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Connecticut Yankee (train)

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Connecticut Yankee
Connecticut Yankee at Rye station, July 1985
Overview
Service typeInter-city rail
StatusDiscontinued
LocaleNortheastern United States / Quebec
First service1936
Last service1977; 1995
Former operator(s)New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad, Boston & Maine, Canadian Pacific Railway, Quebec Central Railway
Penn Central (1969–1971)
Amtrak (1971–1977, 1983–1995)
Route
TerminiNew York City
Quebec City
Distance travelled549 miles (884 km) (1936)
Service frequencyDaily
Train number(s)Southbound: 74
Northbound: 79 (1936–c. 1956)
On-board services
Seating arrangementsCoach
Sleeping arrangementsSections and drawing rooms
Catering facilitiesDining car
Observation facilitiesParlor car
Entertainment facilitiesLounge car
Technical
Track gauge4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)
For other uses, see Connecticut Yankee (disambiguation).

The Connecticut Yankee was a long-distance train in western New England, that in its first two decades was an international night train, established in 1936, that extended from New York City into southeastern Quebec, to Sherbrooke and Quebec City, a 549-mile (884 km) trip. The pooled train covered railroad territories of the New York, New Haven and Hartford, Boston and Maine, Canadian Pacific Railway and the Quebec Central Railway.[1] It was the last U.S.-Canadian train serving the Sherbrooke to eastern Vermont route.

The train had some sharing of sleeping cars with the Boston & Maine's overnight Red Wing (the night train counterpart to the Alouette) which went from Boston to Montreal. In Newport, Vermont, the train would pick up sleepers from the B&M train and continue to Sherbrooke and Quebec.

Railroad territories and major stops

  • Central Vermont - Windsor to White River Junction (then resuming travelling north on B&M trains)
  • Canadian Pacific - Wells River to Sherbrooke
    • Wells River, St. Johnsbury, Newport, Sherbrooke
  • Quebec Central - Sherbrooke to Quebec City
    • Sherbrooke, Tring Jonction in Robert-Ciche, Vallée Jonction in La Nouvelle-Beauce, Quebec City (Gare du Palais)

Decline

Between the summer of 1951 and autumn of 1952, the route ended in Wells River, Vermont, marking the end of international train service directly south of Quebec City toward New England. (Passengers from New England wishing to reach Sherbrooke or Quebec City needed to take a bus between Wells River and Sherbrooke, whereupon they could take a train to Quebec City.)[6][7][8] However, the train took a diversion at Wells River along Canadian Pacific tracks to Newport, Vermont, then a northwest-ward path toward Montreal. It was a night train on the northbound-Montreal trip; yet it was a day train on the southbound trip.[9] As such, the train had no sleeping car for either direction of the trip.

Between the summer of 1958 and spring of 1959, the route had its northern limit cut from Wells River to Springfield, Massachusetts, the end of the New Haven territory for its route. Boston & Maine having begun scaling back its longer distance routes, the B&M offered a train, timed to connect, from Springfield to White River Junction.[10][11][12][13] In 1961 the train continued for its NY-Springfield route, but it bore the name Bankers for the southbound trip.[14][15] (The Pennsylvania Railroad and New Haven Railroad's Montrealer, traveling between Washington, D.C., and Montreal, another train serving the upper Connecticut River Valley, would continue service north of Springfield until September 1966.)[16]

The train regained the name for both directions and persisted into the Penn Central and Amtrak periods. It was Springfield to Philadelphia train southbound and Washington to Springfield train northbound until ending in 1977.[17] [18] Amtrak resumed the train from 1983 to 1995.

Notes

  1. ^ Official Guide of the Railways August 1949, Quebec Central section
  2. ^ Official Guide of the Railways August 1949, Quebec Central section
  3. ^ Canadian Pacific June 1943 timetable
  4. ^ Boston & Maine September 26, 1937, timetable, Table 51
  5. ^ Boston & Maine April 28, 1946, timetable, Table 70 http://streamlinermemories.info/Eastern/B&M46TT.pdf
  6. ^ New Haven timetable, April 29, 1951, Table 33
  7. ^ New Haven timetable, September 28, 1952, Table 34
  8. ^ Official Guide of the Railways, December 1954, Quebec Central section
  9. ^ Official Guide of the Railways, December 1954, Boston & Maine section, Table 11
  10. ^ Official Guide of the Railways, August 1958, New Haven section, Table 10
  11. ^ Official Guide of the Railways, August 1958, Boston & Maine section, Table 9
  12. ^ Official Guide of the Railways, April 1959, New Haven section, Table 5
  13. ^ Official Guide of the Railways, April 1959, Boston & Maine section, Table 1
  14. ^ Official Guide of the Railways, June 1961, Boston & Maine section
  15. ^ Official Guide of the Railways, June 1961, New York, New Haven & Hartford section, Table 5 and pp. 108–109
  16. ^ Waite, Thornton (Winter 2017). "The Montrealer/ The Washingtonian". The Keystone. 50 (4): 31–77. ISSN 0744-4036
  17. ^ Amtrak timetable, April 1976 p. 18 http://www.timetables.org/full.php?group=19760425&item=0019
  18. ^ Amtrak timetable, April 1976 p. 25 http://www.timetables.org/full.php?group=19760425&item=0026
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