Is there a difference between Lionel Zephyr?

It's hard to explain why. Maybe, the history of each comes into play. I heard rumor and maybe it was just that. The Mark Twain is a Limited Edition set. In the market place you'll find many more of the Pioneer Zephyr than you will of the Mark Twain. I've owned three Zephyrs. Two Mikes and one Lionel all were Pioneer. It would be an expensive shelf queen for me but I'd go with the Mark Twain. If you are able to compare you will see that they are not identical. Just as they were in real life.

1.  Are they both from the same seller? And is one used and the other not? There's no difference in operating features between these Legacy versions so any price difference must reflect something else.

2.  You mention comparing the Pioneer set with the Mark Twain version but there were three sets that Lionel catalogued as "Pioneer"; one was a Christmas version (red stripe), one Lionel Lines (blue stripe) and one with no painted stripe like the original Burlington Zephyr. Not sure how well the novelty versions actually sold as compared to the other two although I suppose it's possible the Mark Twain was more sought after than the others - but see point 3 below.

3.  I looked at these sets carefully when they came out and got the Mark Twain version. That version of course has specific names for the engine and cars that are meant to correspond to the prototype but somehow Lionel messed up one of the names so that it reads "Huckleberry Fin" instead of "Finn." Annoying, that, as the name plates themselves are moulded in features and correcting the spelling is not really an option.

The Lionel Mark Twain Zephyr is the Pioneer Zephyr with different car names.

 The Lionel model:

Notice the dip in the brow of the model.  This was unique to only the Pioneer Zephyr. 

The original PZ consisted of a Power Car/RPO/Baggage, Baggage/Coach, Observation/Coach/Parlor.

The MTZ consisted of a Power Car/RPO, Baggage, Dinette/Coach, Observation/Coach.

The Lionel model is at best a stand-in for the Mark Twain Zephyr

The Prototype:

Plus, the Lionel model lacks the full baggage car Becky Thacher.

Rusty

Agreed - right on both counts but despite these discrepancies the Mark Twain is still a nice model. For the OP maybe you should check out Eric S's video review on http://www.ericstrains.com/video/index.php. He doesn't mention the way one car name was flubbed (although you can see it in his video) but then only purists may be annoyed by it given the way the model otherwise performs!

Not being one to argue the point. And I will not. Just why was the Pioneer head car different? I'll tell you, the original prototype was destroyed in a accident. If Lionel got this wrong that's their problem. I have a 18"X 8' drawing of the, "Mark Twain Zephyr" signed, numbered and authenticated. It's all the proof I need.

If we're going down memory lane (but not to hijack a thread about price), here's the only Pioneer Zephyr I know (aside from Lionel's earlier chrome plated version), from the Museum of Science & Industry, Chicago:

Note that the "brow" is not as pronounced as on the model - also it appears to be standing on Fastrak! 

And there's this nice Burlington brochure of the Mark Twain Zephyr's route:

If I was interested in a LIONEL train with a $200 difference in price, I'd to LIONEL's website and check the parts used by each to see if they are different in ways other than car names.

The Pioneer Zyphyr had several collisions in fact. On October 2, 1939, she ran through an open switch in Missouri into a steam engine, killing the Zephyr crew and destroying the front of the power unit. But the Burlington's Aroura shops with Budd and EMD assistance had the Pioneer Zephyr rebuilt and in operation two months later. She had a second front end collision in 1949 in Texas and another in 1950 in Colorado. No fatalities that last time, though the fireman was seriously injured. So what we see now at the Museum of Science & Industry has been rebuilt multiple times. I found this all out in an old issue of Burlington's monthly magazine (don't have the issue in front of me) and it's a fascinating read.

Tom

I decide to go cheap, after watching Eric video, and realizing that there was no difference. Plus since the Mark Twain was missing a car ( Becky), the mis spelling (something that I am good at) and that I plan on running it (no shelves queens here). I went with the pioneer.  I don't want to give endorsements but thanks Charlie.

Googling Pioneer Zephyr yields a lot of photos (though I'm not sure they are all captioned properly) and a Wikipedia discussion of the PZ and a link to the Mark Twain Zephyr (the last one built).  In that discussion there is a link to this write-up:

http://www.gatewaynmra.org/200...q-mark-twain-zephyr/

which has a nice discussion of the history of the MTZ as well as some historical photos.  As another poster pointed out, the windshields of the MTZ (and apparently those of the sister Twin Cities Zephyrs) did not have the dip in the 'brow' that the original Pioneer Zephyr did.  You'll note that somewhere along the timeline the Zephyrs acquired a mars light mounted on top of the original headlight.

According to this article and the Wikipedia piece, the MTZ is stored in deteriorating condition in Illinois east of St. Louis...

At $599 plus shipping, it is a great deal for a die cast body set....

Yes indeed. That is nearly $300 less than the street price at the time these sets were issued and roughly half the catalogue price. It's also a fraction of a recent auction price I've seen but of course that's no guide to value.