The ''Sam Houston Zephyr'' was a named

passenger train A passenger train is a train used to transport people along a railroad line. These trains may consist of unpowered passenger railroad cars (also known as coaches or carriages) hauled by one or more locomotives, or may be self-propelled; self pr ...

operated by the

Burlington-Rock Island Railroad The Burlington-Rock Island Railroad came into existence on July 7, 1930, through the reorganization of its predecessor, the Trinity and Brazos Valley Railway Company (T&BV), nicknamed the "Boll Weevil Line."Chicago, Burlington and 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 ...

and 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 ...

. It was the first streamlined passenger train in

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

. Inaugurated on October 1, 1936, the year of the Texas centennial celebrations, the streamlined train was named for Texas hero

Sam Houston Samuel Houston (, ; March 2, 1793 – July 26, 1863) was an American general and statesman who played an important role in the Texas Revolution. He served as the first and third president of the Republic of Texas and was one of the first two i ...

. On its original schedule, the train ran from the Texas and Pacific station in

Fort Worth Fort Worth is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Texas and the 13th-largest city in the United States. It is the county seat of Tarrant County, covering nearly into four other counties: Denton, Johnson, Parker, and Wise. According ...

Union Station A union station (also known as a union terminal, a joint station in Europe, and a joint-use station in Japan) is a railway station at which the tracks and facilities are shared by two or more separate railway companies, allowing passengers to ...

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 in ...

in exactly five hours, making only four intermediate stops in

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 ...

Waxahachie Waxahachie ( ) is the seat of government of Ellis County, Texas, United States. Its population was 41,140 in 2020. Etymology Some sources state that the name means "cow" or "buffalo" in an unspecified Native American language. One possible ...

Corsicana Corsicana is a city in Navarro County, Texas, United States. It is located on Interstate 45, 56 miles northeast of Waco, Texas. The population was 23,770 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Navarro County, and an important Agri-business ...

, and Teague. The train was designated number 3 southbound, and number 4 northbound. Its chief competitor was the ''

Sunbeam A sunbeam, in meteorological optics, is a beam of sunlight that appears to radiate from the position of the Sun. Shining through openings in clouds or between other objects such as mountains and buildings, these beams of particle-scattered sunl ...

'', operated by the

Texas and New Orleans Railroad The Texas and New Orleans Railroad was a railroad in Texas and Louisiana. It operated of railroad in 1934; by 1961, remained when it merged with parent company Southern Pacific Railroad, Southern Pacific. Location The Morgan's Louisiana and ...

(a subsidiary of the

Southern Pacific The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials- SP) was an American Class I railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was operated by various companies under the ...

) on a parallel route between Dallas and Houston. One of the original trainsets from 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 ...

'', number 9901, was transferred to begin this new route. While under the management of the Rock Island, ''Zephyr'' 9901 power car was destroyed by fire on December 19, 1944. The Rock Island did not maintain the train properly; the cause of the fire was oil residue which poor maintenance failed to remove. Because equipment was needed to keep the busy line running, the Rock Island replaced its ''

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 ...

'' with the new ''

Twin Star Rocket The ''Twin Star Rocket'' was a passenger train operated by the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad. Introduced on January 14, 1945, it was the only new streamlined train permitted to enter service in World War II by the U.S. governmen ...

'' in July 1945. Like many other passenger trains that experienced declining revenues in the face of competition from automobiles and airplanes in the 1950s and 1960s, the ''Sam Houston Zephyr'' was discontinued in 1966. "A Brief History of Railroads in Dallas," Dallas Railroad Museum

References

External links

*
Streamliner Schedules
(timetable and consist of the 1950 ''Sam Houston Zephyr'')

(1956 photos and 1959 timetable of the ''Sam Houston Zephyr'') *
Burlington-Rock Island Railroad
" ''Handbook of Texas Online'' * Dallas Railroad Museum,

* Burlington Route Historical Society,

(includes map of the various Zephyr routes) {{Sam Houston Passenger trains of the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad Passenger trains of the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad Named passenger trains of the United States Passenger rail transportation in Texas Railway services introduced in 1936 Railway services discontinued in 1966 Sam Houston