Pioneer Zephyr - Legacy

Legacy

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 and Industry. Car number 500, which operated with the train from 1938, went along with Mark Twain Zephyr trainset 9903 to a party in Mount Pleasant, Iowa, for static display in a town park, but plans for the train's display did not work out; car 500 and the Mark Twain Zephyr are currently stored in Chicago and plans are currently underway to display it in Fairfield, Iowa.

In Galesburg, Illinois, which is 162 rail miles from Chicago, the local high school named all its athletic teams the "Galesburg Silver Streaks" in honor of the train.

The Chicago museum displayed the Pioneer Zephyr outside the museum, 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, while the Chicago museum prepared a new display location for the Zephyr.

The Chicago museum 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 still on display at the museum just outside the main entrance from the underground parking area for the museum, where it is one of the more popular exhibits.

In addition to the Pioneer Zephyr, two other legacies remain. An operable Nebraska Zephyr train was donated to the large Illinois Railway Museum at Union, west of Chicago. 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 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.

Also utilizing the famous name, the Minnesota Zephyr was an elegant dining 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.