CB&Q, DRG&W and WP Exposition Flyer, 1939-1949

Fred Klein, 2015

The Exposition Flyer was a train from Chicago to San Francisco/Oakland initiated to bring visitors to the Golden Gate International Exposition in 1939. The exposition was on treasure island, an island made from filled land next to Yerba Buena island in the middle of San Francisco Bay. The exposition island was reachable by car and tram on the newly-completed San Francisco-Oakland bay bridge. The three railroads Chicago Burlington and Quincy, Denver and Rio Grande Western and the Western Pacific partnered to carry the train over their respective railroads using cars and locomotives that each of them contributed. The daily train was so popular and was busy even when the San Francisco exhibition was closed, that service was extended to 1940 and beyond. The train lasted until 1949 when it was replaced by the streamlined California Zephyr on the same route and run by the same railroads.

 

The composition of the train changed over the years. Initially it was pulled by steam and later by diesels as newer locomotives became available. Each railroad provided its own power, and the photos below hint at the variety actually used. Also, streamlined light-weight cars gradually replaced some of the older heavyweight Pullmans as they were delivered. The train that I modeled approximates the one shown in the first pair of photos below, taken at Quincy Illinois on May 24, 1944. The train often traveled in several sections if passenger demand required it. Thus there is no single composition for the Exposition Flyer.

 

The worst wreck in CB&Q’s history was on April 25, 1946 when the advance section of the Exposition Flyer made an unscheduled stop in Naperville, and was rear-ended by the main section of the Flyer. The accident killed 45, injured 69, and caused major damage to many cars. The only published consist I have found is on page 176 of the Burlington Bulletin No 42 for this two-section wrecked train at Naperville on April 25, 1946. This is an example of recording the detailed consist of wrecked trains the most frequently. The advance section had an RPO, 6 baggage cars, an express reefer, 3 coach/chair cars, a diner and an observation-parlor car. The second section has 3 coach/chair cars, a diner, two tourist Pullmans, a 6-6 and 10-1-2 Pullman, and an observation-lounge car with 10 sections.

 

The photo shows the full train just having crossed the Mississippi River at Quincy. It was taken by Fred Lehmann from the tower on CB&Qs depot on May 24, 1944. The photo is from the Burlington Bulletin No 42, special issue on the Exposition Flyer, page 136. The same photo was published as the regular “bird’s eye view” article on pages 38-39 of the spring 2003 issue of Classic Trains Magazine. The exposition usually crossed the river 65 miles upriver at Burlington, but flooding caused the re-routing. The caption accompanying the photo describes the consist of the whole train as captured in the single photo. The photo is detailed and was printed in a double page spread, and I show it in two pieces.

 

I matched the cars in the train as closely as I could from factory painted cars or cars that were easy to decal. The model represents a 1944 train on the Burlington’s part of the route. I added two cars that could have been on the train: a rail post office car could be one that traveled on the flyer, and often did. The “buy war bonds” car traveled on the CB&Q during the war years. Germany did not surrender until May 7, 1945, a year after this picture, and Japan did not surrender until September 2, 1945. Fighting was still fierce and the need for war funding great.

 

The whole Exposition Flyer on May 24, 1944

 

The Exposition Flyer at Quincy Illinois behind a pair of CB&Q E5A diesels. In later years an AB pair of E5s would be used. The train had a single section today, perhaps because of wartime restrictions. The N scale train is modeled after the train in this photo. Note the single silver colored light-weight CBQ coach, whose roof is painted black for wartime “invisibility”. The photo is from the Burlington Bulletin No 42, special issue on the Exposition Flyer, page 136.

 

The flyer behind a DRG&W steam locomotive in the Rocky Mountains on June 11, 1939, the day after service began. The Burlington observation car has an enclosed solarium section in the rear. The drumhead was not used during and after the war.

 

This is the first Exposition Flyer to be powered by E5s. It is westbound on March 10, 1940 and has 13 cars including a baggage car, two mail storage cars, and an RPO that will be dropped off in Ottuma, Iowa. Photo by Hank Kuepper.

 

The Exposition Flyer with a 12 car consist in the snow near the Mississippi River in March 1940. Photo by Hank Kuepper.

 

The Exposition Flyer in 1948 in the Colorado Rockies pulled by a 4-unit set of Rio Grande EMD FTs. Photo by Otto Roach.

 

The Exposition Flyer in the Feather River Canyon pulled by Western Pacific F unit diesels late in the 1940s, just before the train was replaced by the California Zephyr. The photograph looks like it was colorized by photographic stains.

 

The model train emulates the consist in the double photo above (taken at Quincy) and is listed as the prototype train in the table. I added the “Buy war bonds” car and parlor car to the consist.

 

 

 

Exposition Flyer, Burlington power and head end cars

 

After March 1940, the train was pulled by two E5s, an A and a B unit. Sometimes two A units were used, as in the photo above from May 24, 1944. I use a second A unit. The first A unit is borrowed from the Silver Streak Zephyr set. The locomotives are Kato models. The express box car (a Microtrains model), painted in Pullman green, is of the type used in the 1940s, and could carry express or often storage mail.

 

Most Exposition Flyers carried a rail post office and a few mail storage cars, especially in the advance sections if there was enough traffic to have more than one section. The 70’ RPO-baggage is a Microtrains model and is based on a CB&Q prototype. The Flyer often had off-road baggage cars to carry mail and express to or from the east. The 70’ baggage cars are Wheels of Time models. These diesels and cars are prototypical, or nearly so, for the Exposition Flyer as it appeared on CBQ rails.

 

Coach section

 

Burlington painted a wartime coach with “buy war bonds”. I have not seen any photos of the Exposition Flyer with this car, but the war coach would have travelled the system. This is a Model Power car custom painted by Ernie Guise. A “War bonds” coach was issued by the N Scale Enthusiast group in 2015. Next are three more coaches. The CBQ coach is a stock Microtrains model. The two Western Pacific coaches are re-decaled Microtrains models with round roofs added.

 

Coach, Pullman, diner, and parlor car

In 1944, the year of this train, the Burlington was receiving light-weight coaches from the Budd company and one or more was frequently in the flyer. The Budd coach is a Kato model. Next is a 12 section-1 drawing room Pullman, a Microtrains factory model. These older cars were less popular but they were put to service during the war. The heavyweight diner is a decaled Rivarossi model. I don’t know if the Flyer carried parlor cars, but I added one behind the diner for passengers to wait comfortably for a dinner table. The CB&Q parlor car is a factory Microtrains model.

 

Final Pullman section

 

The Exposition flyer included at least one 16-section tourist class sleeper for budget travel. A tourist car is not made in N scale, but the window arrangement of the 28-1 parlor car is very similar, and the model train has a Microtrains parlor car decaled as a Pullman tourist car. The next Pullman is a 10 section-1 drawing room-2 compartment car substituting for a 8 section-5 compartment car. The final car is a Pullman 2-3 observation substituting for a Pullman 10 section-lounge observation. These three cars are all Microtrains models.

 

 

 

 

REFERENCES

 

The definitive reference with lots of photos is Exposition Flyer, Burlington Bulletin No. 42, Burlington Route Historical Society, 2003, 263 pages.

 

http://www.drgw.org/data/passenger/Expo.htm

 

Dorin, Patrick, Everywhere West, the Burlington Route, Superior Publishing, 1976.

 

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