The ''Ozark State Zephyr'' was a

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 flow, steady. Considering a velocity vector field in three-dimensional space in the f ...

passenger train A passenger train is a train used to transport people along a railroad line, as opposed to a freight train that carries goods. These trains may consist of unpowered passenger railroad cars (also known as coaches or carriages) push-pull train, ...

operated by the

Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad The Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad was a railroad that operated in the Midwest, Midwestern United States. Commonly referred to as the Burlington Route, the Burlington, CB&Q, or as the Q, it operated extensive trackage in the states of ...

(CB&Q) and the

Alton Railroad The Alton Railroad was the final name of a railroad linking Chicago to Alton, Illinois; St. Louis, Missouri; and Kansas City, Missouri. Its predecessor, the Chicago and Alton Railroad , was purchased by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad in 1931 an ...

(the "Alton") between

St. Louis St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a populatio ...

and

Kansas City The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more t ...

Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...

, home of the

Ozarks The Ozarks, also known as the Ozark Mountains, Ozark Highlands or Ozark Plateau, is a physiographic region in the U.S. states of Missouri, Arkansas, and Oklahoma, as well as a small area in the southeastern corner of Kansas. The Ozarks cover ...

. It operated from 1936 to 1939. The ''Zephyr'' was one of several short-haul Midwestern routes operated by the CB&Q's then-revolutionary articulated streamlined trainsets, including one of the original ''

Twin Cities Zephyr The ''Twin Zephyrs'', also known as the ''Twin Cities Zephyrs'', were a pair of streamlined passenger trains on the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad (CB&Q), running between Chicago and the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul in Minne ...

s''.

History

The ''Ozark State Zephyr'', along with the '' Sam Houston Zephyr'', was made possible by the re-equipping of the ''Twin Cities Zephyrs'' in 1936, which freed up the original two equipment sets, #9901 and #9902. The train made a single round-trip per day, departing St. Louis for Kansas City in the morning and returning in the evening. It covered the in hours. The new service was christened by Mollie Stark, daughter of Governor-elect Lloyd C. Stark, who rode the new train from St. Louis to Kansas City prior to it entering revenue service. The CB&Q and Alton increased the service to twice-daily in September 1938 with the addition of equipment set #9903, the ''

Mark Twain Zephyr The ''Mark Twain Zephyr'' was an early diesel four-unit articulated zephyr train that was similar to the ''Pioneer Zephyr'' in style. The train was built by the Budd Company and was powered by a diesel engine produced by the Winton Engine Compa ...

'', which was renamed to match existing service. Contemporary advertising referred to the "Morning" and "Afternoon" ''Ozark State Zephyrs'', mirroring the practice already adopted by the CB&Q with the ''Twin Cities Zephyrs''. The new train operated on a reverse schedule, departing Kansas City in the morning and returning in the evening. The CB&Q and Alton retired the ''Ozark State Zephyr'' name on April 30, 1939, with the arrival of the brand-new ''

General Pershing Zephyr The ''General Pershing Zephyr'' was the ninth of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad's Burlington Zephyr, ''Zephyr'' streamliners, and the last built as an integrated streamliner rather than a train hauled by an EMD E-unit diesel locomoti ...

'' trainset. This set assumed the morning Kansas City–St. Louis round-trip, while the ''Mark Twain Zephyr'', its original name restored, handled the morning trip from St. Louis.

Equipment

As originally built by the

Budd Company The Budd Company was a 20th-century metal fabricator, a major supplier of body components to the automobile industry, and a manufacturer of stainless steel passenger rail cars, airframes, missile and space vehicles, and various defense produ ...

and the Electro-Motive Company for the ''Twin Cities Zephyr'' in 1936 #9902 consisted of a power car with

baggage Baggage, or luggage, consists of bags, cases, and containers which hold a traveler's personal articles while the traveler is in transit. A modern traveler can be expected to have packages containing clothing, toiletries, small possessions, tr ...

section, a buffet-coach with seating for 40, and coach-

observation car An observation car/carriage/coach (in US English, often abbreviated to simply observation or obs) is a type of railroad Passenger car (rail), passenger car, generally operated in a passenger train as the rearmost carriage, with windows or a plat ...

with seating for 24 in the coach section and 24 in the observation section. The ''Mark Twain Zephyr'' consisted of four cars: a power car with

railway post office In Canada and the United States, a railway post office, commonly abbreviated as RPO, was a railroad car that was normally operated in passenger service and used specifically for staff to sort mail en route, in order to speed delivery. The RPO w ...

(RPO), a baggage car, a coach-dinette with seating for 20, and a coach-observation car with seating for 40 in the coach section and 16 in the observation section. Both sets were articulated, making it a difficult process to add and remove cars. The relative lack of seating in both consists, and the presence of the RPO in the ''Mark Twain Zephyr'', reflected the CB&Q's belief that mail and express revenue was a better source of income on short-haul Midwestern services than passenger traffic.

References

External links

* {{C&A named trains Named passenger trains of the United States Passenger trains of the Alton Railroad Passenger trains of the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad Railway services introduced in 1936 Railway services discontinued in 1939