After reading the thread below regarding saving documentation, a question came to mind. When the Zephyr trainset that is now at the National Transportation Museum in St. Louis was stored in Mt. Pleasant, IA, I seem to recall looking in the broken windows and seeing a lot of railroad paperwork. I'm not sure exactly what the paperwork was, I was kind of young at the time. Does anyone know if the paperwork survived to move to St. Louis? And if it did, what became of it?

Thanks,
Boyd


ddg14@attbi.com

> When the Zephyr trainset that is now
> at the National Transportation Museum in St.
> Louis was stored in Mt. Pleasant, IA...

The Museum of Transportation in St. Louis doesn't have a complete Zephyr trainset, it has a Zephyr shovelnose locomotive - #9908, used on the General Pershing Zephyr if I remember correctly. The Zephyr trainset that was in Mount Pleasant at one point is a different Zephyr, the Mark Twain Zephyr (I think it's either #9902 or #9903). That trainset, or what's left of it, is stored near Joliet, Illinois at the Relco facility.

Frank Hicks

fullparallel@wideopenwest.com

My Mistake. I had been (incorrectly apparently) told that the Zephyr from Mt. Pleasant went to St. Louis.

Boyd

ddg14@attbi.com

Anyone know the story behind how it ended up in derelict condition at a locomotive rebuilder instead of being restored? As bad as I remember it looking at Mt. Pleasant, it still was in a lot better shape than it is now. Was it an aborted restoration attempt? The link below has more photos of how bad it looks now.

Boyd

Mark Twain Zephyr

ddg14@attbi.com

I spoke with the owner (don't know if he still owns it) some years ago. I gathered that he had bought and moved it and was looking for some way to recoup his investment. One scenario was to place it across the former turntable area of the old Aurora roundhouse, before that was redeveloped into a sports bar. One end would have been in one side of the building, with the other end stretched across to the other side. Another had visions of some sort of gambling train, but I don't know if there would be gambling on board or just transportation to a gambling boat on the Mississippi.

You can see the result - not much. He said he had had a new set of glass made, including the curved windows, but they were not to be installed yet due to possible breakage. Not sure if the interior of this train has survived. It was gutted at one point and I'm not sure if the seats, etc., survived. Anyone know?

> Anyone know the story behind how it ended up
> in derelict condition at a locomotive
> rebuilder instead of being restored? As bad
> as I remember it looking at Mt. Pleasant, it
> still was in a lot better shape than it is
> now. Was it an aborted restoration attempt?
> The link below has more photos of how bad it
> looks now.

> Boyd


ryarger@rypn.org

Anyone know who actually owned it while it was at Mt. Pleasant? Hopefully it was some type of historical group who saved the paperwork that was inside before selling it.

Boyd

Mark Twain Zephyr

ddg14@attbi.com

> Anyone know who actually owned it while it
> was at Mt. Pleasant? Hopefully it was some
> type of historical group who saved the
> paperwork that was inside before selling it.

> Boyd

Is it still for sale? Is there any possibility of a group like Heartland getting it? Then again, it looks like there might not be much left there in the first place to get!

TJG


Port Huron Museum
tjgaffney@phmuseum.org

It's still for sale and definately in need of a good home. The link below is to Rail Merchants International's web site advertising it.

Boyd

Rail Merchants International - Mark Twain Zephyr
ddg14@attbi.com

The huge amount of work to be done on this train pretty much places it out of the weekends-only volunteer restoration category if it is to be completed within out lifetimes. With that in mind, I wonder if it could become part of a larger related entity, such as the science center at Kansas City Union Station or perhaps St. Louis Union Station.

It's a big project, but not impossible, as the Pioneer Zephyr and Flying Yankee projects have proven.

ryarger@rypn.org

> The huge amount of work to be done on this
> train pretty much places it out of the
> weekends-only volunteer restoration category
> if it is to be completed within out
> lifetimes. With that in mind, I wonder if it
> could become part of a larger related
> entity, such as the science center at Kansas
> City Union Station or perhaps St. Louis
> Union Station.

FYI, I just sent some Joliet-ares "spies" (professional car rebuilders) out after the train to report back to me on actual condition, price, etc. Stay tuned.



lner4472@bcpl.net