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Night on the Goddess Train:
Dinner with Venus, Vesta,
Minerva, Ceres, and Juno
From the 1930's to the 1960's, the Burlington Railroad
operated the Nebraska Zepher from Chicago to points west. Burlington named
each passenger car after a Roman goddess. The train's gleaming,
streamlined design set speed records and the standard for elegance.
The Nebraska Zepher has come back to life thanks to the
Illinois Railway Museum at Union, Illinois. During Labor Day weekend 2005,
the museum offered two-hour dinner excursions aboard the Zepher.
Passengers enjoyed delicious hot meals prepared and served by talented
volunteers in the original, stainless-steel galley and cars.
We hope you will visit the website of the Illinois
Railway Museum (www.irm.org), as well as the
museum itself. We strongly endorse their wonderful not-for-profit
organization and their educational mission.
No business education can be complete without a
knowledge of railroad history. Railroads have profoundly enriched the
technology, economy, and culture of America. Railroads were once America's
largest employer. They pioneered safety, telecommunications, automation,
engineering, scheduling, financing, and customer-service techniques that
businesses still use today.
In the meantime, here are two of our favorite
photographs of "The Goddess Train":
The Nebraska Zepher idling after sunset at the Illinois
Railway Museum depot in Union, Illinois.
Passengers enjoying the extra-large swivel seats inside the Nebraska Zepher's
observation car, after dinner in the nearby dining car.
If you live near or visit the Greater Chicago Area,
visit the Illinois Railway Museum!
Click the underlined link to go to their website: www.irm.org
Illinois Railway Museum telephone numbers: 800-BIG-RAIL
or 815-923-4000
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