Sleeping Cars From North Station

Just wondering if Sleeping cars ever operated out of North Station? I’ve seen pictures of locomotive hauled trains to Montreal but everything else was RDCs. Possibly trains up to Maine? but would those runs been long enough to require a sleeping car?

Thanks

Yes, the B&M ran sleepers out of North Station, as late as the mid- 1950s. Going northeast, there were sleeper services to Maine and on to Halifax, Nova Scotia (the "Gull", via CP and CN), and up to Van Buren on the Bangor & Aroostook (the "Penobscot"). Going northwest, there was the overnight train to Montreal, the "Red Wing". And farther back in time, there were once through sleepers from North Station to Chicago via the Fitchburg Line and a New York Central connection at Troy, NY.

This is in addition to the sleeper routes that did *not* go through the North Station, on the Connecticut River Line and the through trains from New York to Maine via Worcester and Ayer.

A number of services were operated out of the 1928 North Station until the gradual end of B & M sleeping car service out of Boston in 1959. Via Portland and MEC and other roads beyond even into the 1950s there were sleepers to St. John, NB, Calais, Bangor and Van Buren. Up until Great Depression days there was even a Boston-Portland set-out sleeper and seasonal services to Maine lake resorts.
Via the CP route there were Boston-Montreal sleepers via White River Junction after the early 1930s via Laconia and Plymouth earlier. Until Depression days there was a Woodsville set-out car. Likewise a Boston to Quebec car.
Via the Rutland route there was a Boston-Ogdensburg buffet sleeper that lasted until about 1940 and was cutback to Alburg (short turn to Burlington Sat nites) and no longer a buffet car. Lasted until about 1948-49.
The flagship train the Minuteman carried a Boston-Chicago sleeper via Troy unti late 1946. This was probably B & M's least important sleeper service but it got the most hoopla. It was billed as a through train but it was normally just a single car unless there were special party moves. Pre-World War I, the B & M participated in some very unusual sleeper operations via Rott Jct and NYC beyond. Catering to budget travelers and tour groups the routings involved operations via parts of West Shore, Wabash, NKP. MC, not usually the Road of the Century west of Buffalo.

Thanks for all the information. With only the MBTA and DownEaster now it’s hard to believe that at one time you could board a sleeper at North Station and ride all the way to Chicago, Montreal or Halifax!

I did Halifax last year in a “rail” sort of way: DownEaster to Portland, overnight ferry to Yarmouth then rented a car and followed the abandoned Dominion Atlantic right-of -way to Halifax. (Even rode an excursion train on some of the trackage that still sees freight service operated by the Windsor & Hantsport Railroad)