Although Seaboard Airline was the first to offer a New York-Florida streamliner, Atlantic Coast Line (ACL) was the larger and healthier of the two competitors–Seaboard had gone bankrupt in 1907 and again in 1930. ACL was initially skeptical about streamliners, … Continue reading
On February 2, 1939, shortly after Dieselizing the Orange Blossom Special, Seaboard inaugurated the Silver Meteor, a Budd-built coach train between New York and Florida pulled by an E-4 locomotive. Initially, Seaboard purchased a single, seven-car train set, allowing service … Continue reading
The Orange Blossom Special was an all-Pullman, winter-only train between New York and Florida that the Seaboard Air Line began running in 1925. By 1941, the average speed of the New York-Miami trains was a respectable 57 mph. Like New … Continue reading
When the Burlington replaced the original Denver Zephyr with the vista-dome version, it transferred the old Denver Zephyr train to the Texas Zephyr route. The 1936 DZ was actually older than the 2937 TZ coaches and 2940 observation car, but … Continue reading
On August 22, 1940, Burlington began running the Texas Zephyr between Denver and Dallas. The route was a strange offshoot for the Burlington, which was mainly a Midwestern railroad, and went over Burlington subsidiaries Colorado & Southern and Fort Worth … Continue reading
The Santa Fe was unusual if not unique in that–at least until 1963–it didn’t operate its own dining cars. Instead, it contracted them out to Fred Harvey, who also operated restaurants in many Santa Fe train stations and hotels in … Continue reading
A number of other trains acquired dome cars after 1956, mainly by acquiring them when other railroads stopped running passenger trains or by shuffling around the equipment of existing trains. In the early 1960s, for example, the Norfolk & Western … Continue reading
The Great Northern relied on Hedrich-Blessing, a Chicago company specializing in architectural photography, to provide many photographs of its trains. Click any image to download a PDF of the postcard. The eastbound Empire Builder is currently heading north along Washington’s … Continue reading
The sight of a stainless steel train enhanced the already incredible scenery of the Canadian Rockies. These postcards were not issued by the Canadian Pacific, but many passengers no doubt purchased them in stations and nearby souvenir shops. (Click any … Continue reading
Since Union Pacific domeliners only had two or three domes per train, most of the passengers would be elsewhere. Here are some postcards the UP used to advertise the coaches and sleeping cars on its domeliners. Click any image to … Continue reading
