#zephyrette

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Zephyrette

RDC2 375 working Salt Lake City–Oakland Zephyrette at Salt Lake City, circa 1951–52.

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Zephyrette

RDC2 375 working Oakland–Salt Lake City–Oakland Zephyrette near Altamont, Calif., March 1951.

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Zephyrette RDC at Oakland 1960

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Western Pacific Zephyrette interior photo. Note the reclining seats, intended for long-distance passengers, in front of the partition. In the rear portion of the car are commuter-style reversible seats of the type usually found in Budd Rail Diesel Cars. The photo-mural on the left-hand partition shows a Zephyrette on the high bridge near Altamont Pass, California. The two Zephyrettes ran between Oakland and Salt Lake City three times a week for eleven years between 1950 and 1960.

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WP 376 Zephyrette Salt Lake City, UT August, 1960

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Western Pacific RDC Zephyrette #376 Colusa, CA March 26, 1960

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Nighttime meeting of the eastbound and westbound Zephyrettes on the Nevada desert

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The Western Pacific's "Zephyrette" passenger train stopped at the Salt Lake City, Utah passenger station in November, 1959. The diminutive train of two Budd-built RDC2s (rail diesel cars) had an incredibly long route, covering 972 miles between Salt Lake City and Oakland, California, the longest distance operation to use RDCs. The "Zephyrettes" replaced the Royal Gorge, trains 1 and 2, and complemented WP's streamlined California Zephyr. The two RDC2s ran on the Western Pacific from 1950 to 1960, when they were sold to Northern Pacific. They later went to Amtrak and were eventually scrapped. The station, located at 300 South Rio Grande Street, was jointly served by the Denver & Rio Grande Western and Western Pacific. The arched windows were common of architecture in the 1910s and 1920s.