California Zephyr Neon Sign at National Railroad Museum

This neon sign for the California Zephyr, a celebrated passenger train introduced in 1949, is now housed at the National Railroad Museum. The train connected Chicago with the San Francisco Bay Area, offering passengers views of the Rocky and Sierra Nevada mountains. The sign's design, featuring the train's name alongside imagery of a bridge, city skyline, and locomotive, evokes the optimism and romance associated with mid-20th-century transcontinental rail travel.