The ''Abraham Lincoln'' was a named passenger train operated by the

Baltimore and Ohio Railroad The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was the first common carrier railroad and the oldest railroad in the United States, with its first section opening in 1830. Merchants from Baltimore, which had benefited to some extent from the construction of ...

from 1935 into the 1960s. The ''Abe Lincoln'' ran between Chicago and St. Louis on the B&O's subsidiary

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 a ...

. The train later passed to the

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. Louis and Kansas City, Missouri, as well as Chicago, Illinois. From its two ...

, and then finally to

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous U.S. States and nine cities in Canada. ...

, which retained the name until 1978. Service between Chicago and St. Louis is now known by the umbrella term '' Lincoln Service''. This train was the first streamlined passenger service to travel the 284 miles between Chicago and St. Louis, with Joliet, Bloomington-Normal, Springfield and Alton in between. Passengers can get a glimpse of the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the List of longest rivers of the United States (by main stem), second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest Drainage system (geomorphology), drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson B ...

between Alton and St. Louis.

Pre-Amtrak

The original streamlined ''Abe Lincoln'' was one of two non- articulated, streamlined trains built with government assisted funding in 1935. The locomotive, B&O No. 50, was powered by an 1800-hp box-cab diesel made by EMC. After delivery, No. 50 was retrofitted with a quasi-streamlined, sloped front end. The ''Abraham Lincoln'' continued to operate following the Alton Railroad's merger with the GM&O in 1947, and one of the streamliner trainsets survived into the 1960s.

Amtrak

Abraham Lincoln at Lincoln station, September 1972

Following its takeover of most passenger rail service in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

on May 1, 1971,

retained the ''Abraham Lincoln'' as a daily Chicago–St. Louis service, operating in tandem with the GM&O's old '' Limited''. In November of that year Amtrak extended both the ''Abraham Lincoln'' and the ''Limited'' (now known as the '' Prairie State'') through Chicago to

Milwaukee, Wisconsin Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee i ...

. In October 1973, Amtrak replaced the rolling stock with the new French-built

Turboliner The Turboliners were a family of gas turbine trainsets built for Amtrak in the 1970s. They were among the first new equipment purchased by Amtrak to update its fleet with faster, more modern trains. The first batch, known as RTG, were built by ...

; as part of this change the trains were re-branded as ''Turboliners'' and truncated to Chicago. In February 1976 Amtrak returned conventional rolling stock to the route and revived the ''Abraham Lincoln'' name along with the ''

Ann Rutledge Ann Mayes Rutledge (January 7, 1813 – August 25, 1835) was allegedly Abraham Lincoln's first love. Early life Born near Henderson, Kentucky, Ann Mayes Rutledge was the third of 10 children born to Mary Ann Miller Rutledge and James Rutledge ...

''. Amtrak added the '' State House'' to the Chicago–St. Louis corridor in 1977. Also in 1977, Amtrak extended the ''Abraham Lincoln'' to

Kansas City The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more th ...

and renamed it the ''Ann Rutledge'' — a name that had briefly disappeared from the timetable in 1976–77 when Amtrak extended the '' Inter-American'' to Chicago. Today service between Chicago and St. Louis is handled by the '' Lincoln Service''.

Equipment

Gulf Mobile and Ohio Abraham Lincoln observation car

American Car and Foundry (ACF) constructed two lightweight trainsets for the B&O, one for the ''Abraham Lincoln'' and one for the ''

Royal Blue Royal blue is a deep and vivid shade of blue. It is said to have been created by clothiers in Rode, Somerset, a consortium of whom won a competition to make a dress for Queen Charlotte, consort of King George III. Brightness The '' Oxford E ...

'', which ran between

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

and Washington, D. C. Each trainset consisted of eight cars: a baggage/mail car, three coaches, a lunch counter/diner, two parlor cars, and a parlor-observation car. The B&O rebuilt both baggage/mail cars in 1936: the ''Abraham Lincoln''s became a baggage/buffet car with seating for 24, while the ''Royal Blues became a baggage/chair car with seating for 44. On July 26, 1937, the ''Abraham Lincoln'' received the ''Royal Blue''s equipment, while the ''Abraham Lincoln''s original equipment was assigned to the ''

''. This consist included a 60-seat chair car (#5806) that the B&O had built in its own shops in 1936. Both of the consists had the first 64-seat chair car rebuilt into a buffet-lounge, while the lunch counter/diners became full dining cars. The Gulf, Mobile and Ohio ordered additional chair and parlor cars from ACF in 1947 but otherwise made few changes to the trains' equipment. The new cars seated 68 and 31, respectively.

Stations

References

External links