The 1939 Royal Tour of Canada (which also dipped down to Washington DC) aimed to shore up North American support for the British in World War II. It also helped give the king an aura of legitimacy after he ascended to the throne two years earlier in the wake of his brother’s controversial abdication. The tour visited every Canadian province and Canadian Pacific and Canadian National shared the honor of putting together a train for the royal party and transporting them around the country.

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The train was painted royal blue and when on Canadian National it was sometimes pulled by streamlined 4-8-4 locomotive 6400, which was built in 1936 and not retired until 1960. Like other CN 4-8-4s, it was smaller than almost all other North American 4-8-4s at 95 feet long (with tender) and 380,000 pounds (less tender), compared with 110 feet long and 400,000 to 500,000 pounds for almost all others. The 6400 has been preserved in its more usual colors of dark green and black in Ottawa’s National Museum of Science and Technology.

The painting on the cover of this menu (scans for which were contributed by Streamliner Memories reader Brian Leiteritz) is signed Ted Harris. I can’t find much information about him except that he also did Royal Canadian Air Force recruitment posters during World War II and also did a number of other military paintings during the war.