State of Maine Express

The State of Maine was an overnight passenger train between New York City and Portland, Maine that was operated jointly for over 50 years by the Boston and Maine Railroad and the New Haven Railroad. It departed New York's Pennsylvania Station at 9:00pm and arrived at 6:45am at Portland's Union Station from where connections were available for Maine Central Railroad trains to most Maine locations.[3] Its final service in October, 1960 was the last time direct passenger rail service was offered between New Hampshire or Maine and New York City.

State of Maine
Overview
Service typeInter-city rail
StatusDiscontinued
LocaleNortheastern United States
First service1913
Last serviceOctober 29, 1960[1]
Former operator(s)New Haven Railroad
Boston and Albany Railroad
Boston and Maine Railroad
Route
StartNew York City
EndPortland, Maine
Average journey time9 hours 45 minutes[2]
Service frequencyDaily (except Saturdays)
Train number(s)northbound: 81, southbound: 88
On-board services
Seating arrangementscoach
Sleeping arrangementssections, roomettes, single and double bedrooms, compartments
Catering facilitiesDining car

In contrast to the other New York City – Maine train services, this was the only train to operate year-round. As with the other such trains, it bypassed Boston. Travel was over the New Haven Railroad (now Amtrak's Northeast Corridor) to Providence, Rhode Island, where trains left the Northeast Corridor to reach the Boston and Maine Railroad in Worcester, Massachusetts via the Providence and Worcester Railroad. After Worcester, trains then 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 Putnam in eastern Connecticut to Worcester.[4] After World War II the eastern Connecticut short-cut was abandoned and the train was routed through Providence, Rhode Island, then, to Worcester.[5]

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.[5] 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.[6] 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.[7]

References
  1. "LAST TRAIN HAS RUN AS 'STATE OF MAINE'". New York Times. October 30, 1960.
  2. "LAST TRAIN HAS RUN AS 'STATE OF MAINE'". New York Times. October 30, 1960.
  3. "LAST TRAIN HAS RUN AS 'STATE OF MAINE'". New York Times. October 30, 1960.
  4. Official Guide to the Railways, June 1941, Boston and Maine Railroad section, 'Through Train Service to Maine,' p. 78
  5. "State of Maine". James VanBokkelen.
  6. Marson, Don, & Jennison, Brian. Railroads of the Pine Tree State (1999). Four Ways West Publications ISBN 1-885614-31-4, p.15
  7. Jones, Robert Willoughby. Boston and Maine (1991). Trans-Anglo Books ISBN 0-87046-101-X, p.91
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