CB&Q Pioneer Zephyr streamlined diesel train-set - updated 12/08/23

[Murdoch17]

The Chicago, Burlington & Quincy (CB&Q) Pioneer Zephyr was the first successful American stream-liner, and made a record-breaking speed run from Denver to Chicago on May 26th, 1934. It arrived 1 hour and 55 minutes ahead of schedule with a total run time of 13 hours and 5 minutes... Note, the run time of a regular steam train pulled across the same distance in about 25 hours at much slower speed than the 77 MPH average of the Zephyr on this non-stop run. (It even reached a top speed of 112 MPH at one point during the trip!) This event was even featured in a heavily fictionalized Hollywood block-buster movie, "The Silver Streak" (The original 1936 drama, not the 1970's comedy of the same name) which also featured many scenes of and on the train. This train even started it's own Zephyr-mania, with everything from Ford cars to sports-teams having "Zephyr" slapped on the name to capitalize on it's considerable fame.

The Pioneer Zephyr consist was eventually donated to the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, Illinois on the 26th anniversary of the Denver-Chicago speed run. From 1960 until 1994 it was stored outside, but since then it is now indoors in the basement of the museum near the parking garage. As such, it will never turn a wheel again.

(picture coming eventually)

The rear car features a wraparound back window. (It isn't pretty, but it is the best I can do.)

(picture coming eventually)

The Lego model and the real train feature four joined cars, with the power car / RPO area up front, (RPO is short for Railway Post Office) baggage and coach in the next car, then another coach, and finally the observation lounge at the rear. The third car (the coach) was added in 1938, and even though it isn't original to the train and is not on display with the rest of the Pioneer Zephyr in Chicago, it carried the car for most of it's operational life, thus it was added onto my MOC.

Comments, Questions & Complaints are always welcome!

Thoughts?

NOTE:

Main post edited 12/8/23 - one real life photo added to this post, the other two didn't turn out... will retake them when time allows. Sorry!

Edited December 8, 2023 by Murdoch17

[Murdoch17]

Main post updated. Sorry moderators for the large bump (6 years!), but I wasn't sure if making a new post was appropriate because the text is virtually the same, but the pictures / model have all changed. (I don't like to make duplicate threads as it feels like I'm repeating myself.)

Anyway...

Compare the original consist from 2017 (directly above) to the 2023 updated one further up the page. Hopefully you will think my skills have improved since then! The train is on the list to build... if I can source the gray wheels that is!

[Darkkostas25]

Nice update! nice idea with SNOT for the windshield

[Murdoch17]

On 5/31/2023 at 2:05 AM, Darkkostas25 said:

Nice update! nice idea with SNOT for the windshield

thanks!

[Murdoch17]

Progress is being made on the Zephyr in the real world! It should be finished in late November, early December, if not earlier.

I almost have enough gray wheels. (just one and a half short) Plus, I only ~580 parts left to go!

Luckily, I have all the printed tiles I need already.

Stay tuned for more updates in the coming weeks!

Edited November 3, 2023 by Murdoch17

[Ashi Valkoinen]

That was a long time before planning and building.

Do you consider to revise you old plans according to better parts available by now?

[Murdoch17]

1 hour ago, Ashi Valkoinen said:

That was a long time before planning and building.

Do you consider to revise you old plans according to better parts available by now?

Sadly, it will be a while longer now before it is finished, as I didn't order the parts before Bricklink got hacked... so now I have to wait until it comes back online to do so.

As for revising the design: I am thinking about adding in the fourth car (a coach) from 1938, but I won't know how much that will bump up the price until Bricklink comes back. As for changing parts, it's as good as I can get it already.

Thanks for commenting @Ashi Valkoinen! 

[Murdoch17]

I have decided to add in the 1938-built fourth car to the Pioneer Zephyr model's consist. My thought on the matter is that even though the real-world Zephyr doesn't have the extra coach while on display today, the train had the coach for most of it's operational life when it was running.... and it will help differentiate the model from @zephyr1934's spectacular three-car Pioneer Zephyr MOC from 2015.

As it currently stands right now, the Lego Zephyr only has ~700 parts left to find or order, most of which you can see in the photo above. On a related note, since Bricklink has been recently unavailable (sadly due to the ongoing hacking / ransomware incident), the train will not be bought until the website eventually comes back online.

Thoughts?

Edited November 4, 2023 by Murdoch17

[Murdoch17]

Construction finally began today on the Pioneer Zephyr after nearly a month of it sitting around waiting.

Only one car out of four finished, but all undercarriages / wheels were built as well. I was going to build another car, but my neck was starting to get a kink in it so I stopped for today. The rest should be done in the next couple days.

Thoughts?

[Shiva]

No thoughts, just a thumbs up :)

[Murdoch17]

Just now, Shiva said:

No thoughts, just a thumbs up :)

Thanks @Shiva. I have now finished it, just need to find time to take more photos...

[Shiva]

Mini Zephyr ! :)

[Murdoch17]

3 minutes ago, Shiva said:

Mini Zephyr ! :)

I don't understand what you mean? It's a 6 wide train, and is as long as most of my other trains...

EDIT: It's actually 28+ studs per car, so it's pretty long.

Edited December 8, 2023 by Murdoch17

[Shiva]

When comparing to zephyr1934's Zephyr.

zephyr1934's train is the big sister and your train is the little sister, In this, I mean the car length.

+ you have the Car number 500, so your is the 1938 and later version :) + I think your train work well on the sharp turns of the original LEGO tracks.