| Page 94

Union Pacific November 1952 Timetable

Posted on October 8, 2021 by Train LoverOctober 2, 2021

This timetable came out just two months after the previous one, so there aren’t going to be a lot of changes in it. However, I want to point out the density of passenger trains between two modest-sized cities: Ogden (which had about 60,000 residents in 1952) and Salt Lake City (which had about 185,000 residents in 1952). Ogden, of course, was on the line of the first transcontinental railroad, but Salt Lake, 36 miles to the south, was not.

Click image to download a 33.5-MB PDF of this timetable.

Construction of the Los Angeles & Salt Lake Railroad, which eventually became a part of UP, put Salt Lake City on the mainline so that many trains served the Ogden-Salt Lake corridor. On one hand were trains from Salt Lake to the north or northwest, including the Butte Special, Idahoan, and Northwest Special. On the other hand were trains that went to Los Angeles via UP’s trunk line from Omaha to Ogden, including the City of Los Angeles, Los Angeles Limited, and City of St. Louis. Continue reading →

Union Pacific September, 1952 Timetable

Posted on October 7, 2021 by Train LoverOctober 2, 2021

As I’ve previously noted, many railroads were forced to make changes to their timetables in 1951 as a result of an Interstate Commerce Commission rule that went into effect that year requiring railroads to either install automatic train controls or limit the speed of their trains to 79 miles per hour. The Santa Fe installed such controls on part of its main line to allow the Super Chief and El Capitan to go 100 miles per hour and meet the trains’ 39-3/4-hour schedule from Chicago to Los Angeles. Most other railroads slowed their trains.

Click image to download a 32.3-MB PDF of this timetable.

The train controls the ICC wanted had actually been invented in about 1918 by Frank Sprague, the man who had previously developed the first workable electric streetcar, first electric rapid transit, and first electric high-speed elevator (making skyscrapers possible). After Sprague installed such controls in New York’s Grand Central Station, the ICC issued an order requiring every class 1 railroad to install similar controls on at least one division, so some railroads already had them when the ICC’s later order limiting train speeds came out in 1950. Continue reading →

Union Pacific January, 1950 Timetable

Posted on October 6, 2021 by Train LoverOctober 2, 2021

Union Pacific ran a mix of streamlined and heavyweight trains in 1950 as indicated by its timetable covers, which showed a bulbous-nosed streamliner next to a steam-powered train whose cars appear streamlined but are evidently made to represent heavyweights. In fact, only five UP trains were fully streamlined: the cities of Denver, Los Angeles, Portland, San Francisco, and St. Louis — and I suspect heavyweight cars sometimes found their way onto the last train since it exchanged cars with heavyweight trains in Cheyenne.

Click image to download a 26.1-MB PDF of this timetable.

At the same time, at least eight major heavyweight trains ran on UP’s main lines, plus many more secondary or branchline trains. This isn’t counting the many branchlike mixed trains — a freight train with a passenger car or a caboose open to paying passengers. The trunk-line heavyweights were 1 & 2, the Chicago-LA Los Angeles Limited; 3 & 4, the Cheyenne-LA Utahan; 5 & 6, the Omaha-LA Mail & Express; 15 & 16, Omaha-Denver Columbine; 17 & 18, Portland-Green River Portland Rose; 23 & 24, Chicago-Los Angeles Gold Coast; 27 & 28, Chicago-San Francisco Overland Limited; and 37 & 38, Kansas City-Los Angeles Pony Express. Continue reading →

Streamliner Service to California

Posted on October 5, 2021 by Train LoverOctober 2, 2021

Here is one of Union Pacific’s 8-1/2″x11″ brochures advertising various destinations. We’ve previously seen a 1941 brochure for the Pacific Northwest, a 1953 brochure also for the Pacific Northwest, as well as ones for Colorado from 1953, Yellowstone from 1954, southern Utah parks from 1954, Las Vegas from 1958, and finally another one for the Northwest in 1959, indicating the railroad published brochures in this format for nearly two decades.

Click image to download a 1.7-MB PDF of this brochure.

Today’s brochure advertises streamliners to California, or at least that’s what the front cover says. The back cover is about Sun Valley, the one in Idaho not the one in California. Page 2 has a large photo of an older couple reclining on coach seats, saying “We suggest you show the photo above to prospective travelers.” There is also an illustration of Hoover Dam, which isn’t in California, straddling pages 2 and 3. Continue reading →

America’s Most Colorful Region

Posted on October 4, 2021 by Train LoverOctober 2, 2021

We’ve seen 8-1/2″x11″ brochures like this one before, including this 1954 brochure about southern Utah parks. The earliest one we’ve seen is this 1941 brochure about the Pacific Northwest. Today’s, however, is even earlier than that, being dated 4-25-40.

Click image to download a 3.9-MB PDF of this brochure.

This brochure is also bigger than the later ones. Instead of unfolding once into an 11″x17″ brochure, this one unfolds twice into an 11″x25-1/2″ brochure. The later ones are also all folded two more times so they can fit into a business envelope. This one has no more folds, so if it was mailed it would have to have been in a large envelope. Continue reading →

Union Pacific June, 1939 Timetable

Posted on October 3, 2021 by Train LoverSeptember 25, 2021

Union Pacific’s 1939 timetable, this copy of which was contributed by a Streamliner Memories reader, shows three daily trains each between Chicago and Los Angeles, Chicago and San Francisco, and Chicago and Portland. However, this is a little deceptive as the San Francisco and Los Angeles Challengers operated on a schedule just five minutes different from the Overland Limited and Los Angeles Limited. The third train on the Portland schedule is the San Francisco Challenger, whose Portland cars were added to the Portland Rose in Green River, so it really wasn’t a third train at all.

Click image to download a 32.0-MB PDF of this 64-page timetable.

In addition, the premiere trains, Los Angeles Limted, Overland Limited, and Portland Rose all departed and arrived in Chicago at exactly the same times, which makes me think UP was operating them as one train out of Chicago and split or merged the trains at Green River and Ogden, making it a “heavyweight of everywhere.” Continue reading →

Western Wonderlands in Sepia Tone

Posted on October 2, 2021 by Train LoverSeptember 23, 2021

In the early 1930s, UP issued a couple of booklets called Western Wonderlands. We’ve also seen a 1938 brochure with the same title. The 1938 brochure didn’t have color photos, but it had orange and blue highlights on one side and a map with rose, green, blue, and other colors on the back.

Click image to download a 5.7-MB PDF of this brochure.

This undated brochure is very similar to the 1938 one, using much of the same text and some of the same photos. But it is printed only in a brown or sepia ink, which greatly reduces its appeal. For example, one photo caption says that “Grand Canyon is a gripping, awe-inspiring sight,” but you can hardly tell that there is a canyon in the photo, much less that it is the Grand Canyon. The photos in the 1938 brochure are also printed in brown ink, but are much crisper and clearer. Continue reading →

Union Pacific 1924 Timetable

Posted on October 1, 2021 by Train LoverSeptember 25, 2021

Welcome back to Streamliner Memories! After a two-month break, my plan was to start posting every other day. However, I’ve received so many donations of scans from readers that I have enough items to last on a daily schedule until the end of January. So I’ll post every day until I run out and, if that happens, take another break.

Click image to download a 38.7-MB PDF of this 48-page timetable.

Today we have the first of several Union Pacific timetables contributed by a Streamliner Memories reader. In 1924, the fastest trains between Chicago and the Pacific Coast took 68 hours and 20 minutes. In 1926, the schedules were reduced to 63 hours, but the big change came with introduction of the streamliners, which reduced the times below 40 hours. Continue reading →

1965 Nob Hill Menu

Posted on August 1, 2021 by Train LoverJuly 12, 2021

This is the third menu in Union Pacific’s wraparound photo series that featured Nob Hill in the photo. The first one is populated with 1940s automobiles and, while my copy is dated 1957, I’ve seen the photo on a 1949 menu. The second one shows cars from the mid-1950s but my copy was a 1963 menu.

Click image to download a 1.1-MB PDF of this menu.

The newest cars on the cover of this menu appear to be from 1959. However, the tall building in the background to the left of the cable car is 650 California Street, which was not completed until 1964 and for a time was the tallest building in California (the state, not the street). So it is not surprising that this menu is dated 1965. Except for the automobiles, the scene hasn’t changed too much to this day. Continue reading →

The City of Las Vegas Has Grown Up

Posted on July 31, 2021 by Train LoverJune 18, 2021

In 1957, Union Pacific briefly tested the General Motors Aerotrain between Los Angeles and Las Vegas, calling it the City of Las Vegas. According to this brochure, the train operated from December (Wikipedia says on the 18th), 1956 to September 14, 1957, which differs from the dates I used in my post about the Aerotrain. I am sure the brochure is correct.

Click image to download a 2.2-MB PDF of this brochure.

Ulong with most other railroads, UP was disappointed in the GM train, but wanted to keep a City of Las Vegas going. So, on September 15, it replaced the Aerotrain with conventional streamlined equipment. Dated January, 1958, this brochure describes that train. Continue reading →