The train in the film was the Chicago, Burlington, & Quincy RR's "Pioneer Zephyr" passenger train. After the train was retired from service in 1960 it was donated to the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago where it is still on display.
The Burlington Zepher, also known as the Pioneer Zephyr, was the first two-stroke cycle diesel-electric train to be used successfully for mainline rail service in the United States, and was developed by the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railway. The train had its initial run in April 1934 and continued service for twenty-five years. Galesburg, Illinois, the headquarters of the Burlington line, was the sight of the film's premiere, according to a contemporary article in The Hollywood Reporter.
The studio chose Burlington's Zephyr after the Union Pacific Railroad declined use of their streamlined passenger train, the M-10000.
By the label on the crate being loaded into the train, they are shipping seven "Drinker respirators", invented by Philip Drinker (1894-1972) and Louis Shaw (1886-1940) at Harvard University. It was first used on a polio victim in 1928 at Boston Childrens Hospital. This was the first widely-used iron lung. It weighed about 750 pounds and cost $2,000 in 1930 ($36,300 in 2022).
Thjs film was a success at the box office, earning RKO a profit of $107,000 ($2.36M in 2022) according to studio records.