"Fascinating pictorial history of the Burlington Route, from its start as the tiny Aurora Branch Railway through to its 1970 transformation into the Burlington Northern. Chapters cover its formation, the standard era of passenger service, gas-electric motor cars, Zephyrs, transcontinental streamliners, commuter trains, freight and mixed trains, coal trains, subsidiaries, and the merger. Illustrated throughout with black and white photos. With maps, station list, timetables and ads." -- Amazon.
A historical and pictorial look at the Burlington Route's fleet of passenger trains that once served Texas. Trains include the Wichita Falls to Waurika mixed; the West Texas Express; the Wichita Falls to Abilene doodlebug; the Spur Spur's mixed train; the Childress to Lubbock motorcar; the Childress to Pampa mixed; the B-RI's Red Head; the Pioneer Zephyr; the Sam Houston Zephyr; mail trains No. 7 & 8; and the Texas Zephyr between Dallas-Fort Worth and Denver.
In 80 pages, with scores of photos and drawings, author Jonathan Boyle, Sr., chronicles the life of Burlington's premier cars of the streamlined era, the observation cars that brought up the rear of the great trains and carried their names --the "signature" cars of the fleet.
"The Chicago, Burlington & Quincy - the Burlington Route - was known for its Zephyrs, the fleet of fluted stainless-steel passenger trains taht connected Chicago to points west. However, there was more to the CB&Q than flashy passenger trains. The railroad connected the nation's heartland, relying hevaily on agricultural traffic, including grain, livestock, and perishable goods. Ownded jointly by the Northern Pacific and Great Northern, the Burlington prospered through the forties and fifties. The heart of the Burlington was its Chicago-to-Denver main line, which hosted several of the Q's famous passenger trains, including the California Zephyr, Denver Zephyr, and Nebraska Zephyr. The line also hosted freight trains, including Chicago-to-Denver time freights, livestock specials, and large blocks of reefers (refrigerator cars). The start of the Golden Years for the Q was 1934, when the original Zephyr first created a stir around the country. The Burlington had maintained a modern fleet of steam locomotives in 1930, powerful O-5 and O-5A 4-8-4 Northerns and class S-4 Hudsons that were the primary fast freight and name passenger power into the 1940s. In Burlington Route Across the Hearland, Jeff Wilson highlights much of this action, along with the first arrival of freight diesels and the evolution of Zephyr operations and equipment." -From back cover
This authoritative, illustrated history of the Zephyr fleet examines the trains, their motive power and landmark streamlined designs, rolling stock (including the Vista-Dome, generally considered the first successful dome car), and services. Dozens of black-and-white archival images and period color photographs depict Zephyrs along routes throughout the Midwest, Rocky Mountains, Pacific Coast, and Texas, as well as Burlington uniforms, dinnerware, stations and terminals, and interior views of cars. In the process, the book provides a dramatic visual account of train travel's decline throughout the century. Also featured are period advertisements, and route maps, timetables, and menus.
