equipped Royal Gorge; the Pueblo-Denver portion of the Colorado Eagle; and the Mountaineer, an overnight heavyweight train between Denver and Montrose that followed the same route to Grand Junction as the Zephyr and Prospector but stopped at more than 30 towns that the other two trains skipped.

Click image to download an 11.1-MB PDF of this 20-page timetable.

Local trains included one between Denver and Craig. This was really the Mountaineer to Orestod, where a sleeping car and coach were detached and (after a three-hour layover) hauled to Steamboat Springs and Craig. This had been a daytime service until 1952. Continue reading →

Five Locomotives to Pull Ten Cars

Posted on by April 29, 2024
Reply

This postcard says that it shows the eastbound San Francisco-Chicago Express climbing “Soldiers Summit.” The back spells it “Soldiers’ Summit,” but the modern-day spelling is “Soldier Summit.” The grade is so steep that five steam locomotives are required to haul ten passenger cars up to the summit. The postcard is marked “© F.H. Lieb,” referring to Frank H. Leib (whoever inscribed the copyright notice misspelled the name), a Salt Lake City photographer in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.


Click image to download a 1.2-MB PDF of this postcard.

The Denver & Rio Grande’s original grade up Soldier Summit was 4 percent, which is modest for an automobile but steep for a train. This was a major bottleneck for east-west traffic, so in 1913 Rio Grande opened a new route that made two switchbacks known as the Gilluly Loops, reducing the grade to 2.4 percent. The Google maps aerial photo below shows the loops and the original route, which is now followed by U.S. highway 6. Continue reading →

Rio Grande 1903 Lunch Menu

Posted on by April 29, 2024
Reply

This menu cover features a beautiful cover photo, probably taken several years before by William Henry Jackson, of the Grand River (now called the Colorado River; I’m pretty sure the photo was taken in Glenwood Canyon) with a locomotive and rail car that was provided to the photographer by the railroad. But this menu’s configuration is different from more modern menus in that this photo is on the back cover while the front cover is lunch menu itself.

Click image to download an 758-KB PDF of this menu.

Inside, the left panel is another photo showing a train in the Royal Gorge while the right panel is a wine list. This photo is marked “The Carlson-Harper CO. Eng.” where “Eng.” is short for engravers. Carlson-Harper was a Denver company that published books, souvenir picture booklets, postcards, and other tourist items. The placement of this mark suggests that Carlson-Harper provided the photo, but it may have also printed the menu itself. Continue reading →