Denver Zephyr (Gaillardia), Dining Car Menu Art 1967
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The Denver Zephyr was a streamlined passenger train operated by the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad between Chicago, Illinois, and Denver, Colorado. In peak years it also ran to Colorado Springs. The service operated from 1936 to 1973.
This charming menu cover image of native Colorado flowers below a landscape vignette was one of a series of paintings in the bedrooms and compartments of the famous overnight train. Upon request, the dining car steward would present passengers with reproductions, suitable for framing.
Clad in striking stainless steel, the streamlined Denver Zephyr was hugely popular as an economical and pleasant way to travel between the two states.
‘Only the railroads can provide true low-cost, mass transportation,’ says a phrase at the bottom of the menu. No doubt this slogan was not approved by lobbyists for the car industry who wanted to keep Americans dependent on their automobiles.
The Denver Zephyr was updated with Vista Domes: elevated, glass-enclosed compartments built into the roof of carriages that enabled passengers to have panoramic, upward, and 360-degree views of scenic landscapes across the Midwest and Plains.
Sleeping accommodations aboard included open-section sleeping berths with upper and lower bunks enclosed by curtains, added shortly after launch in the 1930s.
Single rooms, double bedrooms, compartments, and drawing rooms were included in later upgrades, and in the 1950s upgrade ultra-compact single and double rooms containing private toilets and transforming single/double beds were installed.
The observation cars carried parlor seats for local travel.
The Denver Zephyr continued operating after the Burlington Northern Railroad merger in 1970.
In 1971, Amtrak took over passenger rail service across the United States and assumed operation of the train. Amtrak merged it with the Denver–Oakland City of San Francisco to form the San Francisco Zephyr and dropped the ‘Denver’ name in 1973.
Each order includes a print of the interior menu.
All printed in USA.
