General Pershing Zephyr: Difference between revisions

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[[File:General Pershing Zephyr-Silver Charger - 20081123.jpg|thumb|9908 ''Silver Charger'' on display in 2008]]

The '''''General Pershing Zephyr''''' was the ninth of the [[Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad]]'s [[Burlington Zephyr|''Zephyr'']] [[streamliner]]s, and the last built as an integrated streamliner rather than a train hauled by an [[EMD E-unit]] [[diesel locomotive]]. It was constructed in [[1939]] with bodywork and passenger cars by [[Budd Company]] and [[diesel engine]], [[diesel-electric|electric transmission]], power [[bogie|truck]], and other locomotive equipment by [[General Motors Corporation|General Motors]] [[Electro-Motive Diesel|Electro-Motive DivisionCorporation]]. Because its intended [[Kansas City, Missouri]] to [[St. Louis, Missouri]] route passed near the birthplace and boyhood home of famous [[World War I]] [[General]] [[John J. Pershing]], the train was named after him. The power car was named ''Silver Charger'', after Pershing's horse ''Charger'', while the passenger cars were named after [[U.S. Army]] badges of rank—''Silver Leaf'', ''Silver Eagle'', and ''Silver Star''.

Unlike previous ''Zephyrs'', the ''General Pershing Zephyr'' was completely non-articulated; each car was self-contained and joined to the next by [[coupling (railway)|coupler]]s, rather than shared trucks. The inflexibility of the articulated layout had been recognised; it was hard to lengthen, shorten, or replace parts of the train. The route did not require a high-capacity train nor a powerful locomotive, so the ''General Pershing Zephyr'' returned to the pattern of the first ''[[Pioneer Zephyr]]'', being a power/baggage car and three trailers.

The power car, 9908 ''Silver Charger'', was unique. It utilised a single new EMDEMC 567 [[V-12]] engine developing 1,000 hp, rather than the pair used in the contemporary [[EMD E3|EMC E3]]. It had one [[Martin Blomberg]]-designed E-unit A1A passenger truck at the front, with powered outer axles and a center idler axle, and an unpowered trailing truck, giving it the unusual [[wheel arrangement]] of A1A-2. The back half of the power car was a baggage area.

The train ran its assigned route until [[World War II|World War 2]] disrupted things in [[1942]], following which the trainset ran many different routes. As 9908 ''Silver Charger'' was really a separate locomotive, it continued in service hauling other trains after the rest of the streamlined trainset was withdrawn. In this form it lasted in service until [[1966]], following which it was donated to the [[Museum of Transportation]] in [[St. Louis, Missouri]].