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Unlike previous ''Zephyrs'', the ''General Pershing Zephyr'' was completely non-articulated; each car was self-contained and joined to the next by [[coupling (railway)|coupler]]s, rather than shared trucks. The inflexibility of the articulated layout had been recognised; it was hard to lengthen, shorten, or replace parts of the train. The route did not require a high-capacity train nor a powerful locomotive, so the ''General Pershing Zephyr'' returned to the pattern of the first ''[[Pioneer Zephyr]]'', being a power/baggage car and three trailers.
The power car, 9908 ''Silver Charger'', was unique. It utilised a single new [[EMD 567|EMC 567]] [[V12 engine|V-12]] engine developing 1,000 hp, rather than the pair used in the contemporary [[EMC E3]]. It had one [[Martin Blomberg]]-designed E-unit A1A passenger truck at the front, with powered outer axles and a center idler axle, and an unpowered trailing truck, giving it the unusual [[wheel arrangement]] of A1A-2. This made it mechanically half of an E3. The back half of the power car was a baggage area.
<ref name=>{{cite book|last=Pinkpank|first=Jerry A|title=The Second Diesel Spotter’s Guide|year=1973|publisher=Kalmbach Books|lccn=66-22894|isbn=|pages=106}}</ref> It also carried sleeping cars. The train was number 32 when eastbound and number 33 when traveling west.<ref name=Pershing/> The train ran its assigned route until the United States entered [[World War II]], during which time the trainset ran on many different routes. As 9908 ''Silver Charger'' could be detached from its trainset, it continued in service hauling other trains after the rest of the streamlined trainset was withdrawn. In this form it lasted in service until 1966, following which it was donated to the [[Museum of Transportation]] in [[St. Louis, Missouri]].
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