To call the Silver Streak Zephyr famous before its time would be to do the all-corrugated, slick stainless steel train a disservice. Named after a movie of the same name which featured the CB&Qs distinctive corrugated equipment, the Silver Streak Zephyr and its specially built EMD E5A unit Silver Bullet was a short distance luxury train that operated between Lincoln, Nebraska and Kansas City with stops in Omaha and St. Joseph.

Like the train it pulled, the EMD E5A was a unique piece of equipment – specially built just for the CB&Q so that they could have a locomotive which matched their Budd built corrugated cars, the EMD E5A was wrapped in shining stainless steel and ribbed with corrugated fluting that gave the CB&Qs trains an unmatched streamlined look.