The Pioneer Zephyr is a diesel-powered stream-lined train-set built by the Budd Company in 1934 for the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad in the United States.
Since then, a zephyr has come to mean an American passenger rail route operated using stream-liner train-set of locomotives or power cars with matching passenger cars. Zephyr rail routes with proper names include:
Amtrak Illinois Zephyr, Chicago, Illinois to Quincy, Illinois California Zephyr, Chicago, Illinois to Emeryville, California San Francisco Zephyr, Chicago, Illinois to San Francisco, California
Burlington-Rock Island Railroad Rocky Mountain Rocket, Chicago, Illinois to Denver, Colorado Sam Houston Zephyr, Fort Worth to Houston, Texas Zephyr Rocket, St. Louis, Missouri to Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota (jointly operated with Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad)
Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad Ak-Sar-Ben Zephyr, Lincoln, Nebraska to Chicago, Illinois American Royal Zephyr, Chicago to Kansas City Denver Zephyr, Denver to Chicago General Pershing Zephyr, Kansas City to St. Louis Kansas City Zephyr, Kansas City to Chicago Nebraska Zephyr, Chicago, Illinois to Lincoln, Nebraska Ozark State Zephyr, Kansas City to St. Louis Silver Streak Zephyr, Lincoln, Nebraska to Kansas City, Missouri Twin Cities Zephyr, Chicago to Minneapolis Zephyr Rocket, St. Louis to Minneapolis; jointly operated with Rock Island Railroad
Other trains Mark Twain Zephyr, St. Louis, Missouri to Burlington, Iowa; an early articulated trainset Minnesota Zephyr, a heritage railroad out of Stillwater, Minnesota Rio Grande Zephyr, Denver, Colorado to Ogden, Utah; operated by Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad Texas Zephyr, Denver to Dallas
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