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Portland Rose
originally Portland Limited

The final remnant of the Portland Rose at Denver Union Station, reduced to just two coaches on the eve of Amtrak
Overview
Service type	Inter-city rail
Status	Discontinued
Locale	Central and Western United States
First service	1923
Last service	1971
Former operator(s)	UP and CNW/MILW
Route
Termini	East: Chicago, Illinois Cheyenne, Wyoming (1942) Denver, Colorado St. Louis, Missouri Kansas City, Missouri (1964) West: Portland, Oregon Pool service to Tacoma and Seattle, Washington
Train number(s)	17 (westbound) 18 (eastbound)
Line(s) used	Overland Route
Technical
Track gauge	4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)
Route map v t e Legend Seattle Tacoma Washington Oregon Portland Hood River The Dalles Hinkle Pendleton Baker Huntington Oregon Idaho Boise Shoshone Pocatello Idaho Wyoming Kemmerer Green River Rawlins Laramie Cheyenne Wyoming Colorado pre-1942 route Greeley Wyoming Nebraska La Salle Sidney Denver North Platte cut back 1964 Grand Island Limon Omaha Hugo Nebraska Iowa Cheyenne Wells Boone Colorado Kansas Ames Sharon Springs Marshalltown Winona Cedar Rapids Oakley Clinton Grainfield Iowa Illinois Quinter Sterling Wakeeney Dixon Ellis DeKalb Hays Geneva Russell Oak Park Wilson Chicago C&NW Ellsworth Salina Abilene Junction City Ft. Riley Manhattan Wamego St. Marys Topeka Lawrence Kansas City Kansas Missouri Kansas City

The Portland Rose (renamed from Portland Limited in 1930) was a named passenger train that featured through-service to Portland, Tacoma, and Seattle. It was operated by the Union Pacific Railroad, but sections of the train scheduled east of Omaha operated over the Chicago and North Western Railway before 1955, and after over the Milwaukee Road.

Features

The Portland Limited featured a lady's lounge, men's club, sightseeing salon, library, barbershop, and bath with shower which remained intact through the entire route. Renamed Portland Rose in 1930, the train was assigned heavyweight passenger equipment, but was regularly upgraded with streamlined equipment in line with the premiere "city trains". The 1930s service continued these features, adding a fully equipped soda fountain, a radio, and a glass-enclosed sun parlor.

Service changes and demise

The 1935 introduction of the City of Portland replaced the Portland Rose as the premier Union Pacific train to the Northwest, but the Rose remained important and operated through to the establishment of Amtrak in 1971.

In 1937, the year that Union Pacific introduced the Chicago–Los Angeles discount tourist-class train, The Challenger, Portland Rose split sections at Omaha, one through section to Chicago over the CNW, the other through to St. Louis over the Wabash. A section of Challenger sleepers were at that time exchanged between the Portland Rose and The Challenger (San Francisco #87/88) at Green River.

In 1942, Cheyenne, Wyoming, then became the east terminus of the Pacific Rose, (temporarily designated as trains 11/12) with a through section carried between there and Chicago by the Los Angeles Limited (trains #1/2), and another section via Denver and through Kansas to Kansas City and St. Louis carried by the City of St. Louis.

With the demise of the Pony Express, with which it had been combined east of Denver, the Portland Rose operated under that name alone from Portland to St. Louis as trains 17/18 by way of Cheyenne and Denver.

But by 1964, the Portland Rose terminated in Kansas City and in late 1969, service was curtailed to Denver.

In continuous service from its inception, the Rose outlasted some other more premiere Union Pacific trains until 1971, when Amtrak took over the nation's passenger services.

Gallery

• Portland Limited brochure, 1923
• Inaugural Portland Rose decor of the 1930s heavyweight era dining car
• Portland Rose heavyweight club car, c. 1930s
• Portland Rose track sign at Denver Union Station

Legacy

As part of the Union Pacific Heritage Fleet, 44-seat coach No. 5473 was renamed the Portland Rose in 1990.

References

1. "Train Named 'Portland Rose'". The Pittsburgh Press. September 28, 1930. Retrieved December 30, 2020.
2. Union Pacific brochure: Presenting Portland's only thru train to Chicago The Portland Limited
3. ^ "Portland Rose". American Rails. December 30, 2020.
4. Time Tables (PDF). Union Pacific Railroad. September 16, 1937. pp. 12-13 and 29-30. Retrieved January 10, 2021.
5. "Union Pacific Portland Rose Passenger Train". UtahRails.net. Retrieved December 30, 2020.
6. Time Tables (PDF). Union Pacific Railroad. June 2, 1946. pp. 18-19 and 26-27. Retrieved January 10, 2021.
7. Time Tables (PDF). Union Pacific Railroad. September 26, 1954. p. 26. Retrieved January 10, 2021.
8. Time Tables (PDF). Union Pacific Railroad. April 12, 1964. pp. 25–26, 36. Retrieved January 10, 2021.
9. Time Tables (PDF). Union Pacific Railroad. September 7, 1969. p. 10. Retrieved January 10, 2021. Table F shows Kansas City as terminus.
10. Condensed Passenger Train Schedule No. 138 (PDF). Union Pacific Railroad. September 7, 1969. p. 10. Retrieved January 10, 2021.
11. "Portland Rose" (PDF). www.up.com. Retrieved December 30, 2020.

v t e Passenger trains of the Milwaukee Road
Hiawathas	Afternoon Hiawatha Chippewa-Hiawatha Hiawatha-North Woods Section Hiawatha-North Woods Service Midwest Hiawatha Morning Hiawatha North Woods Hiawatha Olympian Hiawatha Twin Cities Hiawatha
Overland Route	Challenger City of Denver City of Los Angeles City of Portland City of San Francisco Colorado Special Pacific Limited Portland Rose San Francisco Overland Limited
Others	Arrow Chippewa Columbian Copper Country Limited Fast Mail Marquette Minnesota Marquette Olympian "On Wisconsin" Pioneer Limited Sioux Southwest Limited St. Paul-Minneapolis Special Tomahawk Varsity
Suburban service	North Line West Line Watertown–Milwaukee
Rolling stock	Beaver Tail Bilevel gallery car Skytop Lounge Super Dome

• Passenger trains of the Union Pacific Railroad
• Passenger trains of the Chicago and North Western Railway
• Passenger trains of the Milwaukee Road
• Named passenger trains of the United States
• Railway services introduced in 1923
• Night trains of the United States
• Railway services discontinued in 1971