Has anybody heard of a Burlington Zepher? It is supposed to be similar in style to the California Zepher in make up.
Would like to know who makes the set or if someone makes partials of the set. One other question, is the Burlington Route the same company? I have found a Burlington GP-9 for sale, was that used on the zepher?
Lee F.
Lee,
I just bought a set of Lionel Burlington Pass sets from the earlier 2001 time frame from the Lionel visitors store, they are very nice but are the shorter 60 foot cars, which I don’t think the Zeph ever had.
To answer your question, your best bet is to google the Zephyr and look at photos. Depending the location of where you are modeling the Zephyr had different locomotives assigned to it. The GP-9 however was not really used that much as a “name” passenger locomotive cept for branchline runs later on in the 60’s. I would target some sharp E-7’s, F-3’s, F-7’s A-B-A’s to pull this handsome train…
Lee, go to this site I beleive you’ll find what you need http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago,_Burlington_and_Quincy_Railroad . the CB&Q ran the california zepher from chicago to denver then the rio grande took over to salt lake city and from there the western pacific took it to california. hope this helps you I’ve seen 2 models of CBQ passenger diesels one red stripes on its nose and one with all black stripes. gosh this brought back memories of watching the twin city zephers fly in and out of st.paul minn in the 50’s
The Zephers were of two types, the articulated/shovel nosed sets and the named trains that usually were powered by E units. Both Lionel and K-Line have offered sets of the California Zepher several years back. If interested in photos there are a few books out on the Burlington (CB&Q), especially those by Michael Spoor, his are photos telling the story. Also, “Everywhere West” by Patrick Dorin.
As to the black vs. red stripes, they were changed from black to red in the late 50’s at the same time the GP paint scheme was changed from black and gray to chinese red and gray.
The “Zephyrs” were actually a fleet of trains operated by the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy RR - also known as the Burlington Route. They used the advertising slogan, “Way of the Zephyrs” for many years.
The original Zephyrs were articulated motor trains built by Budd. The first one was the Pioneer Zephyr which is now on view at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago.
As popularity of the trains grew, Burlington moved away from the fixed-consist articulated trainsets to locomotive and coach trains which could be adjusted in size by easily adding or subtracting cars.
The fleet included the Twin Zepyrs which operated twice daily each way between Chicago and the Twin Citites, the American Royal and Kansas City Zephyrs wich served the Chicago - Kansas City market in competition with the Santa Fe, the Sam Houston Zephyr and Zephyr Rocket (with the Rock Island) serving Texas points. Perhaps the most famous of the Zephyrs were the Denver Zephyr and the California Zephyr. The DZ was the last complete fully streamlined train purchased by a US RR. The CZ held the reputation of the most popular train in America.
The hallmarks of most of the Zephyrs were their Budd-built stainless steel consists and, more famously, the Vista Dome cars for which Burlington gets credit, if not for inventing, at least for popularizing. The CZ reguolalry carried 5 domes.
Lionel has done a good representation of the CZ with Rio Grande, not Burlington, Alco PA diesels and chrome finished cars. A GP-7 or anything other than streamlined E or F units would rarely be found on any of the Zephyrs, even up until the Amtrak era.
Regards,
X2000
Was there more than one RR running between Chicago and the Twin cities?
Jack
I’ve been fortunate to ride both the Nebraska Zephyr (at the IL Railway Museum) and the original Zephyr (at the Museum of Science and Industry)
Thanks for the info guys. I have not been on here as much due to work.
I have been through a set of California Zepher passenger cars at the railroad museum in south Miami FL next to Metro Zoo, real nice set of passenger cars.
Lee F.