Pioneer Zephyr

The Pioneer Zephyr is a diesel-powered trainset built by the Budd Company in 1934 for the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad (CB&Q), commonly known as the Burlington Route. The trainset was the second internal-combustion–powered streamliner built for mainline service in the United States (after the Union Pacific Railroad's M-10000), the first such train powered by a diesel engine, 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 bogies. The construction incorporated recent advances such as shotwelding (a specialized type of spot welding) to join the stainless steel, and unibody 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 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 for travel between Denver and Chicago 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 film ("The Silver Streak") and the train's nickname, "The Silver Streak".

The train entered regular revenue service on November 11, between Kansas City, Missouri; Omaha, Nebraska; and Lincoln, Nebraska. 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

left|thumb|The front of the Zephyr power car during the 50th anniversary celebration of its historic non-stop run

left|thumb|A Zephyr coach on a flatcar at the Budd Company plant in Philadelphia

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, president of the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad (the Burlington Route). In 1932, Budd met Edward G. Budd (no relation), an automotive steel pioneer who was founder and president of the Budd Company and 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 railcars. Some power-trailer car sets in that series articulated with Jacobs bogies 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 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. 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 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.

The articulated design of some Budd-Michelin cars, with trucks 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 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. However, this also meant that individual cars could not be removed from or added to the trainset easily, either to adjust to demand or to make repairs to an individual car without sidelining the entire train.

Budd was familiar with the development of stationary diesel engines, and believed their superior reliability and fuel economy could be an asset for train transport as well. He brought his idea to the Winton Engine Company (a General Motors subsidiary), and together they designed and produced a new 660 horsepower (490 kW) engine small enough to fit inside a train, solving the question of propulsion.

The exterior design of the train was left to aeronautical engineer Albert Gardner Dean (Walter Dean's younger brother) who designed the sloping nose shape, with architects Paul Philippe Cret 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 found his inspiration in The Canterbury Tales, which he had been reading. The story begins with pilgrims setting out on a journey, inspired by the budding springtime and by Zephyrus, the gentle and nurturing west wind. Budd thought that would be an excellent name for a sleek new traveling machine—Zephyr. After a series of demonstration runs, the trainset was named the Burlington Zephyr on April 18, 1934, at the Pennsylvania Railroad's Broad Street Station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. As the first of several Zephyr trainsets built for Burlington, the original trainset was renamed the Pioneer Zephyr once additional named trainsets entered service.

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 the open coach

File:20211211 Pioneer Zephyr observation interior.jpg|Observation lounge in the rear car

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Promotion: "Dawn-to-Dusk" dash

thumb|right|This "[[Drumhead (sign)|drumhead" logo originally adorned the end of the observation car on the Pioneer Zephyr.]]

After its naming in Philadelphia, the train was taken on a three-week promotional tour of cities in the Northeast 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.

right|thumb|A cigarette ad showing the train and describing the record-breaking run

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 second year of the Century of Progress world's fair in Chicago. The railroad spared no expense in planning the operations. All other trains along the Zephyr<nowiki>'</nowiki>s route were diverted to sidings and the turnouts were spiked into the proper alignment for the Zephyr<nowiki>'</nowiki>s run. Track and maintenance of way 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<nowiki>'</nowiki>s crew of curves that would be dangerous at high speeds.

The train continued east from Halsted Station to the 1934 Century of Progress fair on the Lake Michigan shore, where it arrived for the "Wings of a Century" pageant on opening day. besting the Burlington Route's fastest steam-powered service by five hours and convincing the railroad to promptly place orders with Budd and GM for two more Zephyr trainsets.

Revenue service and additional Zephyr trains

Even before the Burlington Route's new trainsets could be built, east coast railroads Boston and Maine Railroad and Maine Central Railroad ordered a nearly identical copy of the Pioneer Zephyr from Budd and GM, which began service between Boston and Bangor, Maine, in February 1935 as the Flying Yankee. Budd and GM delivered the first additional Zephyrs, identical trainsets 9901 and 9902, in time for an April 1935 debut as the Twin Zephyrs, operating between Chicago and Minneapolis - Saint Paul. In all, the Burlington Route ordered eight additional Zephyrs, gradually departing from the semi-permanently coupled design of the Pioneer Zephyr towards regularly coupled cars that could easily be interchanged.

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.thumb|Commemorative postal [[Cover (philately)|covers that were carried aboard the Pioneer Zephyr for its first revenue run, and as it crossed the one million mile mark]]

thumb|A [[Budd Company ad with a photo of the fourth car for the Pioneer Zephyr sitting atop a flatcar]]

The Zephyrs power (leading) car was numbered 9900, the baggage-coach combine car 505, and the coach-observation 570. The train was placed in regular service between Kansas City, Missouri, Omaha and Lincoln, Nebraska, 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, 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 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, Iowa.

On the second anniversary of the train's famous dash, the original Burlington Zephyr was renamed 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.

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 1934–1939, 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'.

In 1948 and 1949, the Pioneer Zephyr was temporarily removed from service to participate in the Chicago Railroad Fair's "Wheels A-Rolling" pageant. The fair's purpose was to celebrate 100 years of railroad history west of Chicago, and the Pioneer Zephyr<nowiki>'</nowiki>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<nowiki>'</nowiki>s route had been updated to run between Galesburg, Illinois, 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<nowiki>'</nowiki>s last revenue run was a trip from Lincoln, Nebraska, to Kansas City, Missouri, (along the train's regular revenue route) that then continued to Chicago on March 20, 1960. If advertisers could find a way to cash in on Zephyr-mania, they did.

Legacy

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Influence on trains

The sepsation caused by the new Zephyr trainsets sparked intense competition centered on speed and styling in the region served by the CB&Q. In May 1935 the Milwaukee Road introduced the Class A steam-powered high speed streamliner locomotive on its Chicago-Twin Cities Hiawatha run, in direct competition with the CB&Q Twin Cities Zephyr. The styling of the Class A was directly evocative of the Zephyr, with a "shovel-nose" front end featuring a high-mounted headlamp ensconced in grillework. Another early adopter of streamline styling was the New York Central railway with its Commodore Vanderbilt steam locomotive, showing styling elements borrowed from the Zephyr, unveiled in December 1934. A Zephyr-type trainset, the Flying Yankee, started service between Boston and Portland, Maine in April 1935, signaling new competition for steam-powered passenger service on the east coast. The Gulf, Mobile & Northern Railroad Rebel featured styling similar to that of the Zephyr, entering service on July 10, 1935 between New Orleans and Jackson, Tennessee. The race was on nationally to develop faster and more stylish locomotives for passenger service, boosting the streamliner trend.

Style and structural elements of the Zephyr were incorporated into the EMC "E" series diesel locomotives introduced in 1937, featuring "shovel-nose" front ends beneath their elevated cabs. The E5 units produced for CB&Q paid homage to the original Zephyr trainsets with a stainless steel body, fluted lower bodywork, horizontal black stripes across the front, and faux grillework flanking the upper headlamp. The lightweight construction introduced to mainline service by the Zephyr trainsets became the standard for new railcars used with the new EMC-powered diesel streamliners such as the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway Super Chief. -->

Influence on future trains

While a revolutionary design, the Pioneer Zephyr was not the first streamliner—that title went to the M-10000 of the Union Pacific Railroad, which made its first trip in February 1934. However, the Pioneer Zephyr had several key differences, including the use of a diesel powerplant and stainless steel construction, in contrast to the M-10000's gasoline powerplant and aluminum construction. These two design decisions had a profound influence on future streamliners and other passenger trains, which had more in common with the Zephyr than the M-10000. The streamlined Hiawathas launched by the Milwaukee Road in 1935 were a direct response to (and directly competed with) the Burlington Route's Zephyrs.

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). 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 (IRM) at Union, west of Chicago, while MSI prepared a new display location for the Zephyr.

thumb|An overview of the renovated Pioneer Zephyr exhibit at MSI in December 2021. The wreath on the front of the cab was a temporary addition for the Christmas season.

thumb|The [[observation car (rear) end of the Pioneer Zephyr at MSI in December 2021]]

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, Wisconsin, 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. The exhibit re-opened to the public in March 2021.

Other Zephyr trains

In addition to the Pioneer Zephyr, several 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, is on display at the National Museum of Transportation in St Louis, and the same train's "diner-parlour and observation car" is now the Silver Star Cafe in Port Hedland, Australia. The Flying Yankee trainset is preserved at the Hobo Railroad in New Hampshire.

Also using the name, the Minnesota Zephyr was a dinner train located in the historic city of Stillwater, Minnesota, although it was not directly associated with the historic Burlington Zephyr fleet.

Dorney Park & Wildwater Kingdom 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<nowiki>'</nowiki>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 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 (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 (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 (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 (1:64) of both the Pioneer Zephyr (in three- and four-car configurations) and the similar Flying Yankee, in 2005.
MTH Electric Trains released a limited production ready-to-run model of the three-car Pioneer Zephyr in O scale in 2005.

Notes

References

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.
[https://www.irm.org/]—Home of many more Burlington artifacts, including the Nebraska Zephyr trainset.
"New Streamline Train Has Hit 125-Mile Speed", Popular Science, July 1934