The Burlington Zephyr – Historic Move

In 1994, Big Red was contacted to relocate the historic 1934 Burlington Zephyr or the Pioneer Zephyr (9900). The once world record-breaking locomotive was transported from its outside display area at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago to Milwaukee, WI for restoration and storage. After a three-year refurbishment, the team at Big Red transported the 50-ton train engine and its two train cars to its final resting place within the new parking structure at the museum. Big Red used a 5th-wheel fixture attached to the front of the engine car and a tandem axle at the rear end, effectively turning the engine car into its own trailer. Big Red and other crews worked together to complete this complex installation. The crews used special picking beams to safely rig the train. Once the rigging was secured, communication between crews was critical. The team carefully swung the train over the opening where it was to be placed. Once lowered into the bottom level of the parking garage, the engine car and each of its train cars were set back onto their trucks on the rails below. The crews then unrigged the train, giving it another photo opportunity. This marvel of early twentieth-century engineering can now be viewed and enjoyed by visitors to the facility.

Extra Information

In 1934, the Edward G. Budd Manufacturing Company in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was working to revitalize declining passenger rail travel during the Great Depression. The company developed innovative lightweight stainless-steel fabrication techniques for a new streamlined train. The resulting Burlington Zephyr was one of the first stainless-steel streamliners and the first successful diesel-powered streamlined passenger train in North America.

Each train set was given its own name, number, and route.

(1934–1939)

• The Pioneer Zephyr (9900): Kansas City, MO – Omaha, NE – Lincoln, NE
• The Twin Cities Zephyr (9901–9902): Chicago, IL – St. Paul, MN – Minneapolis, MN
• Mark Twain Zephyr (9903): St. Louis, MO – Hannibal, MO – Burlington, IA
• Nebraska Zephyr (9904–9905): Chicago, IL – Omaha, NE – Lincoln, NE
• Denver Zephyr (9906–9907): Chicago, IL – Omaha, NE – Denver, CO
• General Pershing Zephyr (9908): Kansas City, MO – St. Louis, MO

The Burlington Zephyr (9900) was later renamed the Pioneer Zephyr in 1936. In May of 1934, the train completed its famous “Dawn-to-Dusk” run, traveling over 1,000 miles from Denver, Colorado, to Chicago, Illinois, in about 13 hours—roughly half the typical travel time of about 25 hours.

Following the success of the original Burlington Zephyr (9900), the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad (CB&Q) ordered eight additional similar stainless-steel articulated trainsets (9901–9908). These trainsets were built between 1934 and 1936, bringing the total number of Burlington Zephyr trainsets in the original series to nine.

The Burlington Zephyr (9900) was taken out of service on March 20, 1960. Its final trip traveled from Lincoln, Nebraska to Kansas City, Missouri and on to Chicago, Illinois. After 26 years of service following its famous record-breaking run, the train was donated to the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, where it remains preserved and on display.

Each trainset had its own unique history and eventual fate. In 1944, the Sam Houston Zephyr (9901), previously known as the Twin Cities Zephyr, was removed from service after an engine-car fire. Trainset 9902, also originally part of the Twin Cities Zephyr service, was retired in February 1954 and later scrapped in April 1956. The Mark Twain Zephyr (9903) was taken out of service in 1958 after more than two decades of operation. After decades of deterioration, the trainset was purchased in 2020 by the Wisconsin Great Northern Railroad and is currently undergoing restoration.

Trainset 9904, originally named the Nebraska Zephyr and later renamed the Burlington Zephyr, became known as the “Train of the Goddesses.” After being retired in February 1968, the trainset was preserved and moved to the Illinois Railway Museum in Union, Illinois, where it remains on display today. Trainset 9905, also originally part of the Nebraska Zephyr service and later nicknamed the “Train of the Gods,” was retired in 1968 and eventually sold to Saudi Arabia in the 1970s, where it was reportedly still in storage as of 1991.

Trainsets 9906 and 9907, originally named the Denver Zephyr, were later renamed the CB&Q Zephyr. These trains operated between Chicago and Denver before being reassigned in the late 1950s to the Texas Zephyr route between Denver and Dallas. Trainset 9907 was eventually retired and later scrapped.

The final trainset, General Pershing Zephyr (9908), also known as “The Silver Charger,” was retired in 1966. The locomotive portion was preserved and donated to the National Museum of Transportation in St. Louis, Missouri, where it remains on display today.

Sources

• American Experience (PBS). Streamliners: The Burlington Zephyr’s Dawn-to-Dusk Run. https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/streamliners-dawn-to-dusk/
• Wikipedia contributors. Pioneer Zephyr. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pioneer_Zephyr
• Illinois Railway Museum. Nebraska Zephyr Trainset Information. https://www.irm.org