Western Pacific December 1950 Timetable

Posted on by April 29, 2024
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The Interstate Commerce Commission responded to Western Pacific’s application to discontinue train 1 & 2, formerly called the Royal Gorge, by allowing the railroad to reduce it from daily to tri-weekly service. To provide this service, the railroad purchased two Rail Diesel Cars from the Budd Company. Although the train kept the numbers, 1 & 2, it was renamed the Zephyrette, which also happened to be the term used to describe the California Zephyr‘s on-board stewardesses.

Click image to download a 4.3-MB PDF of this 8-page timetable.

RDCs were able to stop and accelerate faster than the steam train they replaced, allowing Western Pacific to cut 40 minutes from the schedule of westbound train 1 and 90 minutes from eastbound train 2. They also cost less than half as much to operate as the steam train. Although they operated only three days a week, two RDCs were needed because their 24-hour schedule didn’t leave enough time to service the car between trips and as scheduled the eastbound and westbound trips heavily overlapped. Continue reading →

Western Pacific December 1949 Timetable

Posted on by April 29, 2024
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Western Pacific operated two passenger trains in 1949. The California Zephyr was numbered 17 & 18, consistent with the numbers used by the Burlington and Rio Grande. The other train was numbered 1 and 2. It was a remnant of (and used the numbers of) the Royal Gorge, but that train attracted so few riders after the Zephyr was introduced that Western Pacific dropped the name. Just before this timetable was issued, it had applied to the Interstate Commerce Commission to drop the train completely.

Click image to download a 4.3-MB PDF of this 8-page timetable.

The Zephyr made nine stops between Oakland and Salt Lake City. Train 1 & 2 made as many as 38 more, some of them as little as three miles apart from one another. Despite all the extra stops, train 1 & 2 took only about five hours more than the Zephyr to make the trip. Many, if not most, of its passengers were railroad employees and it also carried mail, food, and supplies to many of the small communities on its route. Continue reading →

Rio Grande October 1960 Timetable

Posted on by May 3, 2024
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Rio Grande ran only five trains in 1960 yet printed a 20-page timetable. The Moffat Tunnel Route, featuring the California Zephyr and Prospector, could have fit on one page but took two. The Royal Gorge Route, featuring the Royal Gorge and Colorado Eagle, could also have fit on one page but took two. Half of a third page would have been enough for the Yampa Valley Mail.

Click image to download a 13.1-MB PDF of this 20-page timetable.

The inside front cover is devoted to a welcome letter from H.F. Eno, Rio Grande’s passenger traffic manager. As if that is not enough welcome, the inside back cover is devoted to a welcome letter from R. Knox Bradford, Rio Grande’s vice president. Pages 16 and 17 have black-and-white photos of Rio Grande freight and passenger operations. That’s four pages that could have been deleted with no loss if information transmitted to the public. Continue reading →

Rio Grande November 1957 Timetable

Posted on by April 29, 2024
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Rio Grande had one more passenger train a day going each way through the Moffatt Tunnel in 1957 than in yesterday’s 1952 timetable. The overnight service from Denver to Craig had proved unpopular, so in 1954 Rio Grande introduced a new day train called the Yampa Valley Mail. The train was popular with railfans because it was usually pulled by an Alco PA locomotive. But it wasn’t popular with passengers as it took twice as long as driving, so it usually consisted of just a baggage-mail car and a coach.

Click image to download an 9.8-MB PDF of this 20-page timetable.

The Yampa Valley Mail appeared on both the main schedules (table 1) and as a local service (table 3 on page 10). However, no other local trains were on page 10, meaning the Denver-Alamosa train had been cancelled. Rio Grande still operated the tourist-oriented train between Durango and Silverton that would be featured in a full-page ad in the May 1959 timetable. The train wasn’t mentioned in today’s timetable because it was mainly a summer train and this is a winter timetable. Continue reading →

Rio Grande June 1952 Timetable

Posted on by April 29, 2024
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Rio Grande operated five main trains a day plus several locals in 1952. The main trains were the California Zephyr; the streamlined Prospector, which was the overnight train on the same route as the Zephyr; the partially streamlined, dome-equipped Royal Gorge; the Pueblo-Denver portion of the Colorado Eagle; and the Mountaineer, an overnight heavyweight train between Denver and Montrose that followed the same route to Grand Junction as the Zephyr and Prospector but stopped at more than 30 towns that the other two trains skipped.

Click image to download an 11.1-MB PDF of this 20-page timetable.

Local trains included one between Denver and Craig. This was really the Mountaineer to Orestod, where a sleeping car and coach were detached and (after a three-hour layover) hauled to Steamboat Springs and Craig. This had been a daytime service until 1952. Continue reading →

Five Locomotives to Pull Ten Cars

Posted on by April 29, 2024
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This postcard says that it shows the eastbound San Francisco-Chicago Express climbing “Soldiers Summit.” The back spells it “Soldiers’ Summit,” but the modern-day spelling is “Soldier Summit.” The grade is so steep that five steam locomotives are required to haul ten passenger cars up to the summit. The postcard is marked “© F.H. Lieb,” referring to Frank H. Leib (whoever inscribed the copyright notice misspelled the name), a Salt Lake City photographer in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.


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

The Denver & Rio Grande’s original grade up Soldier Summit was 4 percent, which is modest for an automobile but steep for a train. This was a major bottleneck for east-west traffic, so in 1913 Rio Grande opened a new route that made two switchbacks known as the Gilluly Loops, reducing the grade to 2.4 percent. The Google maps aerial photo below shows the loops and the original route, which is now followed by U.S. highway 6. Continue reading →

Rio Grande 1903 Lunch Menu

Posted on by April 29, 2024
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This menu cover features a beautiful cover photo, probably taken several years before by William Henry Jackson, of the Grand River (now called the Colorado River; I’m pretty sure the photo was taken in Glenwood Canyon) with a locomotive and rail car that was provided to the photographer by the railroad. But this menu’s configuration is different from more modern menus in that this photo is on the back cover while the front cover is lunch menu itself.

Click image to download an 758-KB PDF of this menu.

Inside, the left panel is another photo showing a train in the Royal Gorge while the right panel is a wine list. This photo is marked “The Carlson-Harper CO. Eng.” where “Eng.” is short for engravers. Carlson-Harper was a Denver company that published books, souvenir picture booklets, postcards, and other tourist items. The placement of this mark suggests that Carlson-Harper provided the photo, but it may have also printed the menu itself. Continue reading →

Colorado & Southern One-Day Excursions

Posted on by April 29, 2024
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The Colorado & Southern was really two different railroads. First was the standard-gauge, north-south line from Wendover Wyoming to Fort Worth Texas. Second were several lines into Colorado mining districts, including Leadville and Cripple Creek, that were mostly narrow gauge.

Click image to download an 5.0-MB PDF of this 12-page booklet.

Union Pacific consolidated many of these lines into the Union Pacific, Denver and Gulf Railway in 1888, but lost control of them in the Panic of 1893. In 1898 the lines were reorganized and named Colorado and Southern. Under James J. Hill’s regime, the Burlington took control of them in 1908. Continue reading →

Burlington January 1970 Twin Cities Timetable

Posted on by April 29, 2024
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Today we have one more look at the Twin Cities corridor before GN, NP, and CB&Q merged (which took place March 2 1970). It is about the same as the previous couple of timetables.

Click image to download an 782-KB PDF of this timetable.

That means the Empire Builder, North Coast Limited, and Afternoon Zephyr operated as one train westbound (or northbound as the schedule puts it), except Fridays and Saturdays when the Zephyr left Chicago 3-2/3 hours later. The westbound Black Hawk, Mainstreeter, and Western Star were also operated together, although “together” is a stretch since no more than one car from the Mainstreeter and none from the Western Star were transferred to the Black Hawk. Eastbound, the premiere trains were operated with the Morning Zephyr, the Mainstreeter with the Afternoon Zephyr, and the Western Star with the Black Hawk. Continue reading →

Burlington April 1969 Timetable

Posted on by June 9, 2024
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Issued six months after yesterday’s timetable, this one has all of the trains that were also on yesterday’s. One thing I didn’t note yesterday was that the California Zephyr had become an extra-fare train.

Click image to download an 2.7-MB PDF of this timetable.

“The following California Zephyr charges will be assessed,” says the October 1968 timetable: $20 first-class and $10 coach for passengers between Burlington and Western Pacific stations and $10 first-class and $5 coach for passengers between Burlington and Rio Grande stations. There were zero added charges for passengers riding between one Burlington station and another. Today’s timetable reduced the WP charges to $15 first class and $5 coach and the Rio Grande charges to $7.50 first class and $2.50 coach. Continue reading →