I'll apologize up front for letting this drift a bit, but just last week
I was over at a former photo lab that now specializes in large murals
and trade show displays. In the back area there is a well-done photo
of, what I assume, was the Sam Houston Zephyr in Houston's Union
Station. I'm also assuming that the print is on display at Minute Maid
Stadium (formerly Enron stadium) but originally Union Station itself.
I asked if they should ever decide to trash it, to give me a chance to
pick it up! Of course, it fell on deaf ears and besides, what would I
do with a print at was about 8' x 12'?
Bob Werre
PhotoTraxx
Dave,
What, a book on the "Zephyr Rocket"? Now that will be great. Yes,
put me on the list. To date I have thought that train never got the
attention it deserved. I always thought it would be fun to ride that
train somewhere and dine in the parlor-diner-observation.
Unfortunatley, by the time that might have been possible the train
itself was pretty much a coach-only affair with a ton of baggage cars
and a mail sorting car.
In its prime, I recall the following consist: An E-7 or E-6, maybe an
E-3 from the RI--can't recall for sure; a heavyweight-Harriman-roofed
mail baggage car, a full baggage car, two streamlined coaches [seems
they were always RI cars when I saw the train]; two streamstyled
heavyweight Pullmans; and a streamlined palor-diner-observation. That
made for a seven-car consist which the train consistently had back its
prime. Its one E-unit for power made me weight the speed potential of
that train vs that of the "Twin Cities Zephyr" with seven to eight
cars and two E units.
Tom
------------------------------------------------------------------------
*From:* [email protected] [[email protected]] on behalf of
David Engle [[email protected]]
*Sent:* Tuesday, June 05, 2012 10:15 AM
*To:* [email protected]
*Cc:* Thomas, Lawrence
*Subject:* Re: {S-Scale List} Re: [RITSlist] Re: Pullman heavyweight
lease cars?
There were two cars, Zephyr Tower and Rocket Tower; also a Cedar
Rapids and mate whose name I don;t have at the moment. We need to get
you on board for the Zephyr Rocket book coming out later this year;
Larry Thomas is the editor.
DJE
----- Original Message -----
*From:* Thomas Baker <mailto:[email protected]>
*To:* [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>
*Sent:* Tuesday, June 05, 2012 9:05 AM
*Subject:* RE: {S-Scale List} Re: [RITSlist] Re: Pullman
heavyweight lease cars?
Dave,
Your reference to the Rock Island and its Pullmans brings up a
childhood memory: As a young boy, I recall riding the Twin City
Lines streetcars home from the school I attended in Minneapolis.
On Friday afternoons I often rode the Minnehaha streetcar line
from downtown. That line took me right past the Milwaukee Road
depot on Washington Avenue where even before 3:00 p.m. the "Zephyr
Rocket" stood in the depot with its consist ready for a departure
at 5:00 p.m.
As a kid, the first thing that surprised me was that every other
day a CB&Q E-7 would be the power. Apparently, power assignments
rotated, and on Friday an E-7 from the Q operated out of
Minneapolis. I assume that an E-unit from the RI operated out of
St. Louis on that same day.
Back in the early Fifties the train must have been fairly well
used by the traveling public including businessmen because it had
two heavyweight Pullmans in its consist. Both cars had
the so-called "streamstyled" rooflines and were painted silver and
had artdeco lettering common to that on equipment used by the Q
and the RI. Four Pullmans must have operated in the pool, two out
of Minneapolis for St. Louis and two out of St. Louis for
Minneapolis.
You seem to have connections to people who know about the RI. Do
you have any way to discover the names of the Pullman cars used on
this run. I recall seeing each Friday the "streamstyled"
Pullmans. They had "Pullman" centered on the letterboard and the
names, as I recall, of the railroad operator in small print on the
letterboard by the door on each end.
Tom
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*F*
