The Pioneer Zephyr is a diesel-powered railroad trainset built by the Budd Company in 1934 for the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad. The train, which featured extensive use of stainless steel, was originally named Zephyr and meant as a promotional tool to advertise passenger rail service in the United States. The train's construction included innovations such as shotwelding to join the stainless steel and articulation to reduce the train's weight. The trainset entered regular revenue service November 11 1934 between Kansas City, Missouri, Omaha and Lincoln, Nebraska. It was operated on this route until its retirement in 1960 when it was donated to the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago where it remains on public display. The train is generally regarded as the first successful streamliner on American railroads.

Read the rest of this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pioneer_Zephyr

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1775: American Revolution: Patrick Henry made his "Give me liberty or give me death" speech to the Virginia House of Burgesses. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Henry)

1801: Tsar Alexander I acceded to the Russian throne after his father Paul I was brutally murdered. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_I_of_Russia)

1919: In Milan, Italy, Benito Mussolini founded the Fascist movement. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fascism)

1978: The first UNIFIL troops arrived in Lebanon for a peacekeeping mission along the Blue Line. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Line_%28Lebanon%29)

1996: Lee Teng-hui was elected President of the Republic of China in the first direct presidential election in Taiwan. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Teng-hui)

_____________________ Wikiquote of the day:

"Creativity requires the courage to let go of certainties." -- Erich Fromm (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Erich_Fromm)