Welcome to

The Information Desk

I have been approached several times by friends of the website with material to contribute. While my focus is still going to remain on transcribed timetables from the Official Guide, this area is being made available for scanned photos, timetables, menus and other images which users may wish to contribute. Feel free to contact me if you have material to add. However, I can offer you nothing more than my thanks.

I would also like to refer you to two other sites which are treasure troves of this kind of material: Streamlinermemories.com and Streamlinermemories.info. Although the names are similar, the sites are not related to each other or to this website save by our mutual love of classic passenger trains. Stop on by and pay them a visit.
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Southern Pacific Lines Timetable from 1970

Contributed by Louis Krupp — Cover (front/back)Sunset RouteShasta/Overland/Coast Routes

The "Eulogy to the Chiefs"

Officially entitled "Future Passenger Train Service on the Santa Fe". A statement in which then-current Santa Fe president John S. Reed recounts the sudden loss of Post Office revenue after the Septenber 1967 cancellation of Railway Post Office Service and the consequent impact on Santa Fe passenger service. Briefly, the Santa Fe would act to drop all passenger service save the premium trains Super Chief/El Capitan; San Francisco Chief; Texas Chief, and partial service to San Diego. From Santa Fe Magazine, October 1967 issue. PDF from my own collection.


Santa Fe "Along Your Way" Brochure from 1952

From my own collection — Brochure (PDF) [NOTE: 48 pages, 76 megabytes]

Union Pacific 1957 Summer Tours Series


For many years Union Pacific sponsored and organized a series of escorted summer tours...mostly on Union Pacific trains, of course, but occasionally using the trains of other railroads as well. I've collected some of the tour promotional information for that year, and along with my Official Guide from July 1957 plan to document just how you could have traveled as part of these tour groups in the summer of 1957. Be Aware: These are very large files, scanned at high resolution to preserve the information. Dial-up users might want to just skip ahead to the timetables.

If you had written in...snail mail, of course!...to Union Pacific for tour information in 1957, you would have received a packet of information like this [3.6 Mbytes]. That's the envelope, cover letter, and reply coupons; also included was this flyer [6.3 Mbytes] with capsule information about the tours. Along with that came this "Western Wonderlands" flyer and map [12.7 Mbytes]; the flyer unfolded in the 6 panels that begin the PDF and on the backside of the sheet was the large "Western Wonderlands" map of the various tour routes. And what packet of railroad information, of course, would be complete without a timetable...specifically, this UP public timetable [81 Mbytes] dated April 14-May 31, 1957.

If you had sent in the reply coupons to Union Pacific, they would have responded with this 76 page illustrated "Western summer tours" brochure [41.6 Mbytes] with many full-color photographs. It gives detailed day-by-day descriptions of the various tour itineraries along with pricing and schedule information. Note: all tours leave from and return to Chicago.

The Tours:

YT: The "Yellowstone-Teton" tour was a 9-day escorted tour leaving Chicago on a special train with arrival in West Yellowstone, followed by a series of motor tours throughout Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks and vicinity with overnights at the Old Faithful Inn, Jackson Lake Lodge, and Canyon Hotel before returning via the Yellowstone Special to Salt Lake City for a day tour, thence overnight via D. & R. G. W.'s Prospector to Denver for a day's stopover before returning on the City of Denver.

YRG: The "Yellowstone-Royal Gorge" 10-day tour covered much of the same ground but in a different sequence; departure from Chicago was again by special train connecting to service for West Yellowstone, with motor tours and overnights at Canyon Hotel, Old Faithful Inn and Jackson Lake Lodge. Departure was from Victor, Idaho to Salt Lake City overnight on the Yellowstone Special, thence by the D. & R. G. W.'s Royal Gorge to Colorado Springs with an overnight there at the Antlers Hotel. Travel to Denver the next morning on the Colorado Eagle for a day of sightseeing and then return on the City of Denver.

Z: The "Zion" tour was a 12-day escorted tour to Zion, Bryce Canyon, and the Grand Canyon (North Rim) National Parks. It also left Chicago on the special train as far as Salt Lake City, where passengers transferred to the Utah Parks Special after a 75-minute stopover. From Cedar City the motor tours led to Zion National Park and the Zion Lodge for two nights, thence to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon with two nights at Grand Canyon Lodge. Finally, there were two more nights at the Bryce Canyon Lodge in Bryce Canyon National Park before returning to Salt Lake City on the Utah Parks Special, then overnight to Denver via the Prospector with return to Chicago on the City of Denver.

YTZ: The "Yellowstone-Teton-Zion" tour took 14 days and combined the best features of the tours listed above. Departing from Chicago on the special train, passengers transferred to the Yellowstone Special to Victor, Idaho where they took motor tours through the Yellowstone-Teton area with overnights at Jackson Lake Lodge, Canyon Hotel and Old Faithful Inn. Departing from West Yellowstone on the Yellowstone Special, they transferred to another special train which took them to Lund, Utah (33 miles from Cedar City) for another series of motor trips. They spent one overnight at Zion National Park, two nights at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, and an overnight in Bryce Canyon N. P. before returning via the Utah Parks Special to Salt Lake City, the Prospector to Denver, and the City of Denver to Chicago.

ZLV: The "Zion-Las Vegas" tour was a 12-day economy tour (coach only) which left Chicago on the regular scheduled City of Los Angeles as far as Las Vegas (at 2:30 in the morning) and then, after a presumably wild night and day in Las Vegas, left via special train at 6:45 a.m. the next day for Lund and motor tours to Zion, Grand Canyon and Bryce Canyon National Park. Two nights were spent at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon with one night each in the other two parks. Return was via the Utah Parks Special to Salt Lake City and then by the same D. & R. G. W. Royal Gorge-Colorado Springs-Colorado Eagle-Denver-City of Denver itinerary used by tour "YRG".

BC: The "Bargain California" tour was an all-coach 14 night tour of the Golden State. Departing Chicago on the City of Los Angeles as far as Riverside, California, the tour stayed overnight at the Mission Inn before embarking on a motor tour to San Diego with an excursion across the border to Tijuana. The return motor trip the next day followed the Coast Highway north, with a lunch stop at Knott's Berry Farm and a short afternoon visit to Disneyland. Three nights at the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles before an early-morning departure on Southern Pacific's San Joaquin Daylight to Merced and a motor tour of Yosemite National Park. Two nights in Camp Curry at Yosemite before returning to the San Joaquin Daylight to complete the trip to San Francisco. Two nights at the Stewart Hotel there before return to Chicago on the City of San Francisco.

Z-BC: This is a 21-day combination of the "Z" and "BC" tours, with the difference that when the "Z" tour group returns to Salt Lake City the "Z-BC" tourists travel independently overnight on the City of St. Louis to join the "BC" tour at Mission Inn in Riverside, then complete the California tour with them.

C: This is the deluxe (Pullman only) "California" 14 day tour; it departs Chicago on the special train before arriving at Las Vegas for a tour of Hoover Dam and an overnight at the Riviera Hotel before continuing on to Riverside and the Mission Inn in California the next day. After an overnight there, a motor trip much like the "BC" tour itinerary to San Diego and Tijuana, with a return trip the next day via Knott's Berry Farm and Disneyland to the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles with a dinner show at the Moulin Rouge. Two nights at the Biltmore, followed by an evening departure on Southern Pacific's West Coast overnight in Pullman cars to Fresno and Yosemite National Park.  An overnight at the Ahwahnee Hotel with appropriate sightseeing tours before returning to Fresno and an overnight run to Berkeley in sleeping cars aboard the Owl. A scenic drive across the Bay with stops at Mission Dolores, Twin Peaks, Golden Gate Park and lunch at the Cliff House. An overnight at the Fairmont Hotel before returning to Chicago on the City of San Francisco.

Z-C: Again, this is a 21-day combination tour of the "Z" and "C" tours, except in sleeping cars. Nine days are spent with the "Z" tour before taking the City of St. Louis to join the "C" tour in Las Vegas.

PNW: The "Pacific Northwest" tour is a 14-day Pullman-only tour which leaves Chicago on the City of Portland bumper-to-bumper with a day and a night in Portland for sightseeing tours. On the next day, a ride up the coast to Tacoma for transfer to the Paradise Inn in Mt. Rainier National Park for two nights. A trip to the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and the mothballed USS Missouri before a ferry ride to nearby Seattle. An overnight at the Olympic Hotel in Seattle before boarding the steamer to Victoria, British Columbia. A night at the Empress Hotel in Victoria, then a ferry ride to Vancouver to board the Canadian Pacific's Mountaineer to Field, B.C. Motor sightseeing trips follow to Yoho and Banff National Parks with three nights spent in the Canadian Rockies.  Return to Chicago via the Mountaineer on Canadian Pacific and Soo Line and the Milwaukee Road's Morning Hiawatha from Minneapolis to Chicago.

RM: The "Rocky Mountain" tour, at only 8 days, is the shortest of the escorted tours in the brochure. The tour group leaves Chicago on the City of Denver overnight to Denver, thence via D. & R. G. W.'s Royal Gorge as far as Colorado Springs. Two nights at the Antlers Hotel with a sightseeing motor trip to the summit of Pike's Peak the second day...no word on why they didn't use the cog railroad. Return to Denver on the Colorado Eagle for a motor trip to Rocky Mountain National Park. After a night in the Chalet-Ranch, another motor trip over the Continental Divide to Grand Lake Lodge. Two nights there before returning to Denver on another motor sightseeing trip to catch the City of Denver for the return home.



A pair of Southern Pacific Automatic Buffet Car "menus"

From my own collection: July 1965 and August 1970. Also, this card from November 1966 informing Lark passengers of the morning at-seat cart service.

Streamliners Across America Layered PDF Map

Contributed by Thomas Rednour
For best results and control of the layers, open in Adobe Reader.

All comments, original material and page design copyright ©2006-2019 by Eric H. Bowen. Page created 2014-06-25. Last modified 2019-02-15.