Burlington rolled out the vista-dome Denver Zephyr with the typical full-page color ads in Saturday Evening Post and similar magazines. The ads promoted the “big” Denver Zephyr, a reference to the older Denver Zephyr‘s diminutive size relative to ordinary trains. … Continue reading
Click image to download a PDF of this luggage tag. Passengers checking baggage on the hi-level El Capitan were given colorful baggage tags advertising the train. However, unless you had a lot of luggage, it wasn’t necessary to check it … Continue reading
Although domes were first added to the Empire Builder in May 1955, the Great Northern didn’t place this two-page spread in National Geographic until October. This is probably because the ad featured the full-length dome which wasn’t included in the … Continue reading
Canadian Pacific had been a regular advertiser in National Geographic and other magazines for many years before the introduction of the Canadian. The older ads tended to be less colorful and to emphasize the destinations more than the trip or … Continue reading
Only a few railroads took the opportunity to advertise around Christmas. Given limited advertising budgets, most aimed for the summer tourist season instead. But the New York Central, Pennsylvania, Pullman, and Union Pacific all did some creative Christmas-themed ads, and … Continue reading
Canada was late to the streamliner revolution. Canadian National was still using steam locomotives to pull its premiere heavyweight trains as late as 1954. Canadian Pacific had at least Dieselized its trains, but continued to use a mix of heavyweight … Continue reading
It is hard to imagine any nicer place to eat than in a dome-diner. As shown below, the dome portions of the COP and COLA diners were nearly identical. The back of this postcard says it is from the City … Continue reading
The Challenger was Union Pacific’s answer to the Santa Fe’s El Capitan: an all-coach train on the same timetable as the all-Pullman City of Los Angeles. When UP added dome cars to its trains in 1955, the Challenger received a … Continue reading
The Union Pacific competed with the Santa Fe between Chicago and Los Angeles and with the Northern Pacific between Chicago and Portland, so when those two railroads added domes to their streamliners, the UP reluctantly followed. Domes were expensive–the UP … Continue reading
Naturally, the Northern Pacific featured dome cars and other improvements in its advertising for the North Coast Limited. I don’t know where the following ad came from, but it was put together well before the domes arrived and obviously is … Continue reading
