The ''Morning Star'' was a

passenger train A passenger train is a train used to transport people along a railroad line. These trains may consist of unpowered passenger railroad cars (also known as coaches or carriages) hauled by one or more locomotives, or may be self-propelled; self p ...

operated by

St. Louis Southwestern Railway The St. Louis Southwestern Railway Company , known by its nickname of "The Cotton Belt Route" or simply "Cotton Belt", is a former Class I railroad that operated between St. Louis, Missouri, and various points in the U.S. states of Arkansas, Te ...

(Cotton Belt) between

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 ...

and

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

, designated as train numbers 5 (southbound) and 6 (northbound). From 1941 to 1950, the ''Morning Star'' also carried through cars from Memphis to Dallas, connecting with the main train at

Brinkley Brinkley may refer to: People * Brinkley (surname) Places * Brinkley, Arkansas, USA * Brinkley, Nottinghamshire Brinkley is a hamlet in Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated Notts.) is a landlocked county in the East Midlands ...

, Arkansas. The Memphis connection for the ''Morning Star'' was added to permit Cotton Belt passenger trains to readily connect with the new '' Tennessean'' which had been inaugurated by Southern Railway in 1941. The ''Morning Star'' was replaced by unnamed train numbers 7 and 8 in November 1952, as a part of extensive passenger train restructuring by St. Louis Southwestern. The #7/#8 trains continued to the mid-1950s along the St. Louis - Dallas route, with coach and sleeping car service; however, food concession cars were eliminated.

References

* * St. Louis Southwestern Railway Named passenger trains of the United States Railway services introduced in 1941 Railway services discontinued in 1952 Night trains of the United States Passenger rail transportation in Tennessee Passenger rail transportation in Arkansas Passenger rail transportation in Missouri Passenger rail transportation in Texas {{US-train-stub