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Alouette (train)

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Alouette
Overview
Service typeInter-city rail
StatusDiscontinued
LocaleNortheastern United States/Quebec
First serviceApril 26, 1926
Last service1956
Former operator(s)Boston & Maine
Canadian Pacific Railway
Route
TerminiBoston, Massachusetts
Montreal, Quebec
Distance travelled338.7 miles (545.1 km) (1949)
Average journey time10 hours, 40 minutes (northbound)
10 hours, 15 minutes (southbound)
Service frequencyDaily
Train number(s)5 (B&M), 211 (CP) (northbound)
20 (B&M), 212 (CP) (southbound)
On-board services
Seating arrangementsCoach seating
Catering facilitiesBuffet parlor car, only in CP section (1949)
Technical
Track gauge4 ft 8+12 in (1,435 mm)
Route map
0 mi
Montreal
2 mi
3 km
Westmount
5 mi
8 km
Montreal West
30 mi
48 km
Saint-John
43 mi
69 km
Farnham
56 mi
90 km
Cowansville
69 mi
111 km
Sutton
74 mi
119 km
Abercorn
Richford
77 mi
124 km
85 mi
137 km
Glenton
91 mi
146 km
Highwater
North Troy
94 mi
151 km
Newport
108 mi
174 km
Orleans
117 mi
188 km
Barton
122 mi
196 km
West Burke
135 mi
217 km
Lyndonville
143 mi
230 km
St. Johnsbury
151 mi
243 km
pre-1954 route
Inwood
158 mi
254 km
Barnet
161 mi
259 km
McIndoes
164 mi
264 km
Wells River
172 mi
277 km
Woodsville
Bradford
185 mi
298 km
Fairlee
191 mi
307 km
Plymouth
Thetford
198 mi
319 km
Norwich
208 mi
335 km
Ashland
White River
Junction
212 mi
341 km
Meredith
Lebanon
217 mi
349 km
Canaan
230 mi
370 km
Laconia
Potter Place
251 mi
404 km
Franklin
263 mi
423 km
Tilton
Concord
282 mi
454 km
Manchester
299 mi
481 km
Nashua
316 mi
509 km
Tyngsboro
323 mi
520 km
Lowell
329 mi
529 km
Winchester
347 mi
558 km
Boston
355 mi
571 km

The Alouette was a passenger train jointly operated by the Boston and Maine Railroad and the Canadian Pacific Railway between Montreal, Quebec and Boston, Massachusetts.[1] The Alouette began service on April 26, 1926, operating on a daytime schedule with coach and parlor car service.[1] At Newport, Vermont passengers could transfer to Quebec Central Railway trains bound for Sherbrooke and Quebec City. For passengers originating from Boston on the night train counterpart north, the Red Wing (#325/#302), the train would join with the New York-Quebec City Connecticut Yankee to complete the trip to Quebec City.[2]

Until late 1954, the train operated over Canadian Pacific trackage to Wells River, Vermont, where it entered the Boston and Maine for the remainder of the way to Boston via Plymouth, New Hampshire and Concord, New Hampshire on the division that the B&M had acquired with the purchase of the Concord and Montreal Railroad in 1895.[1] After the Boston and Maine abandoned its trackage north of Plymouth, the train was rerouted via White River Junction, Vermont. The train continued to travel via Wells River, St. Johnsbury and Newport, Vermont, before completing the trip to Vermont.[1][3]

In 1956, the Alouette switched to using Budd Rail Diesel Cars, eliminating the buffet-parlor car. The train lost its name and its original number and became #31 north and #32 south and it no longer had food concession service. The overnight Red Wing was numbered #29/#30 and retained its sleeping cars and only offered breakfast exclusively to its sleeping car passengers.[1][4][5] The overnight Red Wing had its last run on October 24, 1959. From April 25, 1965, the Boston & Maine pulled out of its cooperation, and the Alouette successor #31/32 only operated on the Canadian Pacific Railway's Montreal to Wells River, Vermont segment. That remaining segment ended service on October 30, 1965. This ended a tradition of Boston to Montreal trains, dating back to 1887.[6]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c d e Holland, Kevin (2004). Passenger Trains of Northern new England in the Streamline Era. Lynchburg, VA: TLC Publishing. p. 117. ISBN 1-883089-69-7.
  2. ^ Boston and Maine April 1946 timetable, Table 1 http://streamlinermemories.info/Eastern/B&M46TT.pdf
  3. ^ Boston and Maine timetable, 1958
  4. ^ Boston and Maine timetable, October 28, 1956, Equipment section
  5. ^ Official Guide of the Railways, December 1957, Boston and Maine section, Tables 1, 2
  6. ^ Old Time Trains, 'B&M CPR Pool' http://www.trainweb.org/oldtimetrains/photos/us/bm_cpr_pool.htm
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