In a change from previous editions that had only one photo of a train, this calendar has two: one from the former Burlington line in Illinois and one from the former Northern Pacific line in Montana. There’s also a photo … Continue reading
If the theme of the 1981 calendar was blue, this one is green. The May, June, July, and August photos are primarily green while April, September, and December have a lot of green in them as well. While green is … Continue reading
The winter of 1982 was one the most brutal in in Midwestern history, with temperatures reaching record lows and snowfalls record highs in many places. So it may not be surprising that snow is featured in five of the photos … Continue reading
In 1982 BN replaced the hand-lettered covers of the previous three years with this graphic showing a BN hopper car with the year of the calendar in the place where the car number would go. Only one photo has rail … Continue reading
In an unintentional reflection of the sagging economy, blue seemed to be the theme of the 1981 calendar. Four of the photos could have been printed entirely in blue (or blue and black) ink. Four more have a lot of … Continue reading
BN’s 1980 calendar used the same format as in 1979, but changed the cover color from brown to Cascade green, the railroad’s official color. This made a lot more sense. It retained the hand lettering, which as a rusty calligrapher … Continue reading
BN’s 1979 calendar fit the same Union Pacific format used in 1978, but instead of hiring commercial photographers, the railway relied on an employee photo contest to illustrate each month. To commemorate this, the company added a cover which (like … Continue reading
For most of the 1960s, Great Northern and Northern Pacific issued annual calendars that had all months on one sheet topped by a large photo or painting. Some were about 20’x26″, but the big ones were about 26″x42″. Burlington Northern … Continue reading
For 1972, BN’s graphics department creatively put all of the months in one column, leaving room for a portrait-style photograph on the right. I’m not sure what message BN intended to send when it made the background black, but it … Continue reading
For several years after the GN-NP merger, Burlington Northern continued to issue large (26″x42″) calendars with all months shown on one page. The only real innovation for its first calendar was to put the photo in the middle instead of … Continue reading
