Twin Cities Zephyr
The Twin Cities Zephyr was a streamlined passenger train on the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad (CB&Q). It was the second Zephyr service introduced by CB&Q after the record-setting Denver–Chicago "dawn to dusk dash" of the Pioneer Zephyr trainset. The service ended in 1971 with the inauguration of Amtrak.
The train competed with the Chicago and North Western's Twin Cities 400 which ceased operation in 1963, and the Milwaukee Road's Twin Cities Hiawatha, which, like the Zephyr, ended with the coming of Amtrak in 1971. The CB&Q trains went west from Chicago to the Mississippi River and along that river to Saint Paul, while the North Western and Milwaukee Road trains traveled via Milwaukee.
History
Two three-car trainsets were delivered in April 1935 and proved too small; a second pair of six-car trains with matching locomotives were ordered as replacements. The new trainsets were put on display before they entered service.
The second pair of Twin Cities Zephyrs entered service on December 18, 1936 as the Morning Zephyr and the Afternoon Zephyr. On the first run the two trainsets departed Chicago simultaneously on parallel tracks with 44 pairs of twins as a publicity stunt.
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