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Union Pacific 1928 Fares

Posted on May 17, 2023 by Train LoverApril 27, 2023

In addition to several Union Pacific timetables, Streamliner Memories reader Tim Zukas scanned this seven-panel brochure listing summer fares for 1928. The fares are about (and some exactly) 5 percent greater than they were in 1925.

Click image to download a 3.2-MB PDF of this brochure.

Two panels of the brochure also list tours from Cedar City to Zion ($15 for bus, $22.75 for bus, a night’s lodging, and four meals); Cedar Breaks ($7.50 for bus, $10.25 for bus plus two meals); Cedar Breaks and Bryce ($20 for bus, $27.75 for bus, a night’s lodging, and four meals); Zion, Bryce, and Cedar Breaks ($35 for bus, $47.75 for bus, two night’s lodging, and eight meals); all three parks plus Grand Canyon and Kaibab National Forest ($65 for bus, $89.50 for four night’s lodging, and 14 meals). Multiply by 18 to get today’s dollars. Continue reading →

Union Pacific June 1927 Timetable

Posted on May 16, 2023 by Train LoverApril 27, 2023

Union Pacific says that its evocatively named Columbine began operating between Chicago and Denver in 1929. However, this June 1927 timetable (contributed by Tim Zukas) has a full-page ad introducing the train, which replaced the Colorado Special, one of three Chicago-Denver trains mentioned in the full-page ad on the 1920 timetable.

Click image to download a 45.8-MB PDF of this timetable.

Both the Columbine and the Colorado Special left Chicago at 10:30 am. The older train arrived in Denver at 4:30 pm, but the Columbine arrived at 2:00 pm, making it a 28-1/2-hour trip. The Columbine became Union Pacific’s premiere year-round train in the Chicago-Denver corridor, but the summer-only Denver Special, which took 28-1/2 hours in 1920, was speeded up to 27 hours and 25 minutes. Continue reading →

Union Pacific August 1925 Timetable

Posted on May 15, 2023 by Train LoverApril 26, 2023

The front cover of this timetable, which was contributed by Streamliner Memories reader Tim Zukas, advertises “low vacation fares to the Union Pacific West.” A table indicates that the round-trip fare from Chicago to Yellowstone was $56.50, which sounds low but is close to $1,000 in today’s money. Cedar City (Zion) was $2.10 more. Chicago round trip to Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Los Angeles, or San Diego was $104.05, or about $1,800 today. Add about $50 round trip for journeys beginning in New York City.

Click image to download a 46.5-MB PDF of this timetable.

There were a few inconsistencies in the prices, which no doubt annoyed many passengers. The round-trip fare from Chicago to Yellowstone was the same as Chicago to Ogden even though Yellowstone was at least 10-1/2 hours away from Ogden. Trips to San Diego and Seattle were the same price as to Los Angeles and Portland even though the former required an extra train ride over a competitor’s railroad. The latter is understandable because UP probably had to match GN/NP prices to Seattle and Santa Fe prices to San Diego, but there is no reason to think that other railroads with trains going near Yellowstone would base their fares on the Chicago-Ogden fare. Continue reading →

Union Pacific July 1921 Timetable

Posted on May 14, 2023 by Train LoverApril 26, 2023

Like yesterday’s timetable, the cover shown below is the back cover. The front cover is an ad for “new booklets and folders” describing “vacation variety” in the “Union Pacific West.” Many of these booklets can be found elsewhere on Streamliner Memories.

Click image to download a 34.8-MB PDF of this timetable.

First listed was Colorado’s Mountain Playgrounds, of which I have a 1923 edition. Next was Rocky Mountain – Estes Park, which I don’t seem to have. Next was Yellowstone National Park, of which I have a 1920 edition. Next was Utah-Idaho Outings; I have one from 1938 but it is quite different from the one shown in this ad. Then was California Calls You; mine is from 1915 but it has the same cover shown in the ad. The last picture in the ad is for what appears to be a brochure for The Pacific Northwest and Alaska; I have a 1945 booklet of that title, but it is very different. Last to be mentioned, but not pictured, in the ad is Along the Union Pacific System; I have several of that title but the earliest is from 1932. Continue reading →

Union Pacific July 1920 Timetable

Posted on May 13, 2023 by Train LoverApril 27, 2023

The front cover (the image below is the back cover) of this 103-year-old timetable advertises “Three Trains Chicago to Denver” and “Two Trains St. Louis to Denver,” most of which can make the journey in “one sleep.” From Chicago, the Denver Special took 28-1/2 hours; the Colorado Special took 31 hours; and the Colorado Express required 33-1/4 hours (taking two nights and a day). From St. Louis (via the Wabash), the Pacific Coast Limited took 30-1/5 hours and the Denver Express took 34 hours (taking two nights and a day).

Click image to download a 28.2-MB PDF of this timetable.

The ad doesn’t say so, but Pacific Coast Limited went on from Denver to Cheyenne and Green River, Wyoming, where it merged with the similarly named Pacific Limited, which went from Chicago to San Francisco and Portland. The ad does say that all of these trains included dining and observation cars except the Pacific Coast Limited, which only had an observation car west of Kansas City. Continue reading →

The Land of Scott and Burns

Posted on May 12, 2023 by Train LoverApril 24, 2023

The territory covered by this booklet overlaps with yesterday’s, as the area identified as “Scott’s Country” on the map on page 11 includes Edinburgh and the Scottish lowlands. The area identified as “Burns Country” includes Glasgow and the highlands.

Click image to download a 4.4-MB PDF of this 12-page booklet.

The cover painting depicts Sir Walter Scott’s Abbotsford House, which is about 35 miles southeast of Edinburgh. The painting appears to have been based on a photograph on page 7 of the booklet. Though it is unsigned, it is clearly the same artist as the one who painted the cover of yesterday’s booklet, which means, I suspect, Charles Oppenheimer.

Edinburgh and the Lowlands

Posted on May 11, 2023 by Train LoverApril 24, 2023

This British Railways booklet is in the same series as yesterday’s, and like yesterday’s is dated 1950. It covers the Scottish lowlands, which is basically Scotland south of Edinburgh. The cover says “Edinburgh,” but most of the booklet is about rural areas, smaller cities such as Peebles, and the ruins of abbeys such as Melrose and Kelso that were destroyed by order of King Henry VIII.

Click image to download a 4.0-MB PDF of this 12-page booklet.

The painting of Edinburgh Castle on the cover (which, like yesterday’s, is the back cover) is not signed, but after reviewing more than 400 British railway posters shown on an art blog, I suspect it was by Charles Oppenheimer (1875-1961), whose landscape paintings, including this British Railways poster as well as a painting of Edinburgh Castle, are similar in style to this booklet’s cover. Born in Manchester, Oppenheimer studied at the Manchester School of Art. He then moved to Kirkcudbright, Scotland, which is just beyond the southwest corner of the map shown on page 11 of this booklet.

Western Hills and Moorlands

Posted on May 10, 2023 by Train LoverApril 24, 2023

In 1950, just two years after taking over most of Britain’s private railways, British Railways issued a series of booklets encouraging people to ride trains to vacation spots in Britain. This one is for hills and moorlands west of London, including the Costwolds, Malverns, Mendips, Quantocks, and Brendon Hills plus Exmoor and Dartmoor.

Click image to download a 4.5-MB PDF of this 12-page booklet.

The watercolor painting on the cover (which is the back cover) is by Jack Merriott (1901-1968), who among other things did many posters for British Railways (scroll down to find the ones by Merriott). A native of London, Merriott was self-taught but became a famous-enough watercolorist that he was elected vice president of the Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolour, taught many younger watercolorists, and wrote several books about watercolor painting. Sadly, he died at the age of 67 from injuries sustained in an auto accident.

Skaguay to Dawson in 1906

Posted on May 9, 2023 by Train LoverMarch 29, 2023

The White Pass and Yukon was in its seventh year of operation when it put out this booklet describing its rail route from Skaguay (an older spelling) to White Horse by rail and White Horse to Dawson City by steamboat. This booklet is available from archive.org as either a PDF or the original scans. I cleaned up the scans a little bit and made a new PDF, but at 14.4 megabytes my version is quite a bit bigger than the 2.5-MB PDF on archive.

Click image to download a 14.4-MB PDF of this 16-page booklet.

I’m including it here because it is one of my favorite railroads that also happens to be one of the few passenger lines described on this web site that is still running. Unfortunately, it doesn’t appear to be planning to run any steam excursions this summer, but it recently purchased some new Diesels to replace some of its older ones that it sold to the Durango & Silverton. Some of the new Diesels were delivered in a bold black, red, and white color scheme that, judging from on-line comments, is a bit controversial, but at least some of them are in the railroad’s traditional yellow and green.

Jasper Lodge 1964 Beverage Menu

Posted on May 8, 2023 by Train LoverMarch 29, 2023

This wine list and cocktail menu is decorated with two different images of Northwest Indian art. I’m not a Native American and I think the problem with cultural appropriation tends to be overblown, but I still cringe a little bit when I see Indian art out of place, the same way that I feel when I see Indians hundreds of miles from the Great Plains wearing plains war bonnets because that is how white tourists expected Native Americans to dress.

Click image to download a 909-KB PDF of this menu.

The art shown on this menu is from Northwest coastal Indians, who were hundreds of miles away from the Rocky Mountains where Jasper was located. The Blackfeet Indians, who were native to the Jasper area, had their own art, and it is too bad that Canadian National didn’t commission one of those natives to design the menu. But that may be a little nit picky; if you only had black and red to decorate a menu, Northwest Indian art would be an attractive way of doing so.