This issue of Southern Pacific’s West contains almost no clue about when it was published. I’ve so far identified eighteen different issues of this publication, four of which appear to be from 1940, six from 1941, and four from 1942. … Continue reading
We’ve previously seen this cover on a 1937 lunch menu I found on the New York Public Library web site. Since then, I’ve acquired one of my own, a lunch menu from 1938. Click any images to download a 800-KB … Continue reading
Someone collected these menus during a 1937 tour that went from Chicago to Los Angeles on the Santa Fe, Los Angeles to Portland on the Southern Pacific, Portland to Vancouver on the Great Northern, and Vancouver east on the Canadian … Continue reading
New Orleans’ Vieux Carre (town square), today known as the French Quarter, was already more than 200 years old when Southern Pacific published this informative booklet in 1927. New Orleans grew to be the nation’s third-largest city by 1840, and … Continue reading
Today we have three more menus contributed by Streamliner Memories reader Laurie Powers. First is what looks like a breakfast menu from the “Steamer Restaurant Service” of the Northwestern Pacific Railroad. I suspect “steamer” has more to do with the … Continue reading
Southern Pacific probably had menu series before 1933, but the earliest I have date to around that year. Many SP menus were flimsier and smaller that those used on other western railroads. Exceptions were the Icon series, the 49er series … Continue reading
We’ve previously seen a dinner menu for the Golden State Limited from about 1940 and one for the … Continue reading
For most of its history, the San Francisco-Los Angeles Lark left its respective terminals at 9 pm and arrived at the other end at 9 am. That didn’t leave much time for dinner, yet the train carried a massive, three-unit … Continue reading
The San Francisco-Los Angeles Lark was originally an all-Pullman train providing overnight service. By 1948, when the menu below was issued, it had been completely streamlined and ran on a twelve-hour schedule — 9 pm to 9 am — between … Continue reading
This menu card was issued the same year as yesterday’s breakfast folder and suggests that in the mid-1960s Southern Pacific used the fancy folding menus only for breakfast and dinner, even on its premiere train. Of course, just four years … Continue reading
