State of Maine Express

State of Maine

Overview
Service type	Inter-city rail
Status	Discontinued
Locale	Northeastern United States
First service	1913
Last service	October 29, 1960
Former operator(s)	New Haven Railroad Boston and Albany Railroad Boston and Maine Railroad
Route
Termini	New York City Portland, Maine
Average journey time	overnight
Service frequency	Daily
Train number(s)	northbound: 81, southbound: 88
On-board services
Seating arrangements	coach
Sleeping arrangements	sections, roomettes, single and double bedrooms, compartments
Catering facilities	Dining car

The State of Maine was an overnight passenger train between New York City and Portland, Maine. Connections were available at Portland's Union Station for Maine Central Railroad trains to most Maine locations, and at Grand Central Terminal for trains to the western and southern United States. In contrast to the other New York City – Maine trains which were seasonal, this was the one such train to operate all year. As with the other such trains, it bypassed Boston. Travel was over the New Haven Railroad (now Amtrak's Northeast Corridor) into Connecticut, where trains left the Northeast Corridor to reach the Boston and Maine Railroad in Worcester, Massachusetts. Trains continued over the Boston & Maine to Portland. Service initiated in 1913 used the Boston and Albany Railroad between Springfield, Massachusetts, and Worcester. However, New Haven routing from Groton, Connecticut, was used after the mid-1920s, and trains were routed through Providence, Rhode Island, after World War II, bypassing Springfield.

Equipment

The core service was through sleeping cars between New York and Portland. One of these sleeping cars was sometimes carried on connecting Maine Central trains to or from Bangor, Maine, or points near the Maine coast. The State of Maine also carried through sleeping cars between New York and Concord, New Hampshire, until 1958. Coaches were also carried. As the last Maine passenger train with connections south of Boston, the State of Maine carried increasing numbers of express and mail cars during the declining years of passenger service. From delivery of stainless steel sleeping cars to Boston & Maine and New Haven in 1954 until service ended on October 29, 1960, the train north of Worcester typically required a pair of Boston & Maine or Maine Central EMD E7s to pull a long string of head-end cars followed by a single stainless steel New Haven coach and a single stainless steel sleeping car. Many of the head-end cars were former troop sleepers converted to baggage cars. Most were New Haven and Boston & Maine cars, with a few from the Pennsylvania Railroad and the New York Central Railroad. Many resort owners operated both a summer resort in Maine and a winter resort in Florida. These individuals required newspapers from each location; and those newspapers were often carried in baggage cars of the Maine Central, Atlantic Coast Line Railroad or Florida East Coast Railway.