Abraham Lincoln (train)
Postcard depiction of the streamlined train.
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| Overview | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Service type | Inter-city rail | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Status | Discontinued | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Locale | Illinois and Missouri | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| First service | 1935 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Last service | 1978 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Former operator(s) |
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| Route | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Start | Chicago, Illinois | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| End | St. Louis, Missouri | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Distance travelled | 284 mi (457 km) (Amtrak) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Technical | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Track gauge | 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Original 1935 consist | |
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The route for the Abraham Lincoln after its revival in 1976.
The Abraham Lincoln was a named passenger train operated by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad from 1935 into the 1960s. The "Abe Lincoln" ran between Chicago and St. Louis on the B&O's subsidiary Alton Railroad. The train later passed to the Gulf, Mobile and Ohio Railroad, and then finally to Amtrak, 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 between Alton and St. Louis.
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.
Following its takeover of most passenger rail service in the United States on May 1, 1971, Amtrak 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. In October 1973 replaced the rolling stock with the new Turboliner; as part of this change the trains were re-branded as Turboliners the schedules 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. Amtrak added the State House to the Chicago-St. Louis corridor in 1977; in 1978 it dropped the Abraham Lincoln name altogether. Today service between Chicago and St. Louis is handled by the "Lincoln Service".
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Wikipedia