The California Zephyr was, according to numerous advertisements, “the most talked about train in the country.” One or two ads even claimed that it was “the best-loved train in the country.” We can’t verify these claims today, but we can … Continue reading
Click image for larger view. Even though it never sold a single ticket to ride the train, General Motors advertised the Train of Tomorrow in numerous magazines. The above ad was on the back cover of the September, 1947, issue … Continue reading
In addition to the brochure presented yesterday, the Burlington distributed thousands of copies of this postcard showing the new Silver Dome car. “In this new type of car,” says the back of the card, “24 passengers are seated in the … Continue reading
From 1948 through 1954, the Santa Fe offered an incredible five daily trains between Chicago and Los Angeles, compared with just two each on the Union Pacific and Southern Pacific routes. The Super Chief and El Capitan, of course, were … Continue reading
Because the Western Star was the Great Northern’s premiere train that stopped at Glacier Park, advertising for the train was directly connected with advertising for the park. The Great Northern had built and, until 1960, operated many of the hotels … Continue reading
Just one month after re-equipping the Trail Blazer, the Pennsylvania Railroad introduced new equipment to the Jeffersonian, which connected New York with St. Louis, in February 1947. Click to download a 1.0-MB JPG of this advertisement from the March 15, … Continue reading
Like its 1938, steam-powered version, the 1948 20th Century Limited was built entirely by Pullman and was partly designed by Henry Dreyfuss. The train maintained the distinguished grey-on-grey exterior color scheme of its predecessor, but featured a light grey window … Continue reading
As with the Shasta Daylight and Golden State, the Southern Pacific sent out a mailer to travel agents and others in the industry featuring the ad below. The ad itself was placed in Saturday Evening Post, Time, Holiday, and National … Continue reading
When it introduced the Shasta Daylight, the Southern Pacific did its usual flurry of advertising for the new train. However, the SP had a monopoly on passenger-rail service in the Shasta-Daylight corridor, where it competed with the Western Pacific in … Continue reading
Railway Age, the rail industry’s magazine of record, described the “spectacular new equipment” that made up the Empire Builder in an eight-page feature article on April 12, 1947. Noting that the five twelve-car trains that made up the Empire Builder … Continue reading
