The "Ak-Sar-Ben" portion of name was created by spelling Nebraska (Neb-ras-ka) backwards and taken from a fraternal organization of the same name.
The first Ak-Sar-Ben Zephyr was an eastbound-only daylight service between Lincoln, Nebraska and Chicago.
[1]: 140 Although gradually downgraded during the 1960s the train survived into the Burlington Northern era before being discontinued in August 1970.
[2] The westbound, as of April 26, 1964, was:[3] The eastbound train departed Lincoln at 9:00 p.m., arriving at Chicago Union Station the following morning at 7:50 a.m.
In 1938–1940 the Budd Company constructed a fleet of lightweight cars for the CB&Q for use on various routes.