The ''Exposition Flyer ''was a passenger train jointly operated by the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy (CB&Q), Denver & Rio Grande Western (D&RGW), and Western Pacific (WP) railroads between Chicago and Oakland, California, for a decade between 1939 and 1949, before being replaced by the famed ''

California Zephyr The ''California Zephyr'' is a passenger train operated by Amtrak between Chicago and the San Francisco Bay Area (at Emeryville), via Omaha, Denver, Salt Lake City, and Reno. At , it is Amtrak's longest daily route, and second-longest o ...

''.

History

In 1939, the

Golden Gate International Exposition The Golden Gate International Exposition (GGIE) (1939 and 1940), held at San Francisco's Treasure Island, was a World's Fair celebrating, among other things, the city's two newly built bridges. The San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge opened in 193 ...

opened on

Treasure Island ''Treasure Island'' (originally titled ''The Sea Cook: A Story for Boys''Hammond, J. R. 1984. "Treasure Island." In ''A Robert Louis Stevenson Companion'', Palgrave Macmillan Literary Companions. London: Palgrave Macmillan. .) is an adventure n ...

San Francisco Bay San Francisco Bay is a large tidal estuary in the United States, U.S. state of California, and gives its name to the San Francisco Bay Area. It is dominated by the big cities of San Francisco, San Jose, California, San Jose, and Oakland, Ca ...

. In response, the CB&Q, D&RGW and WP decided to operate a train that could take passengers to the event. Service on the ''Exposition Flyer'' began on June 10, 1939. In the beginning, the train used steam locomotives as motive power and consisted of the heavyweight Pullman standard cars. In later years, however, the train would operate using diesel power and in the final months of service, used

streamlined Streamlines, streaklines and pathlines are field lines in a fluid flow. They differ only when the flow changes with time, that is, when the flow is not steady. Considering a velocity vector field in three-dimensional space in the framework of ...

passenger cars. Initially, the train was supposed to be a temporary route, although, due to the train's popularity, which made it a significant rival to the '' City of San Francisco'', the Chicago-Oakland train operated jointly by the

Chicago & Northwestern The Chicago and North Western was a Class I railroad in the Midwestern United States. It was also known as the "North Western". The railroad operated more than of track at the turn of the 20th century, and over of track in seven states bef ...

Union Pacific The Union Pacific Railroad , legally Union Pacific Railroad Company and often called simply Union Pacific, is a freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Pac ...

and Southern Pacific, it remained in operation until 1949. In 1949, the CB&Q, D&RGW and WP replaced the ''Exposition Flyer'' with the all streamlined ''California Zephyr'', which operated over the same route.

Accidents

* On the night of September 22, 1941, the eastbound ''Exposition Flyer'' collided head-on with a steam locomotive near

Sunol, California Sunol ( es, Suñol) is an unincorporated area and census-designated place in Alameda County, California. Located in the Sunol Valley of the East Bay, the population was 913 at the 2010 census. It is best known as the location of the Sunol Water ...

. The steam locomotive engineer's watch was running slow, and he had failed to move his engine onto a siding. Three people, including the engineer and fireman on the ''Exposition Flyer'', were killed. * On April 3, 1946, the ''Exposition Flyer'' derailed in eastern Nevada after passing over a switch at , killing two passengers. * On April 25, 1946, the ''Exposition Flyer'' was involved in its deadliest accident. The westbound ''Advance Flyer'', another train operated by the CB&Q, made an emergency stop in the Chicago suburb of

Naperville, Illinois Naperville ( ) is a city in DuPage and Will counties in the U.S. state of Illinois. It is in the Chicago metro area, west of the city. Naperville was founded in 1831 by Joseph Naper. The city was established by the banks of the DuPage river, ...

just short of the CB&Q depot. The ''Exposition Flyer'', travelling at around a short distance behind on the same track, rear-ended the ''Advance Flyer''. Forty-seven people were killed in the

Naperville train disaster The Naperville train disaster occurred April 25, 1946, on the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad at Loomis Street in Naperville, Illinois, when the railroad's ''Exposition Flyer'' rammed into the ''Advance Flyer'', which had made an unschedu ...

, including the ''Exposition Flyers fireman.

Route

Burlington officials at Moffat Tunnel Exposition Flyer planned

The ''Exposition Flyer ''operated over the CB&Q between Chicago and Denver, the D&RGW between Denver and Salt Lake City, and the WP between Salt Lake City and Oakland. The westbound train left Chicago Union Station at 12:35 pm, and after traversing Illinois, the train crossed the Mississippi River at Burlington, Iowa, continuing through southern Iowa to Denver via Omaha and Lincoln, Nebraska. The train made use of the six 6.5-mile long

Moffat Tunnel The Moffat Tunnel is a railroad and water tunnel that cuts through the Continental Divide in north-central Colorado. Named after Colorado railroad pioneer David Moffat, the tunnel's first official railroad traffic passed through in February 19 ...

, and was the first through passenger train to make use of the Dotsero Cutoff, as opposed to the former route via

Colorado Springs Colorado Springs is a home rule municipality in, and the county seat of, El Paso County, Colorado, United States. It is the largest city in El Paso County, with a population of 478,961 at the 2020 United States Census, a 15.02% increase since ...

Pueblo In the Southwestern United States, Pueblo (capitalized) refers to the Native tribes of Puebloans having fixed-location communities with permanent buildings which also are called pueblos (lowercased). The Spanish explorers of northern New Spain ...

and the

Royal Gorge The Royal Gorge is a canyon of the Arkansas River located west of Cañon City, Colorado. The canyon begins at the mouth of Grape Creek, about west of central Cañon City, and continues in a west-northwesterly direction for approximately until ...

. After traveling through northern Nevada, the ''Exposition Flyer'' traveled through

Feather River Canyon Feathers are epidermal growths that form a distinctive outer covering, or plumage, on both avian (bird) and some non-avian dinosaurs and other archosaurs. They are the most complex integumentary structures found in vertebrates and a premier ...

, although only those on the westbound ''Exposition Flyer'' were able to see the canyon during daylight hours. The train would finally arrive in San Francisco (Oakland with ferry connection to SF) at 10:30 pm two days later. The eastbound ''Exposition Flyer'' left San Francisco at 9 pm and arrived in Chicago at 11:55 pm two days later. Some of the route was shared by the

Missouri Pacific Railroad The Missouri Pacific Railroad , commonly abbreviated as MoPac, was one of the first railroads in the United States west of the Mississippi River. MoPac was a Class I railroad growing from dozens of predecessors and mergers. In 1967, the railroad ...

's ''Scenic Limited'', which ran between Kansas City and San Francisco. Beginning in 1946, a through

Pullman car In the United States, Pullman was used to refer to railroad sleeping cars that were built and operated on most U.S. railroads by the Pullman Company (founded by George Pullman) from 1867 to December 31, 1968. Other uses Pullman also refers to ...

to and from

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

was introduced, allowing passengers an uninterrupted coast-to-coast journey via trains operated by the

New York Central Railroad The New York Central Railroad was a railroad primarily operating in the Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The railroad primarily connected greater New York and Boston in the east with Chicago and St. Louis in the Mi ...

and

Pennsylvania Railroad The Pennsylvania Railroad (reporting mark PRR), legal name The Pennsylvania Railroad Company also known as the "Pennsy", was an American Class I railroad that was established in 1846 and headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was named ...

on alternating days.

References

{{Authority control Named passenger trains of the United States Night trains of the United States Passenger trains of the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad Passenger trains of the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad Passenger trains of the Western Pacific Railroad Passenger rail transportation in California Passenger rail transportation in Illinois Passenger rail transportation in Colorado Passenger rail transportation in Utah Passenger rail transportation in Iowa Passenger rail transportation in Nebraska Railway services introduced in 1939 Railway services discontinued in 1949