I rode the Southern Crescent in both 1977 and 1978, but I probably collected these in 1978 with yesterday’s timetable. The first is a nice piece of stationery that shows the Southern’s distinctly painted E units and the logo with … Continue reading
This stationery uses the post-1936 Rocky logo, but is probably from before the war. The carelessness of the printing–the off-center red circle and the slight tilt of the lines of text relative to the edge of the paper–suggests this was … Continue reading
The linen finish on this stationery suggests that it dates to the 1920s or 1930s. According to this history of the CN logo, the railway used the square logo shown on this stationery from 1923 to 1927, after which it … Continue reading
This Canadian Pacific on-board stationery uses a typestyle that is often called Old English. That almost certainly dates it to before the introduction of the Canadian domeliner, and probably to the 1930s. Click image to download a PDF of this … Continue reading
In the streamlined era, the route between Portland and Seattle was served by three trains per day, one operated by Great Northern, one by Northern Pacific, and one by Union Pacific. To avoid duplication, the three railroads agreed to pool … Continue reading
While SP&S secondary trains (3 & 4) in the 1950s carried solarium-observation cars, the primary trains (1 & 2) connecting with the Empire Builder and North Coast Limited did not have observation cars, thus making switching easier in Portland and … Continue reading
The Spokane, Portland & Seattle owned two steel heavyweight solarium-observation cars with extra-large windows in the rear rather than a rear platform, as SP&S trains went too fast (79 mph) for passengers to be safe or comfortable on an open … Continue reading
The American Bar Association held its 51st annual meeting in Seattle in 1928, and Great Northern provided this special letterhead to ABA members traveling to and from the meeting. Not only does the letterhead mention the ABA, it is printed … Continue reading
Though the Columbian only had a diner-lounge car to entertain passengers bored with their coach or sleeping car seats, it apparently was fancy enough to offer this stationery. It apparently wasn’t fancy enough for the stationery itself to be very … Continue reading
In 1926, the Chief replaced the California Limited as Santa Fe’s premiere train, with a faster schedule, extra fare, and, of course, an all-Pullman consist. The Indian images used to promote the train later inspired the warbonnet paint scheme used … Continue reading
