Union Pacific introduced the Challenger in mid-May 1935, about the same time as it inaugurated the City of Los Angeles. It followed the Los Angeles Limited by just five minutes all the way from Chicago to L.A. and back. While the latter train was all-Pullman, the Challenger consisted of reclining-seat coaches and tourist sleepers.

Click image to download a 46.3-MB PDF of this timetable. Thanks to Tim Zukas for providing the scans of this timetable.

As the ad in this timetable says, the Challenger‘s diner served dinners for as little as 35¢ — about $7.50 in today’s money. Page 45 was more explicit, describing the 35¢ dinner as a small dinner steak & mushrooms, potatoes, corn, dinner rolls, ice cream, and a beverage. That was a bargain considering that a small minute steak with mushrooms in a “regular” Union Pacific diner typically cost $1.35 (about $29 in today’s money) but also included soup, salad, and a wider range of breads and desserts.

Boulder Dam, “the newest of the won­ders of the West served by Union Pacific’s famous trancontinental [sic] trains,” would not be completed until 1936, but it was complete enough in mid-1935 that Union Pacific could put a photograph of people boating behind the dam on the front cover of this timetable (which was contributed by Tim Zukas). The reservoir wasn’t yet full when the photo was taken.

Click image to download a 48.6-MB PDF of this timetable.

While this timetable calls the Portland streamliner the City of Portland, it calls the Salina train the “the Kansas streamliner.” It wouldn’t gain a more definitive name until March 13, 1936, when UP’s president decreed that it should be called the Streamliner City of Salina, and this name was promptly painted on the side in the same typeface as used on the City of Portland. Continue reading →

The promises of the 1933 Century of Progress were becoming reality when this timetable (contributed by Tim Zukas) was published. The front cover has a full-page ad saying that Union Pacific was spending “more than $2 million” to add air conditioning to 150 cars. In today’s money, that’s almost $300,000 per car. “When program is completed, all passenger equipment, coaches, chair cars, tourist cars, dining cars, standard Pullman sleeping cars, club and observa­ tion cars on all principal Union Pacific trains, will be air-conditioned.”

Click image to download a 46.8-MB PDF of this timetable.

Even more momentous (though made possible partly by air conditioning) is the streamliner featured (along with a steam locomotive) on the back cover of the timetable (as shown above). Page 20 has a tiny photo of “The Streamliner, America’s First Fully Streamlined, Light-Weight, High-Speed Train.” The train went into service between Kansas City and Salina, Kansas on January 1 and was simply called the Streamliner in the timetable. Continue reading →

This timetable from Streamliner Memories reader Tim Zukas, like yesterday’s, has two half-page ads on the front cover while the cover shown below is the back cover. One of the half-page ads is for the Los Angeles Limited, which the ad brags has “mechanical heat control” to make passengers “as warm as you want” during winter travel. Of course, by 1931 almost all passenger trains had steam heat, but this probably meant that passengers in sleeping rooms had more control over the temperatures than earlier trains.

Click image to download a 48.4-MB PDF of this timetable.

The other half-page ad is for the Gold Coast Limited‘s “new morning departure from Chicago,” as the train was scheduled to leave the Windy City at 10:30 am. In yesterday’s 1929 timetable, the train left at 2:30 pm, while other Los Angeles-bound trains left at 8:10 pm (Los Angeles Limited) and 11:20 pm (Continental Limited). For 1931, the Los Angeles Limited was pushed back to 9:30 pm while the Continental Limited was replaced by (or merged with) the Pacific Limited, departing at 11:20 pm and splitting in Ogden with a section to San Francisco and a section to Los Angeles. Continue reading →