Nostalgia & History > the Texas Zephyr

I reckon that passenger train riders any younger than 40, or maybe even 50 years of age might not remember when name trains, and even some of the unnamed trains I imagine provided free post cards, and stationery in racks in the lounges, and even in the coaches for their passengers to pick up and use for mailing a note to their folks or whoever, or as a souvenir. I remember picking up souvenir cards, stationery ( or is it "stationary"?)nearly every time that I got the chance while I was on the Texas Zephyr, and sometimes even on the Rio Grande's Prospector as well. The card that I'm posting here predates even me however, I had to pay 1.50 for it at a train show a few years ago.

Con
ps The caption contains the following: "signalize" is that a real word? TCS, comment here? MacBeau, your thoughts?

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xtra1188w Wrote:

> ps The caption contains the following:
> "signalize" is that a real word? TCS, comment
> here? MacBeau, your thoughts?

The use of "ize" to change nouns into verbs was popular with 1920s and 30s advertising agencies; most afficiandos of the English language consider it barbaric in most cases, but many such words nevertheless made it into standard usage. You'll find "signalize" in good dictionaries, not just in the notoriously permissive Webster's Third International. Just the same, "signalize" is unnecessary in this case and probably in most others; "signal" itself can be a verb meaning exactly what this writer tried to convey by "signalize." Bryan Garner has a short discussion in his A Dictionary of Modern American Usage, a work that everyone who cares about the language should own.

Thanks for the scans. My Dad would take me down to Denver Union Station once in awhile to see the Texas Zephyr, or we would catch it south of Denver on the Joint Line. My Grandfather would frequently use the Prospector for business trips to Salt Lake. Do you have any Prospector/Texas Zephyr postcards or photos you could post?

Here is a scan of an old Texas Zephyr ad, thanks again Con for the post.

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Interesting power on the Texas Zephyr - what is that behind the E8? Possibly a "B" unit from one of the later Zephyr sets? If I'm not mistaken the Texas Zephyr used the former Denver Zephyr articulated equipment made redundant by the 1956 re-equipping. Every other picture I've seen of the TZ shows it behind E5s.

Dave

"Stationery" it is--and if it's sitting motionless on your desk, it's stationary stationery.

Winston Hill

That specific card is used for about 8 different Zephyrs - with some touchups.

I am working on a passenger paper web site that has the lot of them, and a lot of other Zephyr paper. There are a bunch of DZ and TZ variations.