Pioneer Zephyr - Promotion: "Dawn-to-Dusk" Dash

Promotion: "Dawn-to-Dusk" Dash

To catch the public's attention, this train was not simply rolled out of the factory for some dignitary to smash a bottle of champagne on its nose; it made a dash from one end of the CB&Q, in Denver, to the other, in Chicago. The railroad spared no expense in planning the operations. All other trains along the Zephyr's route were diverted to sidings and the turnouts were spiked into the proper alignment for the Zephyr's run. Track and maintenance of way workers checked every single spike and bolt along the train's route to ensure that there would not be any problems, and temporary speed signs were installed along the route to warn the Zephyr's crew of curves that would be dangerous at high speeds. On the day of the dash, every road grade crossing was manned by a flagman to stop automobile traffic ahead of the train and to ensure that the crossing was clear. Stations along the route were protected by local police officers and members of the American Legion and the Boy Scouts of America.

The train left Denver at 7:04 Central Daylight Time and arrived in Chicago at 8:09, 13 hours 5 minutes later, at an average speed of 77 mph (124 km/h). For one section of the run, the train reached a speed of 112.5 mph (181 km/h), close to the world land speed record of 130.6 mph (210.2 km/h) of 1903, which had been achieved in repeated runs on dedicated test track. The non-stop 1,015 mile (1,633 km) trip exceeded the railroad's expectations in being 1 hour 55 minutes faster than was scheduled. Reporters along the route told of the "silver streak" that ran by faster than any other train that normally rode American rails at the time. The Burlington's contemporary passenger trains plied the same distance in around 25 hours.

Riding the train were Ralph Budd, Edward G. Budd, president H. L. Hamilton of the Winton Motor Company (at that time a part of the new General Motors Electro-Motive Division), a number of reporters, some Burlington employees, lucky members of the public, and Zeph, a burro that was contributed by a Colorado newspaper, the Rocky Mountain News, as a mascot for the train. The newspaper had described Zeph to the railroad as a "Rocky Mountain Canary" so the train's crew had originally planned only enough space for a birdcage; when they found out it wasn't a bird, the railroad hastily built a pen in the baggage section and bought some hay for it. When asked about the burro, Ralph Budd replied "Why not? One more jackass on this trip won't make a difference."

After the train arrived in Chicago, it traveled a little farther to the 1934 Century of Progress fair (noted in some press articles about the dash as the "Chicago World's Fair") where it was put on public display on opening day. After its display on the Wings of a Century stage, the train was taken on a 31-state, 222-city publicity tour. More than 2 million people saw the train before it entered revenue service.

Part of the tour included a test run between Chicago and Minneapolis–St. Paul a full five hours faster than the Burlington's fastest steam-powered train. Due to the Zephyr's success on this test run, the Burlington immediately ordered two more Zephyr trainsets that would be dubbed the Twin Zephyrs; the new trains debuted in April 1935 on this route.