San Francisco Challenger
The westbound San Francisco Challenger, pausing almost within the shadow of the Jeffers Street viaduct, has its massive 4-8-4 steam locomotive serviced in a scene typical of the era.
The steam locomotive largely contributed to the existence of the North Platte Canteen. In the years before Union Pacific switched to using diesel-electric motive power, North Platte was a designated servicing point for the steamers hauling the company's fleet of crack passenger trains. A North Platte service stop generally took about ten minutes as UP employees scurried to re-lubricate the locomotive's large driving wheels and refill its water tender. It was this time consuming task that permitted those servicemen or women riding the trains to detrain and visit the canteen. (If personnel were not allowed to detrain, volunteers sent gift baskets aboard by having them passed through the windows and down the car aisles.)During the initial days of World War II, when troop movements were considered a military secret, word about the pending arrival of troop trains in North Platte was reportedly given by UP special agents only to head canteen officials. They in turn would alert other volunteers to come to the depot by calling and saying “I have the coffee on.”
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