The ''Ozark State Zephyr'' was a

streamlined Streamlines, streaklines and pathlines are field lines in a fluid flow. They differ only when the flow changes with time, that is, when the flow is not steady. Considering a velocity vector field in three-dimensional space in the framework of ...

passenger train operated by the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad (CB&Q) and 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 ...

(the "Alton") 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 in

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 ...

, home of the

Ozarks The Ozarks, also known as the Ozark Mountains, Ozark Highlands or Ozark Plateau, is a physiographic region in the U.S. states of Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma and the extreme southeastern corner of Kansas. The Ozarks cover a significant port ...

. It operated from 1936 to 1939. The ''Zephyr'' was one of several short-haul Midwestern routes operated by the CB&Q's then-revolutionary articulated streamlined trainsets, including one of the original ''

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 ...

s''.

History

The ''Ozark State Zephyr'', along with 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 ...

'', was made possible by the re-equipping of the ''Twin Cities Zephyrs'' in 1936, which freed up the original two equipment sets, #9901 and #9902. The train made a single round-trip per day, departing St. Louis for Kansas City in the morning and returning in the evening. It covered the in hours. The new service was christened by Mollie Stark, daughter of Governor-elect Lloyd C. Stark, who rode the new train from St. Louis to Kansas City prior to it entering revenue service. The CB&Q and Alton increased the service to twice-daily in September 1938 with the addition of equipment set #9903, 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 ...

'', which was renamed to match existing service. Contemporary advertising referred to the "Morning" and "Afternoon" ''Ozark State Zephyrs'', mirroring the practice already adopted by the CB&Q with the ''Twin Cities Zephyrs''. The new train operated on a reverse schedule, departing Kansas City in the morning and returning in the evening. The CB&Q and Alton retired the ''Ozark State Zephyr'' name on April 30, 1939, with the arrival of the brand-new '' General Pershing Zephyr'' trainset. This set assumed the morning Kansas City–St. Louis round-trip, while the ''Mark Twain Zephyr'', its original name restored, handled the morning trip from St. Louis.

Equipment

As originally built by the Budd Company and the

Electro-Motive Company Progress Rail Locomotives, doing business as Electro-Motive Diesel (EMD), is an American manufacturer of diesel-electric locomotives, locomotive products and diesel engines for the rail industry. The company is owned by Caterpillar through its su ...

for the ''Twin Cities Zephyr'' in 1936 #9902 consisted of a power car with baggage section, a buffet-coach with seating for 40, and coach-

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 ...

with seating for 24 in the coach section and 24 in the observation section. The ''Mark Twain Zephyr'' consisted of four cars: a power car with

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 ...

(RPO), a baggage car, a coach-dinette with seating for 20, and a coach-observation car with seating for 40 in the coach section and 16 in the observation section. Both sets were articulated, making it a difficult process to add and remove cars. The relative lack of seating in both consists, and the presence of the RPO in the ''Mark Twain Zephyr'', reflected the CB&Q's belief that mail and express revenue was a better source of income on short-haul Midwestern services than passenger traffic.

References

External links

* {{C&A named trains Named passenger trains of the United States Passenger trains of the Alton Railroad Passenger trains of the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad Railway services introduced in 1936 Railway services discontinued in 1939