California Zephyr, 1948-1952, Con-cor train

Fred Klein, 2010

The California Zephyr ran from Chicago to Oakland and was introduced in 1948. The Budd Manufacturing Company made all of the cars. The CZ ran over Chicago, Burlington and Quincy rails to Denver, then on Denver and Rio Grande Western track to Salt Lake City, then on the Western Pacific to Oakland.

The Con-cor Budd passenger cars, introduced in 2000, make it possible to model the California Zephyr very accurately because most of the cars have CZ prototypes. All but one of the cars in the typical consist (six different car types) of the Con-cor models exactly match the prototype cars.

Power section

The power here is for Denver and Rio Grande Western's portion of the trip. In 1948 D&RGW pulled the CZ with an A-B-A set of Alco PA's purchased in 1947 for the CZ.

One baggage car (1948) began each consist. It also carried express merchandise. Names were Silver Coyote (shown), Buffalo, Stag, Bear, Antelope and Beaver. The Con-cor model closely follows the prototype.

Coach section

Next came three dome coaches for which the Con-cor model matches the 1948 prototype.

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