Mark Twain Zephyr

The Mark Twain Zephyr was an early diesel four-unit articulated streamliner that the Budd Company built for the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad in the style of the Pioneer Zephyr. It had a stainless steel body with a shovel nose, a power car numbered 9903 and named Injun Joe, and three trailers named Becky Thatcher, Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn, and its diesel engine was made by the Winton Engine Company. It was named for the author Mark Twain because it was scheduled to run between St. Louis and Burlington, Iowa by way of his hometown of Hannibal, Missouri, where it was christened on October 25, 1935 before entering revenue service two days later. In practice it spent only about half of its 22.5 years on that route, and because its articulated design meant the railroad could not add cars at busy times, it was replaced by trains of flexible length; its last day of operation was April 27, 1958.