The ''State House'' was a passenger train operated by

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 ...

(the National Railroad Passenger Corporation) between

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockf ...

, and

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

Missouri Missouri is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee): Iowa to the north, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee to the east, Arkansas t ...

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 primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. This service began in 1973 and continued until 2006, when it was re-branded as the ''

Lincoln Service The ''Lincoln Service'' is a higher-speed rail service operated by Amtrak that runs between Chicago, Illinois and St. Louis, Missouri. The train is a part of the '' Illinois Service'' and is partially funded by the Illinois Department of Tra ...

'' as part of a three-fold service expansion over that route.

History

The ''State Houses existence is book-ended by two dramatic changes in the state of Illinois' passenger rail service. The ''State House'' made its first run on October 1, 1973, the same day that two 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 ...

trainsets replaced the conventional ''

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation thro ...

'' and '' Prairie State'' on the Chicago—St. Louis corridor. This third round-trip was intended as a Chicago— Springfield route and received funding from the

Illinois Department of Transportation The Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) is a state agency in charge of state-maintained public roadways of the U.S. state of Illinois. In addition, IDOT provides funding for rail, public transit and airport projects and administers fuel ...

. Amtrak decided to continue the train to St. Louis (at its own expense) via Carlinville and

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because of the difficulty in turning the train in Springfield. Over its 33-year history the ''State House'' stopped in Joliet,

Pontiac Pontiac may refer to: *Pontiac (automobile), a car brand *Pontiac (Ottawa leader) ( – 1769), a Native American war chief Places and jurisdictions Canada *Pontiac, Quebec, a municipality ** Apostolic Vicariate of Pontiac, now the Roman Catholic D ...

Lincoln Lincoln most commonly refers to: * Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the sixteenth president of the United States * Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England * Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S. * Lincol ...

, Springfield, Carlinville, Alton and St. Louis. Service to Bloomington ended on June 10, 1990, when operations moved to a new station up the tracks in

Normal Normal(s) or The Normal(s) may refer to: Film and television * ''Normal'' (2003 film), starring Jessica Lange and Tom Wilkinson * ''Normal'' (2007 film), starring Carrie-Anne Moss, Kevin Zegers, Callum Keith Rennie, and Andrew Airlie * ''Norma ...

. Service to Dwight began October 26, 1986 and Summit on October 25, 1987. From 1986 to 1996, the ''State House'' was complemented as far as Springfield by the '' Loop'', which departed Chicago in the morning and returned in the afternoon. Amtrak re-branded the ''State House'' as the ''Lincoln Service'' on October 30, 2006, as it and Illinois launched two additional round-trips over the same corridor.

References

External links

2006 timetable
{{Former Amtrak routes Former Amtrak routes 1973 establishments in the United States Passenger rail transportation in Illinois Passenger rail transportation in Missouri Railway services introduced in 1973 Railway services discontinued in 2006