This 1966 breakfast menu is all contained on one side of a single card, as opposed to the folders used for 1950s Golden State menus. At least the train has a menu: by April, 1964, passenger ridership had fallen so … Continue reading
Category Archives: Southern Pacific
This colorful booklet describes the Golden State, the streamlined train that replaced the heavyweight Golden State Limited in January, 1948. The inside back cover of the brochure is marked “1-53,” suggesting it was printed in 1953, the last year the … Continue reading
During the 1950s, Southern Pacific passenger trains featured at least six paint schemes, more than any other western railroad, and possibly more than any in the country. These included the orange-and-yellow Daylights; yellow-and-grey City of San Francisco; orange-and-silver Golden State; … Continue reading
At least one of these three posters is often credited to an artist named W. Haines Hall, but according to Travel by Train they were all a collaborative effort. “Their family resemblance stemmed from the fact that one man, German-born … Continue reading
Maurice George Logan was born in 1886, three years after Oscar Bryn, and like Bryn grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and studied at, among other places, the Mark Hopkins Institute of Art. In 1915, he helped form … Continue reading
Though born in England in 1881, Sam Hyde Harris was an artist for the Southwest: though he did not move to the United States until he was 15, he was already drawing scenes of what he imagined the West looked … Continue reading
The Southern Pacific claimed that most dome cars were too tall to fit through its tunnels. So it designed and built its own dome cars out of older cars it had on hand. Its first car was built from a … Continue reading
“Wonderful Ways West” continues with the Southern Pacific’s theme that it has four routes into California, and travelers from the East to California can take different routes to and from the state “for little or no additional rail fare.” This … Continue reading
Many railroads had a theme they used–year after year, sometimes decade after decade–in their passenger advertising. The Santa Fe’s theme was “all the way,” meaning that only the Santa Fe could get you all the way from Chicago to the … Continue reading
The on-board stationery I have for the Sunset Limited uses old English lettering, suggesting that it dates from the heavyweight era. The envelope even says “San Francisco-Los Angeles New Orleans,” showing it is either from before 1930 or between 1936 … Continue reading