Advertising Santa Fe Streamliners

Posted on by October 16, 2012
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From 1948 through 1954, the Santa Fe offered an incredible five daily trains between Chicago and Los Angeles, compared with just two each on the Union Pacific and Southern Pacific routes. The Super Chief and El Capitan, of course, were streamliners, and the Chief was mostly streamlined as well (only its baggage cars were sometimes heavyweights). The Grand Canyon Limited was a mix of streamlined and heavyweight equipment, while the California Limited was entirely heavyweight.

Click any image for a larger view.

These 1947 and 1948 ads from the Saturday Evening Post and Colliers show that the railroad used a variety of approaches to promote these trains after the war. The above ad, for example, focuses on the Heywood-Wakefield seats and other comforts in the railroad’s streamlined coaches.

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On Board the Rock Island Rockets

Posted on by October 16, 2012
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While the Pere Marquette and Empire Builder were the first post-war trains, the Rock Island holds the honor of being the only railroad allowed to introduce a new passenger train during the war. In January, 1945, the Twin Star Rocket began service from Minneapolis (Minnesota being the “North Star” state) to Houston (Texas being the “Lone Star” state). At 1,370 miles, the route also holds the distinction of being the longest north-south passenger route over the rails of one railroad in the U.S.

Inaugurated in January 1945, the Houston-Minneapolis Twin Star Rocket was the only new passenger train to go into service during World War II. Initially hauled by General Motors E6 locomotives, in this 1951 photo, it is being pulled by two E7s and consists of a heavyweight baggage car and eight streamlined cars.

The Twin Star Rocket was only moderately fast, requiring just over 25 hours (later increased to nearly 27 hours) for an average speed of about 54 mph (later reduced to 51 mph). This meant the railroad had to maintain three sets of equipment, one of which would be idle (after being cleaned and serviced) for most of a day.

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On Dress Parade

Posted on by October 4, 2012
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Roomette. Section. Double bedroom. Compartment. Drawing room. All these sleeping car accommodations sound alike. The 1948 brochure from the Pullman Company attempts to explain through cutaway drawings how they all differ.

Click image to download this 16.5-MB PDF of this 36-page brochure.

One accommodation missing from the booklet is the master room, which was found only on the Broadway Limited, Southern Crescent, and perhaps one or two other trains. A master room was the size of two double bedrooms and, as near as I can determine, was the only streamlined sleeping room in the U.S. that had a shower.

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Wonderful Ways West

Posted on by September 7, 2023
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“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 brochure dates from 1953, so it has all the post-war SP streamliners: CIty of San Francisco, Golden State, Shasta Daylight, Sunset Limited, and more.


Click image to download an 18-MB PDF of this 24-page brochure.

This brochure dedicates four pages each to the Sunset and Golden State routes, just three pages to the Overland route, and five pages to the “coast routes,” including the Shasta Daylight, Coast Daylight, and even the Lark, which was an all-Pullman train between LA and San Francisco. The Starlight, the Lark’s short-lived all-coach overnight companion train, and the San Joaquin Daylight are both briefly mentioned as well. Continue reading →

See Twice as Much of America

Posted on by November 30, 2018
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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 West Coast without changing railroads (which wasn’t really an issue when many trains ran seamlessly across two or more railroads). The Southern Pacific’s theme was that it had “four scenic routes” to California, allowing Eastern or Midwestern residents to see one part of the U.S. on their journey west and another part when returning east.

Click image to download a 30-MB PDF of this 36-page full-color booklet.

That’s the theme of this undated booklet that the SP probably published just before the war. The color photos are lavish and picture the streamlined City of San Francisco and Coast Daylight, but other trains are heavyweights. A photo of Timberline Lodge, completed in 1938, and a sketch of Shasta Dam “now under construction”–construction took from 1937 to 1945–helps to date the booklet to about 1939 to 1941, after which war restrictions would have prevented SP from issuing such an expensive advertisement.

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Santa Fe Along Your Way

Posted on by September 7, 2023
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Some railroads published along-the-way guides for each major route. This massive, 44-page brochure is meant to work for any and all Santa Fe passenger trains. This edition dates from 1945, but the brochure was republished many times over the years.

Click image to download a 39-MB PDF of this 44-page brochure.

The front cover features General Motors’ elegant E1 locomotive pulling a shiny, stainless-steel train, probably the Super Chief as the El Capitan of that time had fewer cars. A 1949 edition has an F-3 locomotive leading a train in the Albuquerque station. An earlier edition doesn’t have a train on the cover; just a monochrome adobe mission on the front and the Grand Canyon on the back, while the earliest edition I have has a picture of tourists on the rear platform of a train apparently looking at the horrifically huge face of a Native American.

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City of Los Angeles Lunch Menu

Posted on by September 23, 2012
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The Los Angeles train terminal, the last major train station built in the United States, is featured on the cover of this heavily edited lunch menu. The menu itself looks like it was being modified for future editions: one of the major “luncheon suggestions” is changed from “fresh shrimp Louis” to “chopped smoked ham with scrambled eggs,” and “hot or cold” is scratched out wherever it is used by “coffee” or “tea.”

Click image to download a 1.9-MB PDF of this lunch menu.

At the top of the menu, someone has written “rush today” and “800/Job 1381.” So it appears that the commissary has ordered some minor changes to the standard lunch menu.

Columbia Gorge Menu

Posted on by November 4, 2017
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This streamlined City of Portland menu features the Columbia Gorge from Crown Point, a beautiful spot on the old Columbia River Highway. The “new” highway 30, a two-lane forerunner of today’s Interstate 84, is visible along the river below, but the Union Pacific’s tracks, which hug the sheer cliffs on the south side of gorge, are not. The interior breakfast menu is identical to the last two menus.

Click image to download a 1.9-MB PDF of this breakfast menu.

The little plume of smoke in the distance is from a sawmill at Bridal Veil Falls. The mill and town site is now owned by the Trust for Public Lands, which demolished most of the buildings over the protests of historic preservationists.

Mt. Hood Menu

Posted on by November 23, 2014
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Another City of Portland menu from 1954 shows Mt. Hood with some fall colors in the foreground. The inside breakfast menu is identical to yesterday’s.

Click image to download a 1.9-MB PDF of this breakfast menu.

Update: I recently realized that UP often put the train numbers of the trains the menus were used on in the lower right corner with the menu date. In this case, the numbers say “11 & 12,” which refers to the Idahoan, a heavyweight train that went from Omaha to Portland. The 1951 timetable says the train had standard sleepers and coaches, with a diner and a club lounge added west of North Platte.

Streamliner City of Portland Menu

Posted on by September 23, 2012
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Here’s a menu used on the streamlined City of Portland that featured the train’s namesake city on the cover. The city in this pre-1954 view looks much different from today, when there are more and taller skyscrapers and bridges across the Willamette River. But Mt. Hood still looms over the city from the east and Mt. Tabor, in the middle ground of this photo, is still a prominent park.

Click image to download a 1.8-MB PDF of this breakfast menu.

The menu itself is a breakfast menu with an incredible number of choices, ranging from Kadota figs for 40 cents (about $3.50 in today’s dollars) to lamb chops (with fruit or cereal, bread, and beverage) for $2.35 (about $20 in today’s dollars). French toast, griddle cakes, ten kinds of cereal, omelets, and a variety of combinations are all also on the menu.