I am looking for the name of a train I took in 1969 and the time schedule for it.?

Question

In 1969 I took the Union Pacific from Portland, Oregon to Denver, Colorado. The route went on the Oregon side of the Columbia River Gorge through The Dalles and into southern Idaho, then into Wyoming and Cheyenne. From there it dropped down into Denver. What would the name of that route have been, and is there somewhere on line where I could find the time table for that run?

Answer 1

Hi Wendy,

Using a 1970 timetable from the Official Guide I believe you took the Portland Rose, which was part of one of the railroad's premier trains, the City of Portland (which in its entirety ran between Chicago and Portland), and operated between Kansas City-Denver-Portland-Seattle, part of the UP's original main line (at the time having to use first the Chicago & North Western and later the Milwaukee Road as a connection to Chicago).

Having said that you could have taken the City of Portland as well although the Portland Rose operated exclusively between Denver and Portland.  I suppose the best way to know is that if you can remember something about the train the City of Portland would very likely have been a much more luxurious ride, than the Portland Rose,  and would have included an all-streamlined, matching, train that included things like lounges, dome cars, and diners (along with the coaches and sleepers, of course).