Montrealer (train)

Montrealer
Overview
Service type Inter-city rail
Locale
First service June 15, 1924
Last service March 31, 1995
Successor Vermonter
Former operator(s)

The Montrealer was an overnight passenger train between Washington, D.C. and Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

The train was operated from 1924 to 1966, and again under Amtrak from 1972 to 1995, excepting two years in the 1980s. The train was discontinued in 1995 and replaced by the Vermonter, which provides service as far north as St. Albans, Vermont.

History

The original Montrealer entered service on June 15, 1924. The train provided overnight service from Washington, D.C., to New York City and Montreal on a route that passed through New England. The Washingtonian operated over the same route in the southbound direction.[1]

Both trains ran over five railroads: the Pennsylvania Railroad, the New Haven Railroad, the Boston & Maine Railroad, the Central Vermont Railway, and the Canadian National Railway, which worked together to provide the equipment and crews to operate the train.[1]

An undated image of the Montrealer in St. Albans, Vermont

When it was inaugurated, the Montrealer also provided through service to Ottawa and Quebec City. During the summer months the Quebec car originated a few days a week in Murray Bay, a resort area 86 miles (138 km) northeast of Quebec City.[1]

The Montrealer and the Washingtonian first ran during the days of Prohibition in the United States. The Washingtonian became known unofficially as "The Bootlegger" or simply "The Boot" because passengers often carried well-hidden bottles of liquor on the southbound train. During the Prohibition years the Washingtonian was a favorite target of U.S. federal agents who would board in St. Albans and search the train looking for illegal liquor.[1][2]

During the 1940s extra sections of the train were added for skiers on weekends in the winter months from New York to Waterbury, Vermont.[1]

The Montrealer and the Washingtonian lasted until September 6, 1966, when they were unceremoniously discontinued between Montreal and Springfield, Massachusetts. The New Haven Railroad continued to operate its portion of the train between Springfield and New York City until December 31, 1968, when most passenger service on the New Haven–Springfield Line was discontinued.[1]

Amtrak era

Amtrak began operation of the Montrealer on September 30, 1972.[2] The southbound run from 1972 to 1974 was called the Washingtonian, and the northbound was called the Montrealer. The Washingtonian was also Train 185, which came from New York and later, along with most other regular trains on the Northeast Corridor, folded into one NortheastDirect in 1995.

Amtrak's Montrealer acquired a reputation as a party train due to the large numbers of skiers who would take the train, staying up late into the night or not sleeping at all. Amtrak equipped the train with its own dedicated lounge car, outfitted with an electric piano, dubbed Le Pub.

Derailments

Amtrak's Montrealer suffered numerous derailments during its years of operation:

1984 wreck

On the morning of July 7, 1984, the northbound Montrealer (carrying 262 passengers and 16 crew) was derailed by a washed-out culvert between Williston and Essex, Vermont. Heavy rains over the previous night had broken beaver dams upstream, resulting in a 50-foot (15 m) washout in the 20-foot-high (6 m) embankment.[7] Five of the train's thirteen cars fell into the stream, with one sleeper car buried under several other cars.[8] Three passengers, one Amtrak attendant, and one Central Vermont Railway crew member were killed; 29 others were seriously injured.[9] The train included four private chartered passenger cars, doubling the usual passenger load and increasing the number of injured; the resulting rescue operation involved extricating dozens of trapped passengers and was then the largest in Vermont history.[7]

Despite the severity of the wreck, the death toll was low due to circumstances permitting quick rescue: area hospitals were at shift changes with doubled staff levels, a 2,400-person Vermont National Guard detachment with helicopters and a tank retriever was nearby preparing for training, and a large mobile crane was at a construction site in nearby Georgia, Vermont.[7] The National Transportation Safety Board investigation faulted Amtrak for the lack of a proper cab radio and recommended changes in locomotive battery placement, improvements in baggage rack and seat cushion retention, and the use of shatterproof mirrors in passenger cars.[9]

Suspension and return

The platform at Willimantic, Connecticut, used from 1992 to 1995

The Montrealer was suspended north of Springfield from April 6, 1987, until July 19, 1989, because of deteriorating track conditions between Brattleboro and Windsor, Vermont.[10] During the suspension, Amtrak offered bus service (operated by Peter Pan Bus Lines) between Burlington, Vermont, and Springfield, Massachusetts, with connectioning Amtrak service in Springfield.[11][12]

This situation precipitated the only instance of Amtrak seizing another railroad by eminent domain, followed by the re-sale of the track by Amtrak to the Central Vermont Railway. The matter went all the way to the Supreme Court in National Railroad Passenger Corp. v. Boston & Maine Corp., which upheld Amtrak's action. Led by U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont and Representative Silvio Conte of Massachusetts, Congress appropriated $5 million to rebuild the track.[13] Only the section between Windsor and Brattleboro, Vermont, was transferred, however, leaving the line between East Northfield and Springfield, Massachusetts, as an obstacle.

The train was reinstated in July 1989, this time taking the long way over the Central Vermont Railway (now the New England Central Railroad), from East Northfield to New London, Connecticut, rather than traveling over the direct Guilford Rail System (formerly Boston & Maine Railroad, now Pan Am Railways) track.[14]:47 When the train returned to service, the stop in Northampton, Massachusetts, was discontinued, although the replacement daytime bus service via Vermont Transit continued running, and a new stop in Amherst, Massachusetts, was added. The crew change was shifted from Springfield to Palmer at the same time. In 1992 a stop was added at Willimantic, Connecticut, but service there was discontinued in 1995 upon inception of the Vermonter.

Planned extension of the Vermonter to Montreal

Efforts have been underway for many years to extend the Vermonter to Montreal. In 2012 the Federal Railroad Administration awarded $7.9 million to allow for the upgrade of the existing freight rail line between St. Albans and the Canada–US border.[15] Work on this project was completed in late 2014.

On March 16, 2015, the United States and Canada signed an agreement that would allow for the establishment of a pre-clearance customs and immigration facility within Central Station in Montreal. Before the Vermonter can be extended to Montreal the agreement must first be approved by Congress and the Parliament of Canada, and a preclearance facility must be constructed within Central Station.[16][17]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Waite, Thornton (Winter 2017). "The Montrealer/ The Washingtonian". The Keystone. 50 (4): 31–77. ISSN 0744-4036.
  2. 1 2 Borders, William (October 1, 1972). "New York to Montreal Trains Are Running Again After 18 Months". The New York Times.
  3. 1 2 "Montrealer has history of Accidents on River Route". Boston Globe. July 8, 1984. p. 1.
  4. ↑ Tilove, Jonathan (September 6, 1981). "Amtrak Wreckage Cleared". The Sunday Republican. Springfield, Massachusetts.
  5. ↑ Hamilton, Walter (February 15, 1982). "Montrealer Jumps Track in Holyoke". The Morning Union. Springfield, Massachusetts.
  6. ↑ "Amtrak Train Derails on Bend Near the Zoo; Two Are Slightly Hurt". The Inquirer. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. June 30, 1990.
  7. 1 2 3 McCutcheon, Shaw (1985). "Flood Derails Train outside Williston, Vermont". Yankee Magazine. Retrieved 18 February 2014.
  8. ↑ Fein, Esther B. (8 July 1984). "3 Killed as Train Falls into Ravine in Vermont Hills". New York Times. Retrieved 18 February 2014.
  9. 1 2 Burnett, Jim (15 January 1986). "Safety Recommendation(s) R-85-125 through -128" (PDF). National Transportation Safety Board. Retrieved 18 February 2014.
  10. ↑ "Amtrak Suspends a Montreal Train". The New York Times. May 7, 1987.
  11. ↑ "Amtrak National Train Timetables". Amtrak. May 15, 1988. p. 29 – via Museum of Railway Timetables.
  12. ↑ Lavin, Carl (July 24, 1989). "Amtrak Journal; In New England, an Old Friend Is Back on Track". The New York Times.
  13. ↑ Gram, David (10 August 1990). "Ruling sidetracks Amtrak victory". The Telegraph – via Google News.
  14. ↑ Solomon, Brian (2004). Amtrak. Saint Paul, Minnesota: MBI. ISBN 978-0-7603-1765-5.
  15. ↑ Bowen, Douglas John (June 21, 2012). "Grant aids Montrealer's return, advocates say". Railway Age. Retrieved 2015-03-16.
  16. ↑ Bowen, Douglas John (March 16, 2015). "Pact bodes well for restored Amtrak Montrealer". Railway Age.
  17. ↑ "United States and Canada Sign Preclearance Agreement" (Press release). Washington: Department of Homeland Security. March 16, 2015.

Further reading

  • Lapointe, Joe (September 12, 1993). "To Montreal, the Restful Way". The New York Times.
  • Nelligan, Tom (October 1989). "Amtrak's Montrealer returns". Trains. ISSN 0041-0934.
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