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Home > Archives > Amtrak wall calendar, 1985.

Amtrak wall calendar, 1985.

Multicolor printed paper wall calendar produced by Amtrak to promote its services. Annual calendar measures 23.5" x 33.5" and includes artwork by American artist Gil Reid.

Amtrak wall calendar, 1985.

Since 1974, Amtrak has been involved with the publication of an annual wall calendar that generally features a name train, new equipment or important pieces of rail infrastructure—and sometimes all three. The upper third of the calendar has featured artwork by noted railroad artists such as Gil Reid, Ted Rose and J. Craig Thorpe in mediums including watercolor, oil-on-canvas and photography.

When the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad (D&RGW) decided to turn over its passenger services to Amtrak in 1983, Amtrak rerouted its San Francisco Zephyr over D&RGW tracks between Denver and Salt Lake City. To mark this reroute, the train was renamed the California Zephyr.

Here, Reid depicts the Superliner-equipped train passing through mountainous territory west of Denver. Many passengers enjoy the breathtaking landscape and railroad infrastructure found on the route. The former includes Glenwood Canyon, which stretches for approximately 13 miles and has walls as high as 1,300 feet, while the latter includes Moffat Tunnel, a 6.2 mile  railroad and water tunnel that cuts through the Continental Divide.

Artist: Gil Reid (American, 1918-2007) for Amtrak.

From the W. Mike Weber Collection.