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The ''Pioneer Zephyr'' is a diesel-powered trainset built by the Budd Company in 1934 for the
Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad The Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad was a railroad that operated in the Midwestern United States. Commonly referred to as the Burlington Route, the Burlington, or as the Q, it operated extensive trackage in the states of Colorado, Illin ...
(CB&Q), commonly known as the Burlington Route. The trainset was the second
internal combustion An internal combustion engine (ICE or IC engine) is a heat engine in which the combustion of a fuel occurs with an oxidizer (usually air) in a combustion chamber that is an integral part of the working fluid flow circuit. In an internal combust ...
-powered streamliner built for mainline service in the United States, the first such train powered by a
diesel engine The diesel engine, named after Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which ignition of the fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to mechanical compression; thus, the diesel engine is a so-ca ...
, and the first to enter revenue service. The trainset consists of one power/storage car, one baggage/RPO/buffet/coach car, and one coach/observation car. The cars are made of stainless steel, permanently articulated together with
Jacobs bogie Jacobs bogies (named after Wilhelm Jakobs,, 1858–1942, a German Mechanical engineering, mechanical Railway engineering, railway engineer) are a type of Rail transport, rail vehicle bogie commonly found on Articulated car, articulated railcars an ...
s. The construction incorporated recent advances such as shotwelding (a specialized type of spot welding) to join the stainless steel, and
unibody A vehicle frame, also historically known as its '' chassis'', is the main supporting structure of a motor vehicle to which all other components are attached, comparable to the skeleton of an organism. Until the 1930s, virtually every car ha ...
construction and articulation to reduce weight. It was the first of nine similarly built trainsets made for Burlington and its technologies were pivotal in the subsequent
dieselization Dieselisation (US: dieselization) is the process of equipping vehicles with a diesel engine or diesel engines. It can involve replacing an internal combustion engine powered by petrol (gasoline) fuel with an engine powered by diesel fuel, as o ...
of passenger rail service. Its operating economy, speed, and public appeal demonstrated the potential for diesel-electric-powered trains to revitalize and restore profitability to passenger rail service that had suffered a catastrophic loss of business with the Great Depression. Originally named the ''Burlington Zephyr'' during its demonstration period, it became the ''Pioneer Zephyr'' as Burlington expanded its fleet of ''Zephyr'' trainsets. On May 26, 1934, it set a
speed record A speed record is a world record for speed by a person, animal, or vehicle. The function of speed record is to record the speed of moving animate objects such as humans, animals or vehicles. Overall speed record Overall speed record is the recor ...
for travel between
Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...
and
Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...
when it made a 1,015.4-mile (1,633 km) non-stop "Dawn-to-Dusk" dash in 13 hours 5 minutes at an average speed of almost 78 mph (124 km/h). For one section of the run it reached a speed of 112.5 mph (181 km/h). The historic dash inspired a 1934 film (''"
The Silver Streak ''The Silver Streak'' is a 1934 American black-and-white film drama from RKO, loosely based on the record-setting "dawn-to-dusk" run of the '' Pioneer Zephyr'' on May 26, 1934. The film stars Sally Blane, Charles Starrett, William Farnum, and ...
"'') and the train's nickname, "The Silver Streak". The train entered regular revenue service on November 11, 1934, between Kansas City,
Missouri Missouri is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee): Iowa to the north, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee to the east, Arkansas t ...
, Omaha,
Nebraska Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the sout ...
, and
Lincoln, Nebraska Lincoln is the capital city of the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Lancaster County. The city covers with a population of 292,657 in 2021. It is the second-most populous city in Nebraska and the 73rd-largest in the United Sta ...
. It operated this and other routes until its retirement in 1960, when it was donated to Chicago's Museum of Science & Industry, where it remains on public display. The train is generally regarded as the first successful streamliner on American railroads.


Concept and construction

In the early 1930s, the Great Depression caused a catastrophic loss of business for American railroads. Passenger service had been losing ridership to automobile travel since the mid-1920s, making faster, more efficient service imperative for railroads to compete. Railroads needed to lower operating costs of passenger service and boost ridership with a more modern image for the traveling public, to restore profitability to passenger service. One of the railroad presidents who faced this challenge was
Ralph Budd Ralph (pronounced ; or ,) is a male given name of English, Scottish and Irish origin, derived from the Old English ''Rædwulf'' and Radulf, cognate with the Old Norse ''Raðulfr'' (''rað'' "counsel" and ''ulfr'' "wolf"). The most common forms ...
, formerly of the Great Northern Railway and then president of the
Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad The Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad was a railroad that operated in the Midwestern United States. Commonly referred to as the Burlington Route, the Burlington, or as the Q, it operated extensive trackage in the states of Colorado, Illin ...
(Burlington), who sought to develop a more efficient high speed train to replace conventional steam-powered heavyweight equipment. The project hinged on two major elements, developing lighter railcars and developing an internal combustion driven power system adequate for high speed service. In 1932 Ralph Budd met Edward G. Budd (no relation), an automotive steel pioneer who was founder and president of the Budd Company. Edward Budd was demonstrating his new Budd-Michelin rubber-tired rail cars built of stainless steel. Pneumatic-wheeled railcars never found popularity for actual service in the US — they tended to derail — but they demonstrated the successful construction of lightweight stainless steel
unibody A vehicle frame, also historically known as its '' chassis'', is the main supporting structure of a motor vehicle to which all other components are attached, comparable to the skeleton of an organism. Until the 1930s, virtually every car ha ...
railcars. Some power-trailer car sets in that series
articulated An articulated vehicle is a vehicle which has a permanent or semi-permanent pivot joint in its construction, allowing it to turn more sharply. There are many kinds, from heavy equipment to buses, trams and trains. Steam locomotives were sometim ...
with
Jacobs bogie Jacobs bogies (named after Wilhelm Jakobs,, 1858–1942, a German Mechanical engineering, mechanical Railway engineering, railway engineer) are a type of Rail transport, rail vehicle bogie commonly found on Articulated car, articulated railcars an ...
s shared between cars embodied the basic elements of car construction that would be used to build a lightweight streamliner train. Stainless steel provided many benefits over traditional wood and hardened steel for railroad carbodies; it was a lighter and stronger material, and its natural silver appearance and resistance to
corrosion Corrosion is a natural process that converts a refined metal into a more chemically stable oxide. It is the gradual deterioration of materials (usually a metal) by chemical or electrochemical reaction with their environment. Corrosion engi ...
meant that it would not have to be painted to protect it from the weather. Since the carbody was much lighter than similar cars, it would be able to carry a higher revenue load for the same cost. In developing the Budd-Michelin railcars, the Budd Company used the formed steel technology in which they were industry pioneers and solved the most difficult problem in using stainless steel for railcar construction: developing a welding technique that would not compromise the strength and corrosion resistance of the stainless steel. On August 20, 1932, Earl J. Ragsdale, an engineer at the Budd Company, filed a patent application for a "Method and product of electric welding"; on January 16, 1934, the
United States Patent & Trademark Office The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is an agency in the U.S. Department of Commerce that serves as the national patent office and trademark registration authority for the United States. The USPTO's headquarters are in Alexa ...
(USPTO) granted US patent 1,944,106 to the Budd Company. Shotwelding, as Ragsdale termed his method, involved automatic control of the timing of individual spot welds. In spot welding, the two pieces of metal that are to be joined are pressed together with an
electrode An electrode is an electrical conductor used to make contact with a nonmetallic part of a circuit (e.g. a semiconductor, an electrolyte, a vacuum or air). Electrodes are essential parts of batteries that can consist of a variety of materials d ...
on each side of the joint. A very high electric current is passed through the joint and fuses the two pieces of metal together. If a spot weld is heated too long, heat will spread from the weld at a middling temperature that weakens the stainless steel and compromises its corrosion-resistant properties unacceptably; Ragsdale's precisely-timed welds solved the problem. With their patented welding process at the core of stainless steel railcar construction, the cars produced by Budd were a truly unique product. The articulated design of some Budd-Michelin cars, with
trucks A truck or lorry is a motor vehicle designed to transport cargo, carry specialized payloads, or perform other utilitarian work. Trucks vary greatly in size, power, and configuration, but the vast majority feature body-on-frame construction ...
shared between adjacent cars, presented another opportunity for weight saving with the new train. On conventional passenger cars, each carbody rode upon a pair of trucks (pivot-mounted wheel-axle assembly), with one truck at each end. The articulation not only reduced the number of trucks under the train, but it also dispensed with the need for
couplers Coupler may refer to: Engineering Mechanical * Railway coupler, a mechanism for connecting rolling stock in a train device ** Janney coupler ** SA3 coupler ** Scharfenberg coupler for multiple unit passenger cars * Quick coupler, used in constru ...
between each of the carbodies, further reducing the train's weight. The concept was used by Budd engineer Walter B. Dean to build a train consisting of three semi-permanently attached cars. It did, however, mean that train lengths could not be easily changed by switching out cars. The other major problem Ralph Budd faced was to find a powerplant adequate to drive a trainset at a speed competitive with the faster steam trains. The existing gasoline powerplants for motorized railcars were inadequate and gasoline engines showed limited potential for higher capacity hauling applications. Contemporary four-stroke marine and stationary
diesel engine The diesel engine, named after Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which ignition of the fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to mechanical compression; thus, the diesel engine is a so-ca ...
s had low power-to-weight ratios and were only efficient under a narrow range of operating conditions, rendering them unsuitable for rail transport. Spark-ignited petroleum distillate engines also suffered from low power-to-weight ratios along with being maintenance-intensive and smokey. The solution to Budd's problem presented itself in the new two-stroke diesel engines developed by General Motors' Winton Engine Corporation, which represented a factor-of-four improvement in power-to-weight ratio over the previous generation of diesel engines. Their efficient operating range was also improved, owing largely to improvements in fuel injection developed by GM and Winton. A diesel-electric system driven by a prototype of the new design was used to power General Motors' automotive assembly exhibit at the 1933
Century of Progress A Century of Progress International Exposition, also known as the Chicago World's Fair, was a world's fair held in the city of Chicago, Illinois, United States, from 1933 to 1934. The fair, registered under the Bureau International des Expositi ...
Chicago World's Fair. Budd saw the compact, efficient system in action, saw a major piece of his lightweight train puzzle fall into place, then approached GM about adapting their engine for rail propulsion. GM accepted the challenge of developing their engine into a production series, introduced as the Winton 201A in early 1934. The result was a diesel-electric drive system developed by GM's subsidiary Electro-Motive Corporation, powered by an eight-cylinder, 600 hp Winton 201A diesel engine, installed in a new three car stainless steel streamliner within a year. In 1933 a Century of Progress exhibit inspired the ''Zephyr'' streamliner; the following year the new ''Zephyr'' streamliner inspired the Century of Progress fair and the rest of the country. The exterior design of the train was left to aeronautical engineer
Albert Gardner Dean Albert may refer to: Companies * Albert (supermarket), a supermarket chain in the Czech Republic * Albert Heijn, a supermarket chain in the Netherlands * Albert Market, a street market in The Gambia * Albert Productions, a record label * Albert ...
(Walter Dean's younger brother) who designed the sloping nose shape, with
architects An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...
Paul Philippe Cret Paul Philippe Cret (October 23, 1876 – September 8, 1945) was a French-born Philadelphia architect and industrial designer. For more than thirty years, he taught at a design studio in the Department of Architecture at the University of Pennsylv ...
and John Harbeson, devising a way to strengthen and beautify the sides with the train's horizontal fluting. On April 15, 1936, Colonel Ragsdale, Walter Dean and Albert Dean, filed patent applications for a "Rail Car Front End Construction". On September 23, 1941 the USPTO granted US patents 2,256,493 and 2,256,494 to the Budd Company. The streamlining extended to the undercarriage as well to reduce drag. Budd took the task of naming the train very seriously. He wanted a name that started with the letter ''Z'' because this train was intended to be the "last word" in passenger service; Budd and his coworkers looked up the last words in their dictionaries, but neither ''zymurgy'' nor ''zyzzle'' conveyed the meanings that Budd was looking for. The name of the new train came from '' The Canterbury Tales'', which Budd had been reading. The story begins with pilgrims setting out on a journey, inspired by the budding springtime and by
Zephyrus In ancient Greek religion and myth, the Anemoi (Greek: , 'Winds') were wind gods who were each ascribed a cardinal direction from which their respective winds came (see Classical compass winds), and were each associated with various seasons an ...
, the gentle and nurturing west wind. Budd thought that would be an excellent name for a sleek new traveling machine—''Zephyr''. The first ''Zephyr'' (9900) was completed by the Budd Company on April 9, 1934. The first car, which measured , contained the cab, engine compartment and a mail storage area. The train's engineer sat in a small compartment in the nose of the train, directly in front of the
prime mover Prime mover may refer to: Philosophy *Unmoved mover, a concept in Aristotle's writings Engineering * Prime mover (engine), motor, a machine that converts various other forms of energy (chemical, electrical, fluid pressure/flow, etc) into energy ...
. The main generator was mounted to the prime mover and sat between the engineer's and fireman's seats in the front of the power car. Behind the engine in the power car was a storage-mail compartment. The second car, measuring long, was a combination long express, checked baggage and
railway post office In Canada and the United States, a railway post office, commonly abbreviated as RPO, was a railroad car that was normally operated in passenger service as a means to sort mail en route, in order to speed delivery. The RPO was staffed by highly tr ...
section, followed by a short buffet and 20-passenger
coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Co ...
section. The third and final car in the train, measuring long as originally built, was configured as half coach (40-passenger seats) and half
observation car An observation car/carriage/coach (in US English, often abbreviated to simply observation or obs) is a type of railroad passenger car, generally operated in a passenger train as the rearmost carriage, with windows or a platform on the rear of ...
(12 passenger seats). As built, the train had 72 seats and could carry 50,000 pounds (22.7
tonne The tonne ( or ; symbol: t) is a unit of mass equal to 1000  kilograms. It is a non-SI unit accepted for use with SI. It is also referred to as a metric ton to distinguish it from the non-metric units of the short ton ( United State ...
s) of baggage and express freight. After a series of demonstration runs, the trainset was christened the ''Burlington Zephyr'' on April 18, 1934, at the Pennsylvania Railroad's Broad Street Station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. That name lasted until it became the ''Pioneer Zephyr'' as Burlington put other ''Zephyr'' trainsets into service as named trains. Following the ''Zephyr'' Budd built an identical trainset, the ''
Flying Yankee The ''Flying Yankee'' was a diesel-electric streamliner built in 1935 for the Maine Central Railroad and the Boston and Maine Railroad by Budd Company and with mechanical and electrical equipment from Electro-Motive Corporation. It was also the ...
'', for the Boston and Maine railroad, and went on to build a series of larger and more powerful ''Zephyr'' trainsets for Burlington. File:Pioneer Zephyr, driver's controls.jpg, Cab with controls in the power car File:Pioneer Zephyr, engine.jpg, The engine in the power car File:Pioneer Zephyr, RPO section.jpg, The RPO section in the power car File:Burlington Zephyr coach.jpg, Seats in open coach File:20211211 Pioneer Zephyr observation interior.jpg, Observation lounge in the rear car


Promotion: "Dawn-to-Dusk" dash

After its christening in Philadelphia, the train was taken on a three-week promotional tour of cities in the
Northeast The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each se ...
and Midwest. The train was open for viewing in several cities, with 24,000 people viewing it in Philadelphia, 50,000 in Rochester, New York, and more than 109,000 viewing it in New York City. In early May 1934, the train was driven back westward over the Pennsylvania Railroad's mainline to Chicago, and some parallel routes, exceeding several times. At its stop in Dayton, Ohio, another 20,000 people viewed the train, and a "never-ending procession of visitors" viewed it on its stop in Indianapolis. It was then driven toward Denver for its last display in preparation for its next big promotion. It made additional promotional stops in other cities along the route, including Lincoln, Nebraska, where 21,000 people viewed the train. The tour stopped in 46 cities and had almost 485,000 people view the train at its many stops. The train made a "Dawn-to-Dusk" dash from Denver to Chicago on May 26, 1934, in a publicity stunt timed to coincide with the opening day of the
Century of Progress A Century of Progress International Exposition, also known as the Chicago World's Fair, was a world's fair held in the city of Chicago, Illinois, United States, from 1933 to 1934. The fair, registered under the Bureau International des Expositi ...
fair in Chicago. The railroad spared no expense in planning the operations. All other trains along the ''Zephyr'''s route were diverted to sidings and the turnouts were spiked into the proper alignment for the ''Zephyr'''s run. Track and
maintenance of way Maintenance of way (commonly abbreviated to MOW) refers to the maintenance, construction, and improvement of rail infrastructure, including tracks, ballast, grade, and lineside infrastructure such as signals and signs. Track The most fundamen ...
workers checked every spike and bolt along the train's route to ensure that there would not be any problems, and temporary speed signs were installed along the route to warn the ''Zephyr'''s crew of curves that would be dangerous at high speeds. On the day of the dash, every road grade crossing was staffed by a flagger to stop automobile traffic ahead of the train and to ensure that the crossing was clear. Stations along the route were protected by local police officers and members of the American Legion and the
Boy Scouts of America The Boy Scouts of America (BSA, colloquially the Boy Scouts) is one of the largest scouting organizations and one of the largest youth organizations in the United States, with about 1.2 million youth participants. The BSA was founded ...
. The train left Denver at 07:04 Central Daylight Time and at 20:09, 13 hours 5 minutes later, broke through the tape at the designated finish line at
Halsted Street station Halsted Street, also known as Halsted Street/ U.I.C., is a station on Metra's BNSF Line, located in Chicago, Illinois. The station is away from Union Station A union station (also known as a union terminal, a joint station in Europe, and a ...
, 1.8 miles west of
Chicago Union Station Chicago Union Station is an intercity and commuter rail terminal located in the Near West Side neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois. The station is Amtrak's flagship station in the Midwest. While serving long-distance passenger trains, it is also ...
. The train's average speed from start to finish was 77 mph (124 km/h); and had reached a speed of 112.5 mph (181 km/h). The non-stop 1,015 mile (1,633 km) trip exceeded the railroad's expectations in being 1 hour 55 minutes faster than was scheduled. The Burlington's contemporary passenger trains plied the same distance in around 25 hours. Riding the train were Ralph Budd, Edward G. Budd, Harold L. Hamilton, president of the Electro-Motive Corporation, a number of reporters, some Burlington employees, members of the public, and Zeph, a
burro The domestic donkey is a hoofed mammal in the family Equidae, the same family as the horse. It derives from the African wild ass, ''Equus africanus'', and may be classified either as a subspecies thereof, ''Equus africanus asinus'', or as a ...
that was contributed by a Colorado newspaper, the ''Rocky Mountain News'', as a mascot for the train. The newspaper had described Zeph to the railroad as a "Rocky Mountain canary" so the train's crew had originally planned only enough space for a birdcage; when they found out it was not a bird, the railroad hastily built a pen in the baggage section and bought some hay for it. When asked about the burro, Ralph Budd replied "why not? One more jackass on this trip won't make a difference." The train continued east from Halsted Station to the 1934
Century of Progress A Century of Progress International Exposition, also known as the Chicago World's Fair, was a world's fair held in the city of Chicago, Illinois, United States, from 1933 to 1934. The fair, registered under the Bureau International des Expositi ...
fair on the Lake Michigan shore, where it arrived for the "Wings of a Century" pageant on opening day. After its showing on the ''Wings of a Century'' stage, and one day on public display at the Fair, the train was taken on a 31-state, 222-city publicity tour. More than two million people saw the train before it entered revenue service. Part of this tour included a test run between Chicago and Minneapolis - Saint Paul, completing the test trip in just over six hours, a full five hours faster than the Burlington's fastest steam-powered train. Due to the ''Zephyrs success on this test run, the Burlington immediately ordered two more ''Zephyr'' trainsets that were dubbed the "''Twin Zephyrs''", starting the spread of the ''Zephyr'' brand.


Early ''Zephyr'' trains

Following the ''Pioneer Zephyr'' 9900, two identical trainsets, 9901 and 9902, were built and put into service as the ''
Twin Cities Zephyr The ''Twin Zephyrs'', also known as the ''Twin Cities Zephyrs'', were a pair of streamlined passenger trains on the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad (CB&Q), running between Chicago and the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul in Minne ...
'' between Chicago and Minneapolis - Saint Paul in April 1935. The four car set 9903 entered service as the ''
Mark Twain Zephyr The ''Mark Twain Zephyr'' was an early diesel four-unit articulated zephyr train that was similar to the ''Pioneer Zephyr'' in style. The train was built by the Budd Company and was powered by a diesel engine produced by the Winton Engine Comp ...
'' between St Louis and Burlington, Iowa in October 1935. On May 31, 1936, the trainsets of the ''Pioneer Zephyr'' and the ''Mark Twain Zephyr'', 9900 and 9903, were transferred to a new Chicago-Denver service called the '' Advance Denver Zephyr'' on a 16 hour schedule. Within a month they were replaced by two new six-car trains pulled by power units 9904 and 9905, named the ''
Denver Zephyr The ''Denver Zephyr'' was a streamlined passenger train operated by the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad between Chicago, Illinois, and Denver, Colorado. In peak years it ran to Colorado Springs. It operated from 1936 to 1973. The ''Denve ...
''. The six car sets 9904 and 9905 were replaced by the ten car sets 9906 and 9907 in October 1936, and replaced 9901 and 9902 on the Twin Cities run in December 1936. At that time, the 9901 was reassigned to a new service, the ''
Sam Houston Zephyr The ''Sam Houston Zephyr'' was a named passenger train operated by the Burlington-Rock Island Railroad, a subsidiary of both the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad and the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad. It was the first streamli ...
'', running between Fort Worth and
Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 i ...
via
Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...
on trackage jointly owned by the
Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad The Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad (CRI&P RW, sometimes called ''Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railway'') was an American Class I railroad. It was also known as the Rock Island Line, or, in its final years, The Rock. At the end ...
. This was the first streamlined train in Texas, and was joined about a year later by the ''
Texas Rocket The Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad ''Rockets'' were lightweight, streamlined diesel-electric passenger trains built by the Budd Company. These six trains were the first streamlined equipment purchased by the Rock Island, as well as be ...
'' on alternate timing. The 9902 set inaugurated the '' Ozark State Zephyr'', a joint operation with the
Alton Railroad The Alton Railroad was the final name of a railroad linking Chicago to Alton, Illinois; St. Louis, Missouri; and Kansas City, Missouri. Its predecessor, the Chicago and Alton Railroad , was purchased by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad in 1931 a ...
between
St Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...
and Kansas City, where it was joined by the 9903 on alternate timing about a year later. The last of the classic ''Zephyrs,'' 9908, entered service as the ''
General Pershing Zephyr The ''General Pershing Zephyr'' was the ninth of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad's ''Zephyr'' streamliners, and the last built as an integrated streamliner rather than a train hauled by an EMD E-unit diesel locomotive. It was constr ...
'' between Kansas City and St Louis in 1939, replacing the less commodious 9902 set. The 9903 set continued to provide alternate timing on this route across the Show Me State, but had its original name of ''
Mark Twain Zephyr The ''Mark Twain Zephyr'' was an early diesel four-unit articulated zephyr train that was similar to the ''Pioneer Zephyr'' in style. The train was built by the Budd Company and was powered by a diesel engine produced by the Winton Engine Comp ...
'' restored, despite no longer operating through
Samuel Clemens Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 â€“ April 21, 1910), known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, entrepreneur, publisher, and lecturer. He was praised as the "greatest humorist the United States has p ...
' hometown of Hannibal. While 9900-9903 were
power car In rail transport, the expression power car may refer to either of two distinct types of rail vehicle: *a vehicle that propels, and commonly also controls, a passenger train, multiple unit or tram, often as the lead vehicle; *a vehicle equipped ...
s with RPO and baggage compartments, only one more, the unique 9908, was built. 9904-9907 were locomotives with the twin 900 hp 12-cylinder engine layout that GM-EMC's early E-units would use. 9906 and 9907, built for the ten car ''Denver Zephyr'' sets in 1936, included booster units. 9908 used the new 1000 hp GM 567 engine in a single engine configuration. After 9908, all of Burlington's new passenger locomotives were standard production models, with the cosmetic stainless steel bodywork of the E5s their only custom feature. The Winton two-stroke diesel engines used in the ''Zephyr'' power units and early EMC designs, while a breakthrough in locomotive power, were an immature technology. Some of their early reliability problems were mitigated with changes to individual parts such as pistons; other solutions had to wait for a differently designed engine. For example, the first generation of pistons in the Winton engine only had about 50,000 miles of useful life, later extended to about 100,000 miles. GM's next generation diesel engine had pistons with a useful life of over 500,000 miles. The problems were most acute under the operating conditions of locomotive, rather than stationary or marine, use. Even with the problems of the Winton 201A, their maintenance regime was significantly lower than for steam locomotives. 9900 and 9901-9903 were articulated trainsets, with common trucks (Jacobs bogies) between each car. This caused operating problems, as train lengths could not be changed for demand and any single failure affected the entire train. All following power units were separate from their train, although four more articulated and semi-articulated carsets were built.


Regular revenue service

The ''Zephyrs power (leading) car was numbered 9900, the baggage-coach
combine car A combine car in North American parlance, most often referred to simply as a combine, is a type of railroad car which combines sections for both passengers and freight. Most often, it was used on short lines to carry passengers and their lugga ...
505, and the coach-observation 570. The train was placed in regular service between Kansas City,
Missouri Missouri is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee): Iowa to the north, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee to the east, Arkansas t ...
, Omaha and
Lincoln, Nebraska Lincoln is the capital city of the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Lancaster County. The city covers with a population of 292,657 in 2021. It is the second-most populous city in Nebraska and the 73rd-largest in the United Sta ...
, on November 11, 1934, with the train numbered 21 northbound and 20 southbound. The trainset replaced a pair of steam locomotives and six heavyweight
passenger cars A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people instead of goods. The year 1886 is regarded as ...
, weighing up to eight times as much as the ''Zephyr''. By June 1935, it proved popular enough to add a fourth car, providing additional coach seating. The fourth car was originally a 40-seat coach number 525, but the following June it was switched to
Twin Cities Twin cities are a special case of two neighboring cities or urban centres that grow into a single conurbation – or narrowly separated urban areas – over time. There are no formal criteria, but twin cities are generally comparable in sta ...
service, then back to the ''Pioneer Zephyr'' in December. Car 525 remained on the train until June 1938. Just over five years after it was introduced, the ''Pioneer Zephyr'' crossed the one million mile mark in regular service on December 29, 1939, near
Council Bluffs Council Bluffs is a city in and the county seat of Pottawattamie County, Iowa, United States. The city is the most populous in Southwest Iowa, and is the third largest and a primary city of the Omaha-Council Bluffs Metropolitan Area. It is loc ...
,
Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to th ...
. On the second anniversary of the train's famous dash, the original ''Burlington Zephyr'' was rechristened the ''Pioneer Zephyr'' to distinguish it as the first of the Burlington's growing ''Zephyr'' fleet. In 1938, car 525 was replaced by car number 500, a 40-seat buffet/lounge car, to provide light meals. Car number 505, the baggage-coach combine, was rebuilt at this time into a full baggage car, but it kept its original windows. In 1939 the Pioneer Zephyr was involved in a head-on collision with a freight train that completely destroyed the cab. The train was rebuilt and re-entered revenue service soon afterward, but the accident drove home the advantages for crew safety of the elevated, behind-the-nose cab design of the contemporary EMC E-series locomotives. Ralph Budd and the Burlington capitalized on the ''Zephyr's'' success. Many of the Burlington's named passenger trains began operating under the ''Zephyr'' brand. After the nine original ''Zephyr'' sets were completed during 1934–1938, standard production model diesel passenger locomotives with improved engines became available. Trains consisting of the new locomotives with new streamlined cars of standard size were ordered. Burlington ordered its new EMC E5 passenger diesels with matching stainless-steel fluting and operated their new full-size, long-distance trains under the ''Zephyr'' brand, with perhaps the best known being the ''
California Zephyr The ''California Zephyr'' is a passenger train operated by Amtrak between Chicago and the San Francisco Bay Area (at Emeryville), via Omaha, Denver, Salt Lake City, and Reno. At , it is Amtrak's longest daily route, and second-longest overall ...
.' In 1948 and 1949, the ''Pioneer Zephyr'' was temporarily removed from service to participate in the
Chicago Railroad Fair The Chicago Railroad Fair was an event organized to celebrate and commemorate 100 years of railroad history west of Chicago, Illinois. It was held in Chicago in 1948 and 1949 along the shore of Lake Michigan and is often referred to as "the last ...
's "Wheels A-Rolling" pageant. The fair's purpose was to celebrate 100 years of railroad history west of Chicago, and the ''Pioneer Zephyr'''s role in the pageant was to highlight the latest strides in railroad technology. It resumed regular passenger operations when the fair ended on October 2, 1949. The fourth car that was added in 1935 was removed in May 1950. By 1955 the ''Pioneer Zephyr'''s route had been updated to run between
Galesburg, Illinois Galesburg is a city in Knox County, Illinois, United States. The city is northwest of Peoria. At the 2010 census, its population was 32,195. It is the county seat of Knox County and the principal city of the Galesburg Micropolitan Statistical ...
, and Saint Joseph, Missouri; the trainset had been in continual service since 1934, operating over nearly 3 million miles (4.8 million kilometres). The ''Pioneer Zephyr'''s last revenue run was a trip from
Lincoln Lincoln most commonly refers to: * Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the sixteenth president of the United States * Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England * Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S. * Lincol ...
,
Nebraska Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the sout ...
, to Kansas City,
Missouri Missouri is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee): Iowa to the north, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee to the east, Arkansas t ...
, (along the train's regular revenue route) that then continued to
Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...
on March 20, 1960. When
Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous U.S. States and nine cities in Canada ...
took over passenger rail services in 1971, the legendary ''Zephyr'' name was preserved, and the ''California Zephyr'' is an Amtrak route in the 21st century.


Zephyr as cultural phenomenon


"Silver Streak" film

Press publicity had apparently first coined the term "Silver Streak". The ''Pioneer Zephyrs famous Denver-Chicago dash served as the inspiration for the 1934 film ''
The Silver Streak ''The Silver Streak'' is a 1934 American black-and-white film drama from RKO, loosely based on the record-setting "dawn-to-dusk" run of the '' Pioneer Zephyr'' on May 26, 1934. The film stars Sally Blane, Charles Starrett, William Farnum, and ...
'' starring
Charles Starrett Charles Robert Starrett (March 28, 1903 – March 22, 1986) was an American actor, best known for his starring role in the ''Durango Kid'' westerns. Starrett still holds the record for starring in the longest series of theatrical features: ...
. In that story, the crew was racing to the
Boulder Dam #REDIRECT Hoover Dam Hoover Dam is a concrete arch-gravity dam in the Black Canyon of the Colorado River, on the border between the U.S. states of Nevada and Arizona. It was constructed between 1931 and 1936 during the Great Depression a ...
construction site with an
iron lung An iron lung is a type of negative pressure ventilator (NPV), a mechanical respirator which encloses most of a person's body, and varies the air pressure in the enclosed space, to stimulate breathing.Shneerson, Dr. John M., Newmarket Genera ...
, with only moments to spare. The original ''Zephyr'' trainset was used for the exterior shots in the film, while interior scenes were filmed on a soundstage in Hollywood. For the film, the "Burlington Route" nameplate on the train's nose was replaced with one that read "Silver Streak".


Zephyr tributes in advertising, commercial products, and sports

With Zephyr-mania sweeping the country, tributes turned up in the names of everything from sports teams to commercial products. In 1934, Father Becker, principal of the
St. Mary Catholic High School St. Mary Catholic High School Brockville is a Catholic school, Catholic high school in Brockville, Ontario. The school's current Head teacher, principal is Stephane Wilcox, with Christa Monds as the vice-principal. The school has a gymnasium, li ...
in Menasha, Wisconsin, was so inspired by the dawn-to-dusk run that he chose "Zephyrs" as the mascot for the school. In Galesburg, Illinois, which is 162 rail miles from Chicago, the local high school named all its athletic teams the " Galesburg Silver Streaks" in honor of the train. In 1935, the H. N. White Company changed the name of its top-line
saxophones The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to pr ...
to "King Zephyr."
Ford Ford commonly refers to: * Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford * Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river Ford may also refer to: Ford Motor Company * Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company * Ford F ...
introduced the
Lincoln-Zephyr The Lincoln-Zephyr is a line of luxury cars that was produced by the Lincoln division of Ford from 1936 until 1942. Bridging the gap between the Ford V8 DeLuxe and the Lincoln Model K (in both size and price), it expanded Lincoln to a seco ...
with the 1936 model year.
Northwest Airlines Northwest Airlines Corp. (NWA) was a major American airline founded in 1926 and absorbed into Delta Air Lines, Inc. by a merger. The merger, approved on October 29, 2008, made Delta the largest airline in the world until the American Airlines ...
' promotional materials from the late 1930s referred to their fleet of airliners as "Sky Zephyrs." If advertisers could find a way to cash in on Zephyr-mania, they did.


Legacy


Later years

On May 26, 1960, the 26th anniversary of the "Dawn-to-Dusk" dash, the original ''Pioneer Zephyr'' train (car numbers 9900, 505 and 570) was donated to Chicago's Museum of Science & Industry (MSI). Car number 500, which operated with the train from 1938, went along with ''
Mark Twain Zephyr The ''Mark Twain Zephyr'' was an early diesel four-unit articulated zephyr train that was similar to the ''Pioneer Zephyr'' in style. The train was built by the Budd Company and was powered by a diesel engine produced by the Winton Engine Comp ...
'' trainset 9903 to a party in
Mount Pleasant, Iowa Mount Pleasant is a city in and the county seat of Henry County, Iowa. The population was 9,274 in the 2020 census, an increase from 8,668 in the 2010 census. It was founded in 1835 by pioneer Presley Saunders. History The first permanent s ...
, for static display in a town park, but plans for the train's display did not work out; in 2002 car 500 and the ''Mark Twain Zephyr'' were stored in
Granite City, Illinois Granite City is a city in Madison County, Illinois, United States, within the Greater St. Louis metropolitan area. The population was 27,549 at the 2020 census, making it the third-largest city in the Metro East and Southern Illinois regions, ...
, with plans to display it in
Fairfield, Iowa Fairfield is a city in, and the county seat of, Jefferson County, Iowa. It has a population of 9,416 people, according to the 2020 census. The median family income is $46,138, with 10% of families below the poverty line. The city is typical ...
. As of 2020, there are plans to restore the trainset to operational condition. MSI displayed the ''Pioneer Zephyr'' outdoors, with no protection from the weather, until 1994. At that time, the steam locomotive that shared the display space with the ''Zephyr'', Santa Fe #2903, was donated to the
Illinois Railway Museum The Illinois Railway Museum (IRM, reporting mark IRMX) is the largest railroad museum in the United States. It is located in the Chicago metropolitan area at 7000 Olson Road in Union, Illinois, northwest of downtown Chicago. Overview Hist ...
(IRM) at
Union Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** ''Un ...
, west of Chicago, while MSI prepared a new display location for the ''Zephyr''. MSI dug a pit in front of the building and built a new display area for the ''Zephyr'', where it could be displayed year-round. In 1998, after the train received a cosmetic restoration by Northern Rail Car in
Milwaukee Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee ...
,
Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...
, the pit was finally ready to receive the train. The ''Pioneer Zephyr'' train is now on display at MSI just outside the main entrance from the museum's underground parking area, where it is one of the more popular exhibits. In November 2019, MSI temporarily closed the exhibit to add new interactive elements and an expanded experience. The exhibit re-opened to the public in March 2021. In addition to the ''Pioneer Zephyr'', two other legacies remain. An operable '' Nebraska Zephyr'' train was donated to IRM. There, powered by one of the large "E" series passenger diesels (an EMC E5) with the distinctive and durable stainless-steel fluting, it is still operated on short runs on the museum's substantial trackage, providing train enthusiasts and tourists with an experience reminiscent of the heyday of the Burlington's ''Zephyr'' service. The ''Silver Charger'', power car of the ''
General Pershing Zephyr The ''General Pershing Zephyr'' was the ninth of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad's ''Zephyr'' streamliners, and the last built as an integrated streamliner rather than a train hauled by an EMD E-unit diesel locomotive. It was constr ...
'', is on display at the
National Museum of Transportation The National Museum of Transportation (NMOT) is a private, 42-acre transportation museum in the Kirkwood suburb of St. Louis, Missouri. Founded in 1944, it restores, preserves, and displays a wide variety of vehicles spanning 15 decades of Amer ...
in
St Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...
, and the same train's "diner-parlour and observation car" is now the
Silver Star Cafe The Silver Star Cafe is a restaurant located in the west end of Port Hedland, Western Australia. Its kitchen and lounge area are housed within a historic preserved railway carriage, and it has an alfresco deck alongside. A project of BHP B ...
in
Port Hedland A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Ha ...
, Australia. Also utilizing the name, the '' Minnesota Zephyr'' was a
dinner train A dinner train is a relatively new type of tourist train service whose main purpose is to allow people to eat dinner while experiencing a relatively short, leisurely round trip train ride. This contrasts with conventional passenger trains, whose ma ...
located in the historic city of
Stillwater, Minnesota Stillwater is a city in the U.S. state of Minnesota and the county seat of Washington County. It is in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area, on the west bank of the St. Croix River (Wisconsin-Minnesota), St. Croix River, across from H ...
, although it was not directly associated with the historic Burlington ''Zephyr'' fleet.
Dorney Park & Wildwater Kingdom Dorney Park & Wildwater Kingdom is an American amusement and water park located between Allentown and Emmaus, Pennsylvania in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania. The park features 64 rides, including six roller coasters, other ad ...
in Allentown, Pennsylvania, has a miniature replica train ride called ''Zephyr'' which was built in 1935 and helped the park survive the Great Depression.


Models

Due to the ''Zephyr'''s place in American railroad history, many model railroaders have built their own versions of the ''Pioneer Zephyr'' in miniature. Several model manufacturers are now producing commercial ready-to-run models or kits of the train for modelers to build. This list is ordered by the manufacturer's release date: *
American Flyer American Flyer is a brand of toy train and model railroad manufactured in the United States. The Chicago era, 1907–1938 Although best remembered for the S gauge trains of the 1950s that it made as a division of the A. C. Gilbert Comp ...
introduced one of the earliest versions of the ''Zephyr'' in 1934. Originally sold as a three-car set, the body shells were produced in sand-cast aluminum and hand-polished to represent the stainless steel-skinned prototype. Additional cars became available and the locomotive or "power unit" underwent some refinements during production; and a less expensive stamped lithographed steel version was also produced. The ''Zephyr'' set appeared in the 1934-1938 American Flyer catalogs. With the purchase of the American Flyer line in 1937 by the AC Gilbert Company, a new line of
O scale O scale (or O gauge) is a scale commonly used for toy trains and rail transport modelling. Introduced by German toy manufacturer Märklin around 1900, by the 1930s three-rail alternating current O gauge was the most common model railroad sca ...
(1:48) trains moved into production phasing out the ''Zephyrs'' and previous O-scale products collectively known as "Chicago Flyer". *Challenger Imports imported limited production ready-to-run brass models in
HO scale HO or H0 is a rail transport modelling scale using a 1:87 scale (3.5 mm to 1 foot). It is the most popular scale of model railway in the world. The rails are spaced apart for modelling standard gauge tracks and trains in HO. NMRA"Mo ...
(1:87) of the four-car ''Pioneer Zephyr'', ''Mark Twain Zephyr'' and the Boston and Maine Railroad's ''Maine Cheshire'' and ''Maine Minuteman'' in 1993. *Fine N-Scale Products released a kit in 1996 in
N scale N scale is a popular model railway scale. Depending upon the manufacturer (or country), the scale ranges from 1:148 to 1:160. In all cases, the ''gauge'' (the distance between the rails) is . The term N ''gauge'' refers to the track dimensions, ...
(1:160) that includes an option for car number 500. *Con-Cor made limited-run models available in both HO scale and N scale that were released in 2005, and then again in 2012. *River Raisin Models released a ready-to-run model in
S scale S scale (or S gauge) is a model railroad scale modeled at 1:64 scale, S scale track gauge (space between the rails) is 22,48 (22,5) mm, 0.885 in. S gauge trains are manufactured in both DC and AC powered varieties. S gauge is not to be confused w ...
(1:64) of both the ''Pioneer Zephyr'' (in three- and four-car configurations) and the similar ''
Flying Yankee The ''Flying Yankee'' was a diesel-electric streamliner built in 1935 for the Maine Central Railroad and the Boston and Maine Railroad by Budd Company and with mechanical and electrical equipment from Electro-Motive Corporation. It was also the ...
'', in 2005. *
MTH Electric Trains MTH Electric Trains is an American toy train and model railroad designer, importer, and manufacturer. A privately held company based in Columbia, Maryland, MTH was formerly known as Mike's Train House. Early career MTH's founder, Mike Wolf, start ...
released a limited production ready-to-run model of the three-car ''Pioneer Zephyr'' in O scale in 2005.


See also

*"
Fliegender Hamburger The DRG Class SVT 877 Hamburg Flyer – sometimes also Flying Hamburger or in German ''Fliegender Hamburger'' – was Germany's first fast diesel train, and is credited with establishing the fastest regular railway connection in the world in its ti ...
" ("Flying Hamburger")—a German diesel trainset that entered service in 1933, regularly achieving speeds of up to 100 mph (160 km/h). *
ETR 200 The ETR 200 (for ''" Elettro Treno Rapido 200"'', in Italian meaning "Rapid Electric Train ''series'' 200") is an Italian electric multiple unit (EMU) introduced in 1936. On 20 July 1939 the ETR 200 number 12 obtained the world record average spee ...
—Italian high-speed electric train. * High-speed rail


Notes


References

* * * * * * * *


Further reading

* ** Chronicle of the rise of diesel power on the Burlington with specific emphasis on the Pioneer Zephyr, its record-setting run, and its descendants. * *


External links


All Aboard the Silver Streak: Pioneer Zephyr
image and exhibit of the Pioneer Zephyr at the Chicago Museum of Science & Industry
Zephyr Patents
€” PDF reproductions of the patents developed for construction of the ''Pioneer Zephyr''.

€”Home of many more Burlington artifacts, including the '' Nebraska Zephyr'' trainset.
"New Streamline Train Has Hit 125-Mile Speed"
'' Popular Science'', July 1934 {{featured article Railway services introduced in 1934 Budd multiple units Diesel multiple units of the United States Passenger trains of the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad North American streamliner trains Articulated passenger trains Railway services discontinued in 1960 Chicago, Burlington and Quincy locomotives