Mark Twain Zephyr

The Mark Twain Zephyr was an early articulated trainset that was similar to the Pioneer Zephyr in style. The train was built by Budd Company and was powered by a diesel engine produced by the Winton Engine Company. The train was given the name of 'Mark Twain Zephyr' because it was scheduled to provide service from St. Louis, Missouri to Burlington, Iowa via the hometown of Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) at Hannibal, Missouri. This train was made of stainless steel and had a "shovel nose" front.

The "locomotive" was given the number of 9903 and the name of Injun Joe. The following three cars received other names of Mark Twain characters, such as Becky Thatcher, Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn. It was retired by the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad (CB&Q) and it was purchased by Mr. Frank Dashner of Glenwood, Iowa in June of 1960. In June of 1962, the train was acquired by Ernie Hays for $6,500 and placed on exhibit at the Midwest Old Thresher Association grounds in Mount Pleasant, Iowa. In 1972, after many years of neglect, the train was sold to Alex Barkett of the Building Leasing Corporation, and moved to Kansas City. After Mr. Barkett died, title transferred to the Civic Plaza National Bank and in September of 1987 the train was moved to the Mid America Car Corporation. In 1984, Dave Stimson a player for the Kansas City Chiefs purchased the equipment. In 1987, the train was sold to John C. Lowe. He and two other individuals have formed the Mark Twain Corporation. Through 2007, the train was in unrestored condition and located in Minooka, Illinois. On January 24, 2008, it was supposedly moved to Granite City, Illinois for display in a downtown redevelopment effort but was shown by Gateway Rail Services in nearby Madison, Illinois to a group from the 2008 St. Louis Railroad Prototype Modelers Meet in August, 2008.

External links

• Gateway Rail Services
• Google Maps satellite view of the train set's current location (Apr 2010)
• Flickr gallery showing the state of the train in 1983