The North Coast Limited in 1900

Posted on by December 31, 2022
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Northern Pacific’s land grant called for it to build from Lake Superior to Puget Sound. However, it was nearly financially exhausted when it reached Washington territory in 1883. There, it met with the Oregon Railway & Navigation Company, which went on the south bank of the Columbia River to Portland.


The first run of the North Coast Limited, at least according to the Texas History web site. Texas History doesn’t know who took the photo, but it was probably George Weister, the Portland photographer who took the next photo. Click image for a larger view.

At the time, both the OR&N and NP were under the financial control of Henry Villard, so NP began passenger service from the Twin Cities to Portland using the OR&N for the last 214 miles. The first passenger train over the 1,912 miles to Portland took 82 hours for an average speed of 23 mph. In the timetables this train, which made more than 180 stops between St. Paul and Portland, is known only as the “Express.” Continue reading →

Monument to Slow Passenger Trains

Posted on by January 1, 2023
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The Rio Grande installed this “monument to an idea” in Glenwood Canyon in 1950, a year after the inaugural run of the California Zephyr. As much as it was a monument to the dome car, it was also a monument to the whole idea of post-war trains: pretty to look at, comfortable to ride, full of exciting variety, but not very fast. This was partly because of the Interstate Commerce Commission rule limiting train speeds, but also because of the changing travel market, most trains substituted comfort for speed.

Click image to download a 1.2-MB PDF of this menu.

This was certainly true for domeliners such as the Twin Zephyrs, California Zephyr, Hiawathas, North Coast Limited, Empire Builder, City of Portland, and City of Los Angeles. Between the domes, diners, cafe cars, and lounges, many of these trains had almost as many non-revenue seats as revenue seats, meaning most passengers could be out of their seats or rooms at any given moment and find someplace interesting to go. Continue reading →

The End of the Speed Wars

Posted on by December 5, 2022
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The speed wars that reduced New York-Chicago and Chicago-Denver train times to 16 hours and Chicago-West Coast train times to under 40 hours were driven by the desire of business travelers to minimize the number of business hours lost in travel. A 16-hour train ride could be done during non-business hours and a 40-hour ride could be timed to require the loss of just one business day.

Click image to download an 832-KB PDF of this menu.

After World War II, however, business travelers were increasingly attracted to the airlines. That left the railroads with vacation travelers who were more interested in enjoyable travel than in saving a few hours. The success of the Exposition Flyer proved that timing train schedules to maximize scenic viewing could be more important than sheer speed. Continue reading →

The Chicago-San Francisco Corridor

Posted on by December 21, 2022
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Competition between Chicago and San Francisco was much less intense than in the Los Angeles corridor mainly because the Overland Route was by far the shortest route. In 1911, when Western Pacific began serving this corridor, the Overland Route was 2,271 miles; the Santa Fe was over 300 miles more at 2,578; and the Burlington-Rio Grande-Western Pacific was another 100 miles more at 2,680.


The Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul considered itself competitive enough with the C&NW that anyone trying to choose between them would face a “crisis.” Click image for a larger view of this ad from 1903.

As previously noted here, in the early 1870s, passengers could expect to spend around 107 hours getting from Chicago to San Francisco on the Overland route. The only real competition was between Chicago and Council Bluffs, where the St. Paul road vied with the Chicago & North Western for passengers connecting with the Union Pacific. Continue reading →

Canadian Pacific Christmases

Posted on by January 31, 2023
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Happy holidays to Streamliner Memory readers. Here are some Canadian Pacific Christmas menus from the University of British Columbia’s Chung collection. Although these menus are over an eight-year period and one is aboard a steamship and the other two are in hotels, they have several things in common.


Click image to view and download a PDF of this menu from the University of British Columbia Chung collection.

First, all have roast turkey as at least one of the main courses. In the above menu, from the Hotel Vancouver, it is the only choice as a main course, while the other two offer a few other choices. Second, all have plum pudding for one of the desserts and a coupe — that is, an ice cream dish — for another. They all also have soup and fish courses. Continue reading →

Santa Fe Art Exhibit

Posted on by November 1, 2022
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In 1892, the Santa Fe Railway agreed to pay the expenses of Thomas Moran, famed painter of Yellowstone, to the Grand Canyon provided the railway would be allowed to choose a painting to use in its advertising. This began the Santa Fe Railway art collection.


Click image to download a 6.5-MB PDF of this 28-page booklet.

Until 1966, members of the public were familiar with only those parts of the collection that the railway used on its calendars, menus, and advertising. However, in that year the railway decided to put a portion of the collection on a public tour. This may have been an effort to promote its passenger trains or merely a way to establish good will in communities where most people were no longer riding trains. Continue reading →

Santa Fe & Disneyland Railroad

Posted on by November 1, 2022
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It’s hard to believe today when Disney is the leading studio in Hollywood, but a continuing theme for most of Walt Disney’s life was a shortage of funds to accomplish his dreams, even though most of them ended up being profitable. That only ended with the success of Mary Poppins, which earned enough money for him to buy the land that would become Disney World.

Click image to download a 2.2-MB PDF of this brochure from the David Rumsey map collection.

In the early 1950s, however, he had trouble raising funds to build Disneyland, so he invited corporations to sponsor parts of the park. Naturally, the sponsor for the Disneyland railroad would be the Santa Fe Railway, whose tracks came closer to Disneyland than those of UP or SP. This sponsorship continued until 1974, when Disneyland no longer needed a co-sponsor and Santa Fe was no longer trying to attract passengers. Continue reading →

California Limited On-Board Stationery

Posted on by December 22, 2022
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We’ve previously seen a piece of on-board stationery for the California Limited. Today I also have an envelope for the same train.


Click image to download a 34-KB PDF of this letterhead

None of the three limited trains that originally competed in the Chicago-Los Angeles market ended with dignity. The California Limited was bumped from its place as Santa Fe’s premiere train with the introduction of the Chief in 1926. It then became Santa Fe’s third-ranked train with the introduction of the Super Chief in 1937 — and arguably the fourth-ranked train with the introduction of the faster, albeit all-coach, El Capitan in 1938. Continue reading →

Golden State/Sunset Routes Portfolio

Posted on by December 23, 2022
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We’ve seen Southern Pacific portfolios of photographs for the Overland Route, Shasta Route, and Valley & Coast Routes, so it stands to reason that there would be portfolios for the Sunset and Golden State routes. This is the first one I have seen, and it covers both routes, probably because they both follow more or less the same tracks west of El Paso, where most of the scenery is located.

Curiously, the streamliner on the portfolio cover is in early Union Pacific streamliner colors (yellow & brown), even though UP trains didn’t use the Golden State/Sunset routes. Click image to download a 7.9-MB PDF of this portfolio.

In fact, there is only one photo east of El Paso in the portfolio (which I have sorted in roughly east-to-west order), and that is of Canal Street in New Orleans, which the caption calls “America’s Widest Business Street.” On the far left of the photo is the Southern Railway Terminal, which until 1954 served passengers going to Cincinnati, St. Louis, Washington, and Florida, among other places. Continue reading →

Finer and Faster Golden State Limited

Posted on by December 20, 2022
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As previously noted, in November, 1926, the three sets of railroads competing in the Chicago-Los Angeles market had reduced the schedules of their premiere trains from 68 to 63 hours. Riding any of these trains required a $10 extra fare, about $170 in today’s money. In 1928, they reduced times again to 61-1/4 hours. But then in 1929, the Santa Fe reduced the time of the Chief to 58 hours each way. Unable to keep up, Union Pacific and Southern Pacific-Rock Island stayed on the 1928 schedules and dropped their extra fares.

Click image to download a 2.3-MB PDF of this 16-page booklet.

This was the situation in March, 1936, when Rock Island published this booklet advertising the Golden State Limited. Unable to compete on time, the booklet emphasizes the “de luxe” aspects of the train: the “perfectly-appointed dining car”; the club car featuring “market reports and late news items direct by tele­graph”; the ladies maid-manicurist; the barber-valet; the men’s and women’s showers; the library; and the “new-type observation sun-parlor.” These are illustrated by drawings of people wearing the latest fashions for the upper-middle class. Continue reading →