Mark Twain Zephyr saved

That answers my question! Thank You, Dave! [tup][tup][swg]

Wisconsin - Great Northern is a great place for the Zephyr to go to, I am sure they will do a great job with it. I was there a year ago as part of a C&NW Historical Society meet; in fact, as part of it I got to run the SW-600 that they’re going to take the motor out of to power the Zephyr. The WGN crew had repainted the engine into CNW colors the night before the meet - in fact, the handrails were still a bit ‘tacky’ from the paint!

If they wanted it, I think they’d have it by now.

https://www.railpictures.net/showimage.php?id=752688&key=7209049

There may be politics involved or Conway Scenic has had other priorities. It would be a great match, though.

Even, all 1st-Class, food and drinks included, non-stop, Boston - Portland, ME.

The issue the Flying Yankee has (that I believe the MTZ does not) is the engine room. IIRC the train was built with an inline Winton, a configuration for the 201A but not the 567. That was one of the reasons for the expensive attempt to restore the older prime mover, and a reason it is not easy to drop in a 6-567 (which is a very short V engine) instead of what I think should be used if the train is to be used in any kind of service: a modern Tier 4 (or even 5) engine and generator on an isolated sled that matches the 8-201A attachment points. As few changes to the ‘historic fabric’ as possible otherwise…

Purple, red, yellow and blue “seats”, oh my! Check out the video… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iG4I7kFAFQg

That’s a nice and elegant looking train! It has a straight to the point design. I see it looks like a railcar but it really has a locomotive and cars? I guess the interior will be All-American in imaginative outfit. You only have it preserved when it runs - so let it run again!

Diesels started in a similar way on DRG with the ‘Flying’ series but these were really railcars. (as long as they stayed special trains like that I don’t mind diesels at all - huu-huu-huu)

Here’s a link to the ‘Flying’ series trains with contemporary ball music (very hectic to me, but perhaps fitting to the times.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJ73DZXLHjQ

It’s black&white, you have to imagine the color scheme was cream along the windows part and a mild violet (!!) below, separated by a black band. For once they dared something in earnest, straight and regular Germany! Oh-oh, they had the same color scheme on the ‘Rheingold’ luxury train with bavarian S3/6 18-5 class four cylinder compound Pacific most of the way. No, the steam locomotive remained regular red and black. The concept was later expanded into the DB version of the 1957 TEE, Trans Europe Express. So few were electrified lines back then that the concept for the TEE trains forsaw diesel power for all these trains. Railways soon went their own ways, first the SNCF, then DB introduced electric trains as TEE, the French even left the common cream and red color scheme for stainless steel car bodies.

In 1990, year of unification, DR of (former) East Germany lent back one surviving original diesel TEE from a Swiss group and put it back in regular fast passenger service between Berlin and Hamburg as ‘Max Liebermann’. To the wondering of DB engineers who had formerly been charged with maintenance of these trains, this one ran and ran and ran - and never missed a schedule. Later, one DR engineer explained how they had managed

What became of this restoration? There were a lot of videos showing the car restoration, the building of displays, publication of several books, the restoration of trucks, the donor of a switcher….and then nothing. Any one heard?

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I heard that one of the principals in the company running the railroad and the restoration had his day in court over some transgression of the law and was convicted of that transgression. Outside that, I know nothing.

I did find this 2023 link

Apparently, the engine unit had to have extensive frame rework to accept the reworked switcher trucks. I don’t know the exact scheme to ensure the consist “ride height” was maintained as I believe the motorized trucks of the switcher had different wheel diameters than the other trucks in the consist. Obviously, the center of gravity in the engine unit has now changed, so return to high speed capability is likely impossible. Luckily, the dinner train will average about 5-8 mph.
The diesel engine from the switcher had not yet been installed. I imagine a serious amount of engineering is required. The article did not mention the “reported” legal situation of one of the principles as having a project impact. One could only suppose

Possibly, the reason little media attention of MTZ restoration, is That Robert Tabern, media consultant for WGNR, has a new job as editor of a newspaper.

If I recall correctly, there was a fairly spirited technical discussion over on RyPN about how the details of this restoration were going to be accomplished. I’m sure I have some of it mixed up with ‘restoration’ of the Flying Yankee, which probably deserves its own revived thread right about now.