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When the Frost Is on the Punkin

Posted on November 3, 2023 by Train LoverOctober 15, 2023

The back of this menu reproduces James Whitcomb Riley‘s poem, When the Frost Is on the Punkin, in full. Riley (1849-1916), of course, was the Hoosier poet who wrote in a central Indiana dialect. In 1941, the New York Central named a Chicago-Indianapolis train after him.

Click image to download a 1.4-MB PDF of this menu.

The cover painting, which fits the poem well, was by Charles (Charlie) Dye (1906-1963), who later became famous as a cowboy painter in the style of Charles Russell. Born in Colorado, Dye spent his early years working on ranches in several western states while he drew pictures of cowboys and the land around them. In 1927, he decided to become an artist and went to Chicago to study at the Art Institute. Continue reading →

Burlington January 1944 Timetable

Posted on November 2, 2023 by Train LoverOctober 15, 2023

Yesterday’s 1939 timetable had a four-page insert of large ads, plus full-page ads on the inside and outside back covers. We’ve previously seen a 1940 timetable with the same arrangement. Yet today’s 1944 timetable has no large ads, and even the small ones are few in number.

Click image to download a 22.2-MB PDF of this 36-page timetable.

This might be due to wartime paper shortages. Other railroads continued to dedicate full pages of their timetables to ads, but Burlington might have responded to higher paper costs or restrictions a little differently. I suspect, however, that Burlington decided independently of the war, to change its marketing strategy and to rely more on magazine and other advertising than on advertising in its timetables. Continue reading →

Burlington Route June 1939 Timetable

Posted on November 1, 2023 by Train LoverOctober 15, 2023

The Burlington was quite the hopping railroad in 1939. The back cover of this timetable advertises the “fast, new” Exposition Flyer, which was operated “on a schedule planned to give a panorama of western scenery by daylight.” Inside the covers are four pages of ads that, for some reason, aren’t included in the timetable’s page numbering system.

Click image to download a 27.4-MB PDF of this 44-page timetable.

The “new General Pershing Zephyr” is promoted on the third page of the timetable. It went from St. Louis to Kansas City to Lincoln, where it connected with the Exposition Flyer. The fourth page of the timetable advises that passengers on the Denver Zephyr saved “2 extra days of vacation time” by taking the fast train. Instead of an ad, the inside front cover was wasted on a list of Burlington agents. Continue reading →

Grand Coulee Dam Lunch Menu

Posted on October 31, 2023 by Train LoverOctober 18, 2023

For some reason, several railroads — including Burlington, Rio Grande, and of course NP — issued menus in the late 1930s and 1940s that required someone to glue photos on the covers. The glued-on photo on this menu shows Grand Coulee Dam, one of the largest dams in the world and a great source of national pride when it was built.

Click image to download a 1.4-MB PDF of this menu.

The dam was built in two stages. First, a low (290-foot-tall) dam was built for generating hydroelectricity. This was completed in 1938. Second, a high (550-feet-tall) dam was built on top of the old one, creating enough power and storing enough water for irrigation. This was completed in 1942. Continue reading →

The Call of the Open Range

Posted on October 30, 2023 by Train LoverSeptember 17, 2023

Unlike many booklets about dude ranches presented here, this one doesn’t provide detailed descriptions of the various ranches. Instead, one page lists well over 100 dude ranches, fishing camps, and mountain lodges with their nearest train stations, post offices, and rates. A map of Montana and northern Wyoming pins down the locations of all of these resorts and ranches.

Click image to download an 17.0-MB PDF of this 16-page booklet.

Most of the rest of the booklet is photographs of what life was like on the ranches or, on one page, what life was like on the North Coast Limited on the way to the ranches. Only about three pages are text. A printer’s mark on page 15 says “form 6516–41” which dates it to 1941. Continue reading →

Mt. Rainier Horseback Riders Dinner Menu

Posted on October 29, 2023 by Train LoverSeptember 17, 2023

This is part of a series of at least a dozen menus that feature a sepia-tone photograph glued on to the front cover. Most of the photos show Mount Rainier, dude ranches, or backcountry camps; so far, I haven’t found any promoting Yellowstone National Park. Not all of the menus are dated, but the ones that are range from 1935 to 1942.

Click image to download an 2.3-MB PDF of this menu.

In addition to sepia tones, the glued-on photo on this menu has a red tint that I’ve seen on only one other Northern Pacific menu in this series, one that featured a scene “in the Montana Rockies.” This scene features horseback riders above Sunrise Lodge, which opened in 1931. Continue reading →

“Keep the Key to Your City”

Posted on October 28, 2023 by Train LoverSeptember 17, 2023

“‘Keep the Key to Your City,’ cried the celebrated man” shown in the comic on the wrap-around cover of this booklet, “‘I’m far too comfortable on the North Coast Limited.'” Like the cover of yesterday’s brochure, this one is by Seaverns Hilton, who by the time this booklet came out was living full time in Weld, Maine.

Click image to download an 2.9-MB PDF of this 16-page booklet from the Minnesota History Center.

This booklet is undated, but it advertises that tourist sleepers were air conditioned, which didn’t happen until 1935. The prices it gives for sleeping car fares match those shown in 1935 timetables but not ones from later years. Since this is based on photographs rather than scans, the quality of this PDF isn’t as good as most of the ones presented here, but I’m pleased I could pair it with the Seaverns Hilton-illustrated brochure shown here yesterday.

The North Coast Limited to California

Posted on October 27, 2023 by Train LoverSeptember 17, 2023

This six-panel brochure encouraging people to take the Northern Pacific “to or from California” is rare in that it promotes the “all-Pullman North Coast Limited.” NP made the train all-Pullman in mid-1909, then added a coach again in 1912. NP again made the NCL an all-Pullman train in June, 1929 but was forced by the Depression to restore coaches to its premiere train in 1931. Over its 71-year life, the Northern Pacific North Coast Limited was an all-Pullman train for only about four years.

Click image to download an 2.8-MB PDF of this brochure, with thanks to Streamliner Memories reader James C. Dick for contributing the scans of this unusual ad.

The startlingly busy cover on this brochure is signed Hilton. That would be Seaverns Winthrop Hilton (1898-1977), who was born in Rhode Island. During the 1920s, he worked in New York drawing magazine covers and posters for, among others, Northern Pacific. Continue reading →

Rodeos of 1926

Posted on October 26, 2023 by Train LoverSeptember 17, 2023

This brochure describes rodeos in Bozeman and Ellensburg (both of which were on the NP main line), Coeur d’Alene (not far from the Northern Pacific station in Spokane), Cheyenne (served by Union Pacific but reachable by NP to Billings and from there by the Burlington), and Pendleton (also on the UP mainline but reachable via Northern Pacific to Pasco and then on a branchlike, the former Washington and Columbia River Railway, to Pendleton).

Click image to download an 5.1-MB PDF of this 4-page brochure from the Minnesota History Center.

The front cover painting shows a cowboy riding a bucking bronco, both of which have amazingly sedate looks on their faces. In contrast, the photographs of actual rodeo events on page 3 tell stories of brief terror and violence. Continue reading →

Minnesota Lakes

Posted on October 25, 2023 by Train LoverSeptember 20, 2023

Minnesota is supposed to be the land of 10,000 lakes (in fact, there are many more), and this 1924 booklet tells how to get to many of them and to the resorts that dot their shores. “When vacation time approaches and you begin to dream of pine woods, blue lakes, graceful birches, camp-fires and hungry, leaping fish, turn to these pages and decide what part of Minnesota appeals to you most strongly,” says the introduction in the wordy fashion that was typical of the age.

Click image to download an 11.2-MB PDF of this 40-page booklet.

The cover indicates that this booklet was issued by the Northern Pacific Railway along with the Minnesota & International Railway and the Big Fork & International Falls Railway. A centerfold map shows NP lines along with a Minnesota & International line from Brainerd to Big Fork and a Big Fork & International Falls line from Big Fork to International Falls. In fact, by 1924, both railways were owned by the NP though they continued to operate separately for several more years. Continue reading →