| Sam Houston Zephyr | |
|---|---|
First trainset of the line which was destroyed by fire in 1944. |
|
| Overview | |
| Service type | Inter-city rail |
| First service | 1936 |
| Last service | 1966 |
| Route | |
| Start | Fort Worth, Texas |
| End | Houston, Texas |
| Distance travelled | 283.1 miles (455.6 km) |
| Average journey time | 5 hours |
| Train number(s) | 3 and 4 |
| On-board services | |
| Observation facilities | Observation-parlor-diner |
| Technical | |
| Gauge | 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) |
| Track owner(s) | Burlington-Rock Island Railroad |
The Sam Houston Zephyr was a named passenger train operated by the Burlington-Rock Island Railroad, a subsidiary of both the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad and the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad. It was the first streamlined passenger train in Texas.[1]
Inaugurated on October 1, 1936,[2] the year of the Texas centennial celebrations, the streamlined train was named for Texas hero Sam Houston. On its original schedule, the train ran from the Texas and Pacific station in Fort Worth to Union Station in Houston, Texas, in exactly five hours, making only four intermediate stops in Dallas, Waxahachie, Corsicana, and Teague. The train was designated number 3 southbound, and number 4 northbound. Its chief competitor was the Sunbeam, operated by the Texas and New Orleans Railroad (a subsidiary of the Southern Pacific) on a parallel route between Dallas and Houston.
Like many other passenger trains that experienced declining revenues in the face of competition from automobiles and airplanes in the 1950s and 1960s, the Sam Houston Zephyr was discontinued in 1966.[3]