Ann Rutledge (Amtrak)
Encyclopedia
The Ann Rutledge was a passenger train service operated by Amtrak
Amtrak
The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak , is a government-owned corporation that was organized on May 1, 1971, to provide intercity passenger train service in the United States. "Amtrak" is a portmanteau of the words "America" and "track". It is headquartered at Union...

 running between St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...

, and Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...

 as part of the Missouri Services brand. In 2009 Amtrak consolidated these trains under the new name Missouri River Runner
Missouri River Runner (Amtrak)
The Missouri River Runner is a passenger train route operated by Amtrak running between Gateway Multimodal Transportation Center in St. Louis and Kansas City Union Station in Kansas City, Missouri. This train route was formerly operated as part of the Missouri Service train network, which included...

.

Until spring of 2007 it operated as part of both the Illinois Service
Illinois Service
The Illinois Service, branded as Amtrak Illinois, is a United States passenger rail network that consists of five trains operated by Amtrak along three corridors to provide frequent daily service between Chicago and other cities in the U.S. state of Illinois, plus St. Louis, Missouri...

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
Mules (Amtrak)
The Kansas City Mule and St. Louis Mule were a pair of 283-mile passenger trains operated by Amtrak running between St. Louis and Kansas City, Missouri as part of the Missouri Service train network. From 2007 these trains used the same track as one other Amtrak route, the Ann Rutledge...

and the St. Louis Mule
Mules (Amtrak)
The Kansas City Mule and St. Louis Mule were a pair of 283-mile passenger trains operated by Amtrak running between St. Louis and Kansas City, Missouri as part of the Missouri Service train network. From 2007 these trains used the same track as one other Amtrak route, the Ann Rutledge...

.

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 last numbers were 313 westbound and 314 eastbound.

The train was named for Ann Rutledge
Ann Rutledge
Ann Rutledge was allegedly Abraham Lincoln's first love.-Relationship:Born near Henderson, Kentucky Ann Mayes Rutledge was the third of ten children born to Mary and James Rutledge. In 1829, her father, along with John M. Cameron, founded New Salem, Illinois...

, a woman from New Salem, Illinois
New Salem (Menard County), Illinois
New Salem is the historically recreated townsite of Abraham Lincoln's, 19th century, frontier village in Menard County , Illinois, United States. During his 20s, in the 1830's, this was the homestead of the future U.S. President...

, who may have been the first love of U.S. President
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....

 Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...

.

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.

History

The Ann Rutledge was inaugurated in 1937 by the Alton Railroad
Alton Railroad
The Alton Railroad was the final name of a railroad linking Chicago to Alton, Illinois, St. Louis, Missouri, and Kansas City, Missouri. Its predecessor, the Chicago and Alton Railroad , was purchased by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad in 1931 and was controlled until 1942 when the Alton was...

. It originally ran from St. Louis to Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

. The train was taken over by the Gulf, Mobile and Ohio Railroad
Gulf, Mobile and Ohio Railroad
The Gulf, Mobile and Ohio was a Class I railroad in the central United States whose primary routes extended from Mobile, Alabama, and New Orleans, Louisiana, to St...

upon merger in 1947.

External links

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