Ann Rutledge (Amtrak)

Infobox Amtrak
name = Ann Rutledge
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numbers = 313 westbound
314 eastbound
route = St. Louis – Kansas City, Missouri
distance = mi to km|283|abbr=yes
start = 1937
end =
owners ={| Railway line headerThe "Ann Rutledge" is a passenger train service operated by Amtrak running between St. Louis, Missouri, and Kansas City, Missouri. Presently it is exclusively an Amtrak "Missouri Service" train.

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. Since April 2007 the "Ann Rutledge" operates daily between St. Louis and Kansas City connecting to the Illinois Amtrak "Lincoln Service" at St. Louis. Its current numbers are 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 operates a train with her name.

History

The "Ann Rutledge" was inaugurated in 1937 by the Alton Railroad. It originally ran from St. Louis to Chicago. [citeweb|title=Ann Rutledge in American Memory: Social Change and the Erosion of a Romantic Drama|last=Schwartz|first=Barry|url=http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/jala/26.1/schwartz.html|accessdate=2008-04-02] The train was taken over by the Gulf, Mobile and Ohio Railroad upon merger in 1947. [citeweb|title=gmo.htm|url=http://rrstuff.hawaiihost.us/gmo.htm|accessdate=2008-04-02]

References

External links

* [http://www.amtrak.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=Amtrak/am2Route/Vertical_Route_Page&;c=am2Route&cid=1081256321807&ssid=133 Amtrak - "Illinois Service"]
* [http://www.amtrak.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=Amtrak/am2Route/Horizontal_Route_Page&;c=am2Route&cid=1081256321878&ssid=133 Amtrak - "Missouri Routes"]