California Zephyr Artwork
V&T Enterprises
Silver Solarium vista dome observation car No. 377 of the Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy.
The California Zephyr was one of America’s most iconic passenger trains ever to operate in the mid-20th century. Between 1949 and 1970, the train ran between Oakland and Chicago along the Western Pacific, Denver, and Rio Grande Western and Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy railroads. The innovative and signature vista dome cars of the California Zephyr were famous for providing breathtaking, spectacular views of American scenery throughout the nation’s heartland, the Rocky Mountains, and along the Feather River canyon. Passengers enjoyed the 2500-mile-long, three-day journey in air-conditioned comfort with silver-plated dining service. Well-appointed private compartments with sofas converted into comfortable beds with full linen service at night.
Appearing on the tail sign of each of the nine vista dome observation cars was an impressionist depiction of the train’s western terminus framed with the glowing neon letters “California Zephyr”. The tricolor artwork represents the Golden Gate Bridge with the San Francisco skyline and north shore landing circa 1949, the inaugural year of the California Zephyr. The author rode this train with his father in 1967 on a trip to NYC and Washington, DC, three years just before its last run in 1970. That trip is celebrated with this artwork.
A high-resolution closeup of the tail sign from the Western Pacific Silver Crescent was used to first digitize this artwork and then colorize it in the three original hand-painted colors: orange, black and red. The digitization of the original artwork was done to an accuracy of 1/64”.
With a completely digitized file, the tail sign artwork can now be expressed through different media - specifically sheet metal in a variety of different alloys. A default visualization of the original color scheme can be bronze or brass for the orange sky, steel for the black bridge silhouette, and copper for the red fill. The recommended fabrication technology is high-precision laser cutting, with a beam cut of typically 8 mils (0.008”) using 62.5 mils (1/16”) material thickness.
In order for all pieces to fit together precisely as a mosaic, the entire design is cut out completely in each of the three grouped metals: bronze/steel/copper or brass/steel/copper. In addition to the default mosaic combination (steel bridge, copper fill, and bronze/brass sky), two other combinations are also possible: 1) steel sky, copper bridge, and bronze/brass fill, and 2) copper sky, steel fill and bronze/brass bridge. With these four metal alloys, six mosaic combinations are possible.
Completely assembled mosaics of the iconic California Zephyr tail sign artwork are available in a variety of metal alloy combinations, either framed or unframed. Please send all inquiries to: [email protected].
