General Pershing Zephyr
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The General Pershing Zephyr was the ninth of the
The train replaced the
Unlike previous Zephyrs, the General Pershing Zephyr was completely non-articulated; each car was self-contained and joined to the next by couplers, rather than shared trucks. The inflexibility of the articulated layout had been recognised; it was hard to lengthen, shorten, or replace parts of the train. The route did not require a high-capacity train nor a powerful locomotive, so the General Pershing Zephyr returned to the pattern of the first Pioneer Zephyr, being a power/baggage car and three trailers. Budd also fitted disc brakes, the first such practical installation to railroad passenger cars.[2]
The power car, 9908 Silver Charger, was unique. It utilised a single new
The train ran its assigned route until the United States entered World War II, during which time the trainset ran on many different routes. As 9908 Silver Charger could be detached from its trainset, it continued in service hauling other trains after the rest of the streamlined trainset was withdrawn. In this form it lasted in service until 1966, following which it was donated to the National Museum of Transportation in St Louis.
Traveling between Kansas City and St Louis required the General Pershing Zephyr to operate on tracks owned by the Alton Railroad, officially making them an operating partner. To symbolize this joint administration, the General Pershing Zephyr often sported an "Alton Burlington" nose herald instead of the standard "Burlington Route" seen on most Burlington locomotives.
The diner-lounge-observation car Silver Star was sold to Amax Iron Ore Corporation in 1974 for use on the
References
- ^ a b "New Zephyrs Into Use". St. Joseph News-Press. 8 June 1939. Retrieved 27 March 2012.
- ^ D.P. Morgan, "All About the RDC," Trains & Travel March 1953
- LCCN 66-22894.
- ^ Touch of class for Mt Newman Railway Transportation November 1974 pages 28, 30
- ^ Quekett, Malcolm (October 26, 2010). "Historic carriage on track for third life". The West Australian. Retrieved May 5, 2012.
- ^ The Silver Star Railway Digest October 2017 pages 42-45
Further reading
- Beebe, Lucius (1940). Highliners, A Railroad Album. New York: Bonanza Books.
- Joyce, John; Tilley, Allan (1979). Railways in the Pilbara. Wembley, Western Australia: J&A Publications. p. 88. ISBN 0-9599699-2-6.
- Lotz, David. General Pershing Zephyr. Downloaded on December 24, 2004.
- Pinkepank, Jerry A. (1973). The Second Diesel Spotter's Guide. ISBN 0-89024-026-4.
- Webster, Mags (2010). The Silver Star: how a railroad icon made the journey from the American Midwest to the West Australian Pilbara (PDF). Perth, Western Australia: FORM. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-02-08. Retrieved 2012-05-05.
External links
Media related to General Pershing Zephyr at Wikimedia Commons
Named trains of the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad | ||
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| Zephyrs |
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| Other named trains |
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| Operated with GN & NP |
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Rolling stock manufactured by the Budd Company | ||
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| Streamliners |  | |
| Multiple units | ||
| Passenger stock | ||
