| Page 55

Union Pacific April 1959 Timetable

Posted on June 2, 2023 by Train LoverMay 3, 2023

“Daily through September 15,” says the back cover ad on this timetable, “the Challenger will operate as an all coach domeliner on a convenient new summer schedule.” Before June 1 and after September 15, the Challenger and City of Los Angeles were combined into a single train. But the Challenger‘s “convenient new summer schedule” had it running 15 minutes ahead of the City of Los Angeles.

Click image to download a 48.2-MB PDF of this timetable. Thanks to Tim Zukas for contributing scans of this timetable.

I’m dubious about whether a schedule just 15 minutes earlier than its previous schedule was really convenient to passengers. But, as the 1946 Naperville crash showed, it was safer than running two trains, or two sections of a train, just 5 minutes apart. Continue reading →

Union Pacific April 1956 Timetable

Posted on June 1, 2023 by Train LoverMay 3, 2023

The back cover ad on this timetable spins bad news to make it sound good. First, it says that “beginning on June 2,” the City of Los Angeles “will be all Pullman” while the Challenger “will be all coach.” What was really happening was that, due to declining patronage, the two trains were combined into one.

Click image to download a 35.8-MB PDF of this timetable.

Previously, the two trains operated on schedules that were approximately 12 hours apart. The two-night, one-day City of Los Angeles carried a chair car for short-distance riders so it wasn’t all Pullman while the two-day, one-night Challenger carried a few sleeping cars. Passengers thus had two departures a day whether they could afford a sleeping car or preferred to go by coach. Continue reading →

Union Pacific June 1954 Timetable

Posted on May 31, 2023 by Train LoverMay 3, 2023

In May 1947, Union Pacific added a color cover to its timetables. The first color cover showed an Armour yellow E-2 Diesel-powered streamliner pacing a 4-8-4 steam locomotive pulling a grey passenger train. This cover remained in use at least through March 1953.

Click image to download a 50.2-MB PDF of this timetable. Thanks to Tim Zukas for providing the scans of this timetable.

By June 1953, the E-2 was replaced with an E-7 and the steam train was replaced by a yellow streamliner moving in the opposite direction from the first streamliner. A blunt-end observation car had a drumhead showing the Union Pacific logo. This was used at least through January 1955. Continue reading →

Low-Cost Escorted Tours in 1950

Posted on May 30, 2023 by Train LoverMay 8, 2023

We’ve previously seen a Union Pacific/North Western summer tours booklet from 1952. This brochure would have been an introduction to the 1950 version of that booklet.

Click image to download a 1.6-MB PDF of this brochure.

The 1950 brochure and 1952 booklet both describe the same nine tours, each with a code designation such as “C” (for California), “Z” (for Zion, Bryce, and Grand Canyon), and “SYD” (for Salt Lake, Yellowstone, and Denver). In the brochure, these tours range in price from $153 to $346, while the 1952 prices range from slightly higher to much higher depending on the choice of accommodations. The brochure assumes coach or two persons sharing a lower berth, but prices were higher for a single person in a berth, compartments, or drawing rooms. Continue reading →

Union Pacific February 1946 Timetable

Posted on May 29, 2023 by Train LoverMay 2, 2023

This is one of the first post-war timetables, and the nation was still demobilizing its armed forces. A full-page ad on the back encouraged people to “don’t give up” planning a trip just because the trains are full of “thousands of men in uniform” who are trying to return home. “Travel conditions are improving,” says the ad, so continue to plan and hope there will be space.

Click image to download a 54.9-MB PDF of this timetable. Thanks to Tim Zukas for providing the scans of this timetable.

“Your journey by rail will be the high-spot of your vacation or business trip,” the ad assures people. It almost sounds desperate that people not get into the habit of traveling by car or plane. In fact, the railroads were so confident that people would continue to travel by train that they ordered tens of millions of dollars worth of new passenger equipment. It wasn’t until the early 1950s that it became clear that the railroads were losing to the competition. Continue reading →

Union Pacific September 1941 Timetable

Posted on May 28, 2023 by Train LoverMay 2, 2023

Here’s a timetable that actually puts the title cover on the front instead of the back. We’ve previously seen a June 1939 Union Pacific timetable (also contributed by Tim Zukas) that also put the title on the front, so UP must have switched to that format sometime between 1937 and 1939.

Click image to download a 55.6-MB PDF of this timetable. Thanks to Tim Zukas for providing the scans of this timetable.

The full-page ad that is on the back cover of this timetable promotes Sun Valley as a place to “ski, skate, or swim.” Union Pacific had two hotels at Sun Valley, the upscale Sun Valley Lodge and the more economical Challenger Inn. This timetable says that rooms with a private bath were $9 for one, $12 for two, at the lodge but $7.50 for one and $10 for two at the Challenger Inn. Multiply by slightly more than 20 to get today’s dollars, meaning a room for two effectively cost at least $40 more at the lodge than at the inn, but at $200 a night even the inn was expensive. Continue reading →

1941 City of San Francisco Booklet

Posted on May 27, 2023 by Train LoverMay 2, 2023

This 5″x6″ booklet is a mate to one issued in the same month (July) and year for the City of Los Angeles. Instead of the black-and-white photos found in most Union Pacific name-train booklets, these two contain color images that are unsigned but look like they were done by the Willmarth brothers, who made illustrations for UP between the mid-1930s and the mid-1950s.

Click image to download a 4.8-MB PDF of this 36-page booklet.

Of the sixteen full-color illustrations in this booklet, eleven are identical to ones in the City of Los Angeles booklet. The illustrations of the diners, cafe cars, and lounge cars are different, reflecting differences in the trains themselves. Continue reading →

The World’s Greatest Scenic Circle Tour

Posted on May 26, 2023 by Train LoverMay 8, 2023

The cover of this 1938 brochure illustrates Zion, Bryce, and the Grand Canyon in colors that in one sense are unrealistic yet in another sense are perfectly accurate for such a varied country. As page two of the brochure says, Bryce, Grand Canyon, and Zion parks are “rich in glowing colors” and a “varied display of magnificent beauty.”

Click image to download a 3.0-MB PDF of this brochure.

The brochure notes that, “in the June 27th issue of Life Magazine, natural color photographs of the Southern Utah-Arizona National Parks were placed before the eyes of over two million people.” In fact, the magazine in question (in an article beginning on page 24 and continued on page 41) looks at national parks and scenic areas throughout the United States. But I’ve seen many of those scenic areas and would agree with Union Pacific that — with the possible exception of Yellowstone — anyone would be hard pressed to find so much fascinating scenery in such a small area anywhere in the U.S. as can be found in southern Utah/northern Arizona. Continue reading →

Union Pacific March 1937 Timetable

Posted on May 25, 2023 by Train LoverMay 2, 2023

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.

Union Pacific June 1936 Timetable

Posted on May 24, 2023 by Train LoverMay 4, 2023

Union Pacific introduced the City of Los Angeles on May 15, 1936, and the City of San Francisco on June 14. But it used the front cover of this timetable to feature the City of Denver, which was inaugurated on June 18. Other than the City of Salina (now recognized by that name in this timetable), the City of Denver was so far the only daily streamliner. Note also that the M-10000/M-10001 image on the back cover (shown below) was replaced by the M-10004 City of San Francisco, which was the same design used on later M-1000X streamliner locomotives including the City of Denver.

Click image to download a 47.3-MB PDF of this timetable.

On May 31, the Burlington had pre-empted the UP when it introduced the coach-only Advance Denver Zephyr, which was the original Pioneer Zephyr and Mark Twain Zephyr diverted from their regular routes so Burlington could get a leg up on the Union Pacific. UP naturally responded by advertising that the City of Denver was the “only 16-Hour streamline train with Pullman accomodations between Chicago and Denver.” Burlington’s sleeping-car equipped Denver Zephyr wouldn’t enter service until November. Continue reading →