The ''Silver Streak Zephyr'' was a train service of the

Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad The Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad was a railroad that operated in the Midwestern United States. Commonly referred to as the Burlington Route, the Burlington, or as the Q, it operated extensive trackage in the states of Colorado, Illin ...

in the American midwest. It ran from 1940 through 1959. On April 15, 1940 the

inaugurated the ''Silver Streak Zephyr'' operating a Lincoln-Omaha-St. Joseph-Kansas City round trip daily. The new train was named ''Silver Streak Zephyr'' for the train portrayed in the Paramount Motion Picture ''

The Silver Streak ''The Silver Streak'' is a 1934 American black-and-white film drama from RKO, loosely based on the record-setting "dawn-to-dusk" run of the ''Pioneer Zephyr'' on May 26, 1934. The film stars Sally Blane, Charles Starrett, William Farnum, and Har ...

'', with the starring role by the ''

Pioneer Zephyr The ''Pioneer Zephyr'' is a diesel-powered trainset built by the Budd Company in 1934 for the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad (CB&Q), commonly known as the Burlington Route. The trainset was the second internal combustion-powered streamli ...

''. The CB&Q liked the name and assigned it to the new ''Zephyr''. This was the second ''Zephyr'' assigned to this route as the ''Pioneer Zephyr'' had operated in this service for some time and had actually outgrown it, when it generated more traffic than it was able to handle. For power the new five car lightweight streamliner was assigned a new

EMD E5 The EMD E5 is a , A1A-A1A passenger train-hauling diesel locomotive manufactured by Electro-Motive Corporation, and its corporate successor, General Motors' Electro-Motive Division (EMD) of La Grange, Illinois, and produced exclusively for the Chi ...

A unit developing Passengers were obviously pleased with the new ''Silver Streak Zephyr'' as ridership showed a marked increase within days of the new trains entry into service. As with the earlier ''

General Pershing Zephyr The ''General Pershing Zephyr'' was the ninth of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad's ''Zephyr'' streamliners, and the last built as an integrated streamliner rather than a train hauled by an EMD E-unit diesel locomotive. It was constr ...

'' and ''

Ak-Sar-Ben Zephyr The ''Ak-Sar-Ben Zephyr'' was a streamlined passenger train operated by the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad (CB&Q) between Lincoln, Nebraska and Chicago, Illinois, United States. The first version operated from 1940 to 1947; a revived ser ...

'' the new ''Silver Streak Zephyr'' no longer operated with articulated train sets or for that matter even articulated cars. The Burlington's days of ordering articulated equipment were over and no further cars of that type would ever be contemplated.

References

* {{CBQ named trains Named passenger trains of the United States Passenger trains of the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad North American streamliner trains Railway services introduced in 1940 Railway services discontinued in 1959