Dear Silver Pilot,
A little teasing is nothing to be concerned about. It’s all in good fun and it keeps the yard lively. I’ve had plenty of practice being teased too! I looked quite strange when I was new, to say nothing of being a diesel when diesels weren’t common yet. Then there was the time I broke down, was late for an inspection, and had to be hauled into the station by a steam engine. The steam crews had plenty of jokes about that.
Still, the guides have included the postcards with 999 and 2903 on them so you can see what they look like if you want to flatter them too. 999’s postcard is quite funny. 2903 is so big that the only way they could get a picture of her without him in the background was to take it from above while standing on his cab. That’s what the black wedge in the corner is. 999 likes it though; you rarely get a photo of an engine from that angle.
Your last letter added to U-505’s English with your talk of philanthropy. It was a word he’d not encountered before, even though the MSI really lives and dies by it. Almost everything here is funded or donated by companies so they can show everyone they support the museum. Even just being here ourselves is a sort of philanthropy since we were donated by our railroads and still have their names on us.
U-505 has also had quite a bit of philanthropy done on him too. When he arrived here, he was missing nearly everything from his interior. The Navy took anything that wasn’t riveted on for research or as souvenirs so he didn’t much look like a submarine inside anymore. That wouldn’t do, so the museum wrote to all the companies in Germany that made his parts and they all sent new ones for him for free. They wanted him to be a credit to German technology and it would only be historically accurate if their company names were on the parts.
Speaking of historical accuracy, I have a small confession to make. Not all of us shovelnoses did have names. In fact, I don’t have one. The Pioneer Zephyr is the name of my train, not me particularly. When I wrote that first letter all those years ago, I was told to sign it “Pioneer Zephyr” because it was more personable than No. 9900. So when I wrote to you, I signed it the same way. It’s never been a question before because we’re a trainset. If you are speaking of me, you’re almost certainly speaking of my coaches too. Neither of them mind if I borrow the title for a name since they think it’s proper the engine should be the face of the train. It’s not like I could run off on my own with it anyway!
I’m lucky though. My first brothers, 9901 and 9902, never received names and they couldn’t even cheat by using the name of their train like I do. The Twin Cities Zephyr was the name of their route, not the train itself, and they had to share it besides.
After them came 9903 “Injun Joe” and his Mark Twain Zephyr, which is when they started naming the train itself and everyone in it. Mark Twain is a famous writer and all the cars in the train are named for characters in his books. Injun Joe is supposed to be a bit of a joke since it sounds like “engine” and they must have thought it was very clever because every piece of stainless steel that came after him was given a name too.
My guides did try to find out how any of my surviving siblings might be doing but as you can imagine, it’s hard to get definite answers when everyone’s so spread out. They say Injun Joe and his coaches (Becky Thatcher, Tom Sawyer, and Huck Finn) as well as our 500 are still in Mount Pleasant, but no one’s sure what’s being done with them. As you understand, the uncertainty is troubling but it does mean there’s still hope they’ll find their way back into service eventually.
Then there’s The Flying Yankee. He’s a peculiar case.
He was built right after me but before 9901 and 9902. He is a shovelnose and we do consider him a brother, but he’s not a Zephyr like the rest of us. He was sent to the Maine Central – Boston & Maine Railroad so he doesn’t know our Ways. Despite that, he must have made the same impression on the New Englanders as we have in the Midwest because he retired in ‘57 and was immediately donated to the Edaville Railroad in Carver, Massachusetts. He’s on static display, but they’re a working heritage railway not unlike the IRM so he’s in good company.
Lastly, there’s No. 9908 “Silver Charger”. He pulled the General Pershing Zephyr and was named for the General’s horse. Another play on words, although he is obviously not an iron horse but stainless steel one. He doesn’t have his cars anymore unfortunately (his cars weren’t articulated like the rest of ours so they were easier to misplace), but he himself has been preserved. He’s at the National Museum of Transportation in St. Louis, Missouri. He’s also on static display, but I’m told he sits next to a Frisco 2-10-0 and they’re thick as thieves. His museum is about transport in general so they’ve got planes, boats, and autos as well as rail engines. I wonder if he’s actually met many though? The MSI has all those things too, but they keep them inside so I’ve never met them.
I’m pleased to hear that your museum is bringing in more stock. It’s always good to know that more of us are being kept and appreciated, even if we’re not taking revenue. In my experience, “it’s complicated” means there was some mischief involved, but mischief can be forgiven if it means we stay in service. It makes for a good story too.
I don’t think I ever did meet your new PCC car. We didn’t really run on the same tracks. My guides tell me that the IRM was originally just for interurban cars though so she’ll hopefully have plenty of company who did.
That’s a nice fact to know about the IRM actually. Us engines are more likely to be considered for preservation than other kinds of stock, but we wouldn’t be very interesting without the trains we pulled. The cars that make up the trains are often overlooked. Obviously I’m happy that your museum broadened their interest enough to rescue your train and then you yourself from scrap, especially since even us diesels are still new enough that not everyone sees the point in putting us in museums. It’s just also good to know that your museum started out with the intention of preserving stock that doesn’t usually get the sort of attention we engines do.
I quite like the rain. We don’t have a washdown here so if they wanted to wash us, it’d be a bit of a project (and a rather pointless one at that). I don’t exactly miss the days when they used to scrub me and my train down with Ajax every night either. A nice rain shower leaves us a little shinier than we were and we don’t have to stay up late for it!
Please tell your new yardmates that I hope they are enjoying their new assignments!
Your friend,
Pioneer Zephyr