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The following links are to photos which are part of the Denver Public Library's online Otto Perry collection.  (The last link, as noted, is to a L.C. McClure photo).  These images are copyrighted and their use is subject to restrictions. For more information go to the Denver Public Library website.

The Zephyrs were the ultimate pride of the Burlington’s passenger department and were very well received by the public. In October 1936, the new Denver Zephyr was on display at Denver Union Station. Here, parlor-lounge-observation car Silver Flash is on the rear. The car’s whereabouts today are unclear, but it’s likely in Saudi Arabia.

After the E5s were introduced in 1940, they often replaced shovelnose units on trains like the Denver Zephyr. Though their carbody curvature did not match the older trains perfectly, the all-stainless units made for a truly elegant sight on the head end. Here, No. 9911 is on the point near Denver. Today it still operates at the Illinois Railway Museum, but none of the B units survived. 

Sometimes steam had to be substituted on the Zephyrs and two 4-6-4s were rebuilt and streamlined for extra power. No. 4000 is seen near Derby, Colorado (today’s Commerce City) in 1938. A year later, standard Hudson No. 4003 is also pulling the Denver Zephyr at Chicago. No. 4000, minus its tin shroud, is displayed today at LaCrosse, Wisconsin. 

Gleaming in the sun, No. 9907 is seen with the Denver Zephyr at the siding called Cox, Colorado in 1937. Over 60 years later, the indestructible Zephyrs still gleam when the sun is shining.

By the early 1950s, the Denver Zephyrs were not always perfectly matched sets. Here, an E8 heads an old shovelnose B unit and a newer baggage car. A reassembled set of the 1936 DZ cars would likely get a restored pair of E8s on the head end, as the lone E5 is spoken for and all other older power has been scrapped.

The second Denver Zephyr sets of 1956 were possibly Budd’s last complete new trainsets built for an American railroad. Dome-equipped, the new train also featured the new "slumbercoaches", which provided economical sleeping quarters. Here, the train is at Denver, behind two E9s, in the early 1960s. Today, this train could still be recreated in full, with authentic equipment.