Ann Rutledge (Amtrak)
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| Ann Rutledge | |
|---|---|
| Info | |
| Type | Inter-city rail |
| System | Amtrak |
| Termini | St. Louis – Kansas City, Missouri |
| Operation | |
| Opened | 1937 |
| Closed | 2009 |
| Owner | (track) |
| Operator(s) | Amtrak |
| Technical | |
| Line length | 283 mi (455 km) |
| Track gauge | 4 ft 81⁄2 in (1,435 mm) |
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The Ann Rutledge was a passenger train service operated by Amtrak running between St. Louis, Missouri, and Kansas City, Missouri as part of the Missouri Services brand. In 2009 Amtrak consolidated these trains under the new name Missouri River Runner.
Until spring of 2007 it operated as part of both the Illinois Service and Missouri Service Amtrak routes along the full route between Chicago and Kansas City via St. Louis. The train service uses the same track as one other Amtrak route, the Kansas City Mule and the St. Louis Mule.
Prior to April 2007 the train operated as number 303 eastbound and 304 westbound between Chicago and Kansas City via St. Louis over the full 567-mile (912 km) route. After April 2007 the Ann Rutledge operated daily between St. Louis and Kansas City connecting to the Illinois Amtrak Lincoln Service at St. Louis. Its current numbers were 313 westbound and 314 eastbound.
The train was named for Ann Rutledge, a woman from New Salem, Illinois, who may have been the first love of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln.
The story of Lincoln and Ann Rutledge is a source of continuing debate. Whether Lincoln's love for her was a magnified product of his well-known melancholy or an actual truth may never be known. In any case, a little known young woman from Illinois will forever be bound up with the president's memory, so much so that Amtrak operated a train with her name.
[edit] History
The Ann Rutledge was inaugurated in 1937 by the Alton Railroad. It originally ran from St. Louis to Chicago.[2] The train was taken over by the Gulf, Mobile and Ohio Railroad upon merger in 1947.[3]
[edit] References
- ^ Amtrak (2007-04-02). "Illinois-Missouri-Iowa-Nebraska Routes timetable" (PDF). http://www.amtrak.com/timetable/apr07/W21.pdf. Retrieved 2007-07-03.
- ^ Schwartz, Barry. "Ann Rutledge in American Memory: Social Change and the Erosion of a Romantic Drama". http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/jala/26.1/schwartz.html. Retrieved 2008-04-02.
- ^ "gmo.htm". http://rrstuff.hawaiihost.us/gmo.htm. Retrieved 2008-04-02.
