During World War II, the Union Pacific recruited the Willmarths to create a series of morale-boosting posters. Some on-line sources date a few of these posters as early as 1940, but this seems unlikely as the U.S. did not enter … Continue reading
The Willmarths weren’t the only artists Union Pacific turned to for Sun Valley posters. Another was Dwight Clark Shepler, a Massachusetts artist who studied at Williams College and the Boston Museum of Art. These three posters–unfortunately not available in larger … Continue reading
Seeking to boost winter tourist travel, the Union Pacific Railroad opened Sun Valley, the nation’s first destination winter resort, in 1936. This was just two years after the Travel by Train poster campaign, and the Union Pacific decided to use … Continue reading
Page 109 of a 2002 book on rail posters, Travel by Train, says, Out West, a coalition of nearly thirty railroads pooled their resources against the auto and introduced the “Travel by Train” campaign. Their cooperative effort produced nearly a … Continue reading
Here are a couple of posters using Hedrich photographs, one of which we’ve already seen on a postcard. I’m not certain whether these posters were distributed to members of the public, Great Northern customers, or just used in GN offices … Continue reading
The Canadian Pacific liked to bill itself as the world’s greatest travel system as it had, besides the railroads, hotels, steamships, and, for a few years, an airline. It advertised all of these with numerous travel posters. Click any image … Continue reading
The SkyTop observation cars for the Olympian Hiawatha have been fittingly described as among “the most distinctive cars ever built.” I say “among” because, at first glance, the six Olympian cars resemble four observation cars built for the Twin Cities … Continue reading
Out of the 120,000 or so steam locomotives built and used in the United States, only about 220 were streamlined–or, as the Chicago & North Western called it, steamlined–for passenger service. Railroads went to the trouble to streamline steam locomotives … Continue reading
When, in June 1936, the Union Pacific put the M-10005 and M-10006 in daily service between Chicago and Denver, the Burlington’s own sleeping-car equipped Denver Zephyr was still five months away. To steal the Union Pacific’s thunder (and protect its … Continue reading
Experience with the City of Portland and City of Los Angeles had proven to the Union Pacific that its first-generation streamliners were too small for anything but local service. So it cancelled its planned fourth train, the M-10003, and ordered … Continue reading
