Editing Pioneer Zephyr (section)

==Revenue service and additional ''Zephyr trains''==

Even before the Burlington Route's new trainsets could be built, east coast railroads [[Boston and Maine Railroad]] and [[Maine Central Railroad]] ordered a nearly identical copy of the ''Pioneer Zephyr'' from Budd and GM, which began service between Boston and [[Bangor, Maine]], in February 1935 as the ''[[Flying Yankee]]''.{{Sfn|Johnston|Welsh|Schafer|2001|pp=28-29}} Budd and GM delivered the first additional ''Zephyrs'', identical trainsets 9901 and 9902, in time for an April 1935 debut as the [[Twin Zephyr]]s, operating between Chicago and Minneapolis - Saint Paul.{{Sfn|Johnston|Welsh|Schafer|2001|p=20}} In all, the Burlington Route ordered eight additional ''Zephyrs'', gradually departing from the semi-permanently coupled design of the ''Pioneer Zephyr'' towards regularly coupled cars that could easily be interchanged.{{Sfn|Schafer|Welsh|2002|pp=17–19}}

The Winton two-stroke diesel engines used in the ''Zephyr'' power units and early [[Electro-Motive Company|EMC]] designs, while a breakthrough in locomotive power, were an immature technology. Some of their early reliability problems were mitigated with changes to individual parts such as pistons; other solutions had to wait for a differently designed engine. For example, the first generation of pistons in the Winton engine only had about 50,000 miles of useful life, later extended to about 100,000 miles. GM's next generation diesel engine had pistons with a useful life of over 500,000 miles. The problems were most acute under the operating conditions of locomotive, rather than stationary or marine, use.<ref name="Kettering">{{cite conference |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QuUiAQAAMAAJ |title=History and Development of the 567 Series General Motors Locomotive Engine |author=Kettering, E.W. |date=November 29, 1951 |publisher=Electro-Motive Division, General Motors Corporation |conference=ASME 1951 Annual Meeting |location=Atlantic City, New Jersey |access-date=November 17, 2019 |archive-date=May 8, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200508063748/https://books.google.com/books?id=QuUiAQAAMAAJ |url-status=live }}</ref> Even with the problems of the Winton 201A, their maintenance regime was significantly lower than for steam locomotives.[[File:Pioneer Zephyr first run and millionth mile covers.jpg|thumb|Commemorative postal [[Cover (philately)|covers]] that were carried aboard the ''Pioneer Zephyr'' for its first revenue run, and as it crossed the one million mile mark]]
[[File:Fourth Pioneer Zephyr car 1935.JPG|thumb|A [[Budd Company]] ad with a photo of the fourth car for the ''Pioneer Zephyr'' sitting atop a flatcar]]
The ''Zephyr'''s power (leading) car was numbered 9900, the baggage-coach [[combine car]] 505, and the coach-observation 570. The train was placed in regular service between [[Kansas City]], [[Missouri]], [[Omaha]] and [[Lincoln, Nebraska]], on November 11, 1934, with the train numbered 21 northbound and 20 southbound. The trainset replaced a pair of [[steam locomotive]]s and six heavyweight [[Passenger car (rail)|passenger cars]], weighing up to eight times as much as the ''Zephyr''.{{sfn|Zimmermann|2004|p=40}} By June 1935, it proved popular enough to add a fourth car, providing additional coach seating.{{sfn|Byron|2005|p=26}} The fourth car was originally a 40-seat coach number 525, but the following June it was switched to [[Minneapolis-St. Paul|Twin Cities]] service, then back to the ''Pioneer Zephyr'' in December.{{sfn|Johnston|Welsh|Schafer|2001|p=20}} Car 525 remained on the train until June 1938. Just over five years after it was introduced, the ''Pioneer Zephyr'' crossed the one million mile mark in regular service on December 29, 1939, near [[Council Bluffs]], [[Iowa]].

On the second anniversary of the train's famous dash, the original ''Burlington Zephyr'' was renamed the ''Pioneer Zephyr'' to distinguish it as the first of the Burlington's growing ''Zephyr'' fleet. In 1938, car 525 was replaced by car number 500, a 40-seat buffet/lounge car, to provide light meals. Car number 505, the baggage-coach [[combine car|combine]], was rebuilt at this time into a full [[baggage car]], but it kept its original windows.<ref name="Gordon-Gilmore" />{{sfn|Zimmermann|2004|p=43}}

In 1939 the Pioneer Zephyr was involved in a head-on collision with a freight train that completely destroyed the cab. Five mail clerks were injured and the engineer was killed, and the accident drove home the advantages for crew safety of the elevated, behind-the-nose cab design of the contemporary [[EMD E-unit|EMC E-series]] locomotives. The train was rebuilt and re-entered revenue service soon afterward.<ref>Green Bay Press-Gazette; Wed, Oct 4, 1939; Page 9</ref>{{sfn|Johnston|Welsh|Schafer|2001|p=15}}

Ralph Budd and the Burlington capitalized on the ''Zephyr's'' success. Many of the Burlington's [[List of named passenger trains|named passenger trains]] began operating under the ''Zephyr'' brand. After the nine original ''Zephyr'' sets were completed during 1934–1939, standard production model diesel passenger locomotives with improved engines became available. Trains consisting of the new locomotives with new streamlined cars of standard size were ordered. Burlington ordered its new [[EMC E5]] passenger diesels with matching stainless-steel fluting and operated their new full-size, long-distance trains under the ''Zephyr'' brand, with perhaps the best known being the [[California Zephyr (1949–1970)|''California Zephyr'']]''.''

In 1948 and 1949, the ''Pioneer Zephyr'' was temporarily removed from service to participate in the [[Chicago Railroad Fair]]'s "Wheels A-Rolling" pageant. The fair's purpose was to celebrate 100&nbsp;years of railroad history west of Chicago, and the ''Pioneer Zephyr''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s role in the pageant was to highlight the latest strides in railroad technology. It resumed regular passenger operations when the fair ended on October 2, 1949.<ref>{{cite book| title=Chicago Railroad Fair Official Guide Book| year=1949}}<!-- There are only a few pages in this official publication from the Fair --></ref> The fourth car that was added in 1935 was removed in May 1950.{{sfn|Byron|2005|p=62}} By 1955, the ''Pioneer Zephyr''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s route had been updated to run between [[Galesburg, Illinois]], and [[Saint Joseph, Missouri]]; the trainset had been in continual service since 1934, operating over nearly 3&nbsp;million miles (4.8&nbsp;million kilometres). The ''Pioneer Zephyr''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s last revenue run was a trip from [[Lincoln, Nebraska|Lincoln]], [[Nebraska]], to [[Kansas City, Missouri|Kansas City]], [[Missouri]], (along the train's regular revenue route) that then continued to [[Chicago]] on March 20, 1960.<ref name="Gordon-Gilmore" />

The ''California Zephyr'' made its last runs as a full service between California and Chicago in 1970 following the [[Western Pacific Railroad]]'s withdrawal, with the Rio Grande and Burlington Route successor [[Burlington Northern Railroad]] designating successor trains for their portions of the route under the names ''[[Rio Grande Zephyr]]'' and ''California Zephyr Service'' respectively. Government-formed [[Amtrak]] took over most passenger rail services in 1971, and finally succeeded in reviving the full ''[[California Zephyr]]'' in 1983.{{Sfn|Schafer|Welsh|2002|pp=69–70}}