The National Museum of Transportation St. Louis MO has a lot of great exhibits from autos to trains and more. They have over 70 locomotives.

I think that train was one of the inspirations for the O-series bullet train? Thanks for posting!

Is this the Pioneer Zephyr?

No, the "Pioneer Zephyr" has been at Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry for many years.
At first, it lay neglected along the side of the museum building, but it was cleaned, restored to its original appearance, then lowered to a position where it now greets those passing between the new underground parking garage and the new entrance to the museum.

I believe that is #9908, the last of the "shovel nosed" locomotives.

Zephyr - PentaxForums.com

Thanks for the information. Much appreciated.

Doing a bit of Googling, 9908 is the power unit for the General Pershing Zephyr (Kansas City - St. Louis) and was known as the Silver Charger. It was unique in that it used a single 1000hp diesel rather than twin 900hp units used in earlier units. Because its intended Kansas City - St. Louis route passed near the birthplace and boyhood home of famous World War I General John J. Pershing, the train was named after him. The power car was named Silver Charger, after Pershing's horse Charger, while the passenger cars were named after U.S. Army badges of rank—Silver Leaf, Silver Eagle, and Silver Star.

There's an Australian angle to this train set - the diner-lounge-observation car Silver Star was sold to AMAX Iron Ore Corporation in 1974 and given to Mt Newman Mining (now part of BHP Billiton) in Western Australia and renamed Sundowner. It was used for many years as passenger accommodation on the fortnightly supply train to the mines. As of 2006, it was still being used for VIP and inspection trains. Since 2010, it has been the nucleus of the Silver Star Cafe in Port Hedland, Western Australia.

Port Hedland is a major iron ore export centre in the remote (and hot) upper north west coast of Australia.

Another difference was was in arrangement of cars. Earlier trains were partially or completely ‘articulated’. In the “Pioneer Zephyr”, for example, there was one truck at each joining of cars; so it had a total of five trucks for the four units. The later trains were longer, and had a separate locomotive, then each pair of cars were “articulated” - three trucks for every pair of passenger cars. “Articulation” allowed lighter units, but the Burlington found over time that it reduced their operational flexibility.

Nice that a piece of history got recycled and reused. Does the USA use standard gauge?

Most USA track is 4' 8-1/2" gauge - because the first equipment imported into the USA came from England.
A few mountainous areas use 2' gauge because of the influence of Wales, or 3' gauge.

OK, standard gauge then. Thanks! I think we have at least four gauges in Australia - standard gauge for most lines, narrow gauge in Queensland, wide gauge in WA (I think) and the tiny gauge used on the sugar trains in Queensland which are the 2' mining gauge?

I just checked wikipedia and there's also dual gauge in several states. I'm dubious about the figures, because I'm pretty sure that there's more standard gauge in the ACT between the railway station and the NSW border, plus there's now a light rail (a rough estimate using Google maps suggests 7km of line between Kingston and the border, so it's less than I thought). Also I don't think the count of narrow gauge in NSW includes the switchback railway in the Blue Mountains, which used Queensland rolling stock. They are hoping to reopen next year - they lost almost everything in a bushfire.

To be more precise, the only two-foot gauge lines I know of were in the state of Maine - in the Northeast part of the country.
The only three-foot gauge lines I know of were in the states of Colorado and New Mexico - through the Rocky Mountains in the central part of the country.
I believe there were some five-foot gauge lines in the Southern part of the country, but the Civil War ended them {the South was hobbled by interchange problems}.

Fair enough. On the train line from Sydney to Brisbane, passengers used to have to change trains at the border because NSW was standard gauge and Queensland was narrow gauge. The line was since modified so it is standard gauge to Brisbane Central. I think some of the dual gauge line in WA (Western Australia not Washington) might be for the Indian-Pacific line?

Oddly enough Queensland now has what is probably the fastest trains in Australia, operating at up to 160 kmh on narrow gauge. Meanwhile in Japan, the Shinkansen operates at up to 320 kmh on standard gauge...

State Government railways in WA are narrow gauge (3 foot 6 inches) while the private lines operated in the Pilbara by the big mining companies are standard gauge.

SA used to be a mix of broad gauge (5 foot 3 inches) for lines radiating out from Adelaide (the state capital) and narrow gauge (3 foot 6 inches) in the mid/upper north and Eyre Peninsula. Then the then Commonwealth owned track within SA was converted to standard gauge starting in the early 1970s. So we had three gauges in operation. Much of the country track has since been ripped up or abandoned with only the interstate trunk routes left which are now all standard gauge. Broad gauge is still used for Adelaide commuter lines. The last narrow gauge (Eyre Peninsula) closed a year or two ago. Correction: the Whyalla steel plant still uses a private narrow gauge track to rail ore to the smelter.

The Sydney Melbourne line also used to have a break of gauge at the NSW ( standard gauge) / Victoria (broad gauge) border with people changing trains at Albury. Eventually the Victorian side of the interstate line switched to standard gauge. Victoria still uses broad gauge for its regional lines and I think the city commuters.

Standard gauge now links all the mainland state capitals.

Thanks for the extra info. So the Ghan is standard gauge?

It is the Silver Charger.