The ''Cape Codder'' was a seasonal

passenger train A passenger train is a train used to transport people along a railroad line. These trains may consist of unpowered passenger railroad cars (also known as coaches or carriages) hauled by one or more locomotives, or may be self-propelled; self pr ...

operated by

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...

between

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

and

Hyannis, Massachusetts Hyannis is the largest of the seven villages in the town of Barnstable, Massachusetts, in the United States. It is the commercial and transportation hub of Cape Cod and was designated an urban area at the 1990 census. Because of this, many refer t ...

, on

Cape Cod Cape Cod is a peninsula extending into the Atlantic Ocean from the southeastern corner of mainland Massachusetts, in the northeastern United States. Its historic, maritime character and ample beaches attract heavy tourism during the summer mont ...

. It operated during the summer between 1986 and 1996. It was the first regular service from New York to the Cape since 1964. The

New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad The New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad , commonly known as The Consolidated, or simply as the New Haven, was a railroad that operated in the New England region of the United States from 1872 to December 31, 1968. Founded by the merger of ...

previously had operated a train under this name until 1958. From its demise in 1996 there was no passenger rail service to Cape Cod until the beginning of the summer of 2013 when the

MBTA The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (abbreviated MBTA and known colloquially as "the T") is the public agency responsible for operating most public transportation services in Greater Boston, Massachusetts. The MBTA transit network in ...

's CapeFLYER began connecting Boston's South Station to Hyannis.

History

NY,NH&H service

Service beyond Harwich to Provincetown at the end of the Cape ended by the late 1930s. Regular service was suspended from 1941 to 1948, owing to

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. The

ran combined through trains with the

Pennsylvania Railroad The Pennsylvania Railroad (reporting mark PRR), legal name The Pennsylvania Railroad Company also known as the "Pennsy", was an American Class I railroad that was established in 1846 and headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was named ...

from

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

to Hyannis until 1958. The ''

Day Cape Codder The Cape Codder was a pair of day and night passenger trains run by the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad (NH) from the latter 1920s to the mid 1960s, with some brief interruptions. Its distinction was the longest tenure of direct summerti ...

'' and ''Neptune'' combined to provide service six days per week July–September, with the ''Day Cape Codder'' operating all days except Wednesday and Friday and the ''Neptune'' operating on Fridays only. The trains ran from New York to Hyannis, with a section splitting at

Buzzards Bay, Massachusetts Buzzards Bay is a census-designated place (CDP) in the town of Bourne in Barnstable County, Massachusetts. The population was 3,859 at the 2010 census. It is the most populous of the five CDPs in Bourne. Geography Buzzards Bay is located at (4 ...

for

Woods Hole, Massachusetts Woods Hole is a census-designated place in the town of Falmouth in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States. It lies at the extreme southwest corner of Cape Cod, near Martha's Vineyard and the Elizabeth Islands. The population was 781 at ...

. Passengers coming from Boston connected in

Providence, Rhode Island Providence is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. One of the oldest cities in New England, it was founded in 1636 by Roger Williams, a Reformed Baptist theologian and religious exile from the Massachusetts Bay ...

. The PRR and the NH offered a night train, ''The Night Cape Codder,'' from Washington and New York on Friday nights. The companies offered a return train from the Cape on Sunday nights. The companies' New York–Cape Cod service from 1958 to 1964 was summer only. The New Haven Railroad stopped serving Cape Cod altogether in 1964. The train operated as an express in Connecticut and on the Cape. In the latter case, it bypassed stations served by the Boston-Hyannis trains. Station stops on ''Day Cape Codder'':

Grand Central Terminal Grand Central Terminal (GCT; also referred to as Grand Central Station or simply as Grand Central) is a commuter rail terminal located at 42nd Street and Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Grand Central is the southern terminus ...

, 125th Street, Stamford,

New Haven New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134,02 ...

New London New London may refer to: Places United States *New London, Alabama *New London, Connecticut *New London, Indiana *New London, Iowa *New London, Maryland *New London, Minnesota *New London, Missouri *New London, New Hampshire, a New England town ** ...

Providence Providence often refers to: * Providentia, the divine personification of foresight in ancient Roman religion * Divine providence, divinely ordained events and outcomes in Christianity * Providence, Rhode Island, the capital of Rhode Island in the ...

Taunton Taunton () is the county town of Somerset, England, with a 2011 population of 69,570. Its thousand-year history includes a 10th-century monastic foundation, Taunton Castle, which later became a priory. The Normans built a castle owned by the ...

Buzzards Bay Buzzards Bay is a bay of the Atlantic Ocean adjacent to the U.S. state of Massachusetts. It is approximately 28 miles (45 kilometers) long by 8 miles (12 kilometers) wide. It is a popular destination for fishing, boating, and tourism. Since ...

, Yarmouth, Hyannis. The stations from 125th to Providence were only for receiving passengers, heading east, and the oppose, when heading west. At Buzzard Bay, a branch would split for

Woods Hole Woods Hole is a census-designated place in the town of Falmouth in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States. It lies at the extreme southwest corner of Cape Cod, near Martha's Vineyard and the Elizabeth Islands. The population was 781 at ...

where passengers could catch steamers for

Nantucket Island Nantucket () is an island about south from Cape Cod. Together with the small islands of Tuckernuck and Muskeget, it constitutes the Town and County of Nantucket, a combined county/town government that is part of the U.S. state of Massachuse ...

Amtrak service

Amtrak launched the ''Cape Codder'' on July 3, 1986. The original schedule included four trains weekly: trains from New York to Hyannis on Friday evening (#272) and Saturday morning (#270), and trains from Hyannis to New York on Saturday (#271) and Sunday afternoon (#273). Amtrak advertised the service as "

–New York–Hyannis", although only #272 originated in Washington. All other connections required a connecting train. The train operated through September and featured "Club Service: Deluxe reserved seating. Beverages and complimentary meals served at your seat.". For the 1988 season Amtrak established connections with the

Cape Cod and Hyannis Railroad A cape is a clothing accessory or a sleeveless outer garment which drapes the wearer's back, arms, and chest, and connects at the neck. History Capes were common in medieval Europe, especially when combined with a hood in the chaperon. Th ...

, a

tourist railroad A heritage railway or heritage railroad (US usage) is a railway operated as living history to re-create or preserve railway scenes of the past. Heritage railways are often old railway lines preserved in a state depicting a period (or periods) i ...

which in partnership with Massachusetts offered daily service from Boston to the Cape, originating at the Braintree MBTA station. Amtrak passengers coming off the

Northeast Corridor The Northeast Corridor (NEC) is an electrified railroad line in the Northeast megalopolis of the United States. Owned primarily by Amtrak, it runs from Boston through Providence, New Haven, Stamford, New York City, Philadelphia, Wilmington, a ...

could be through-ticketed destinations on the Cape and would change to Cape Cod and Hyannis train at Attleboro. Separate sections served Hyannis and Falmouth. This service supplemented the weekend ''Cape Codder'', once again providing daily service to the Cape. This interline service did not resume in 1989 after the Cape Cod and Hyannis Railroad folded. Amtrak service to Attleboro ended at the same time. Massachusetts provided financial support for the trains from 1986–1988. Beginning in 1989 Amtrak truncated the Saturday round-trip to

with a scheduled connection to another train; this round-trip was named ''Clamdigger'' for the 1990 season and given new numbers (#433 westbound and #438 eastbound). The Friday/Sunday train pair became #234/#235. By 1993 the Saturday service was gone and the Friday/Sunday pair operated to New York only, with connections south. For its final season in 1996 the ''Cape Codder'' originated in Boston, ran down the Northeast Corridor to Providence, then turned and ran east to Hyannis. Service from Washington and New York was available via a connecting train in Providence. Amtrak did not resume the ''Cape Codder'' for the 1997 season. The limited schedule, coupled with the fact that passengers found it difficult to navigate the Cape without an automobile, discouraged potential passengers. The service carried just 1,200 passengers in 1996, representing a 50% drop from 1995. Since its demise in 1996, were periodic discussions about reinstating passenger rail service from Boston to reduce car traffic to and from the Cape, with officials in Bourne seeking to extend

MBTA Commuter Rail The MBTA Commuter Rail system serves as the commuter rail arm of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority's transportation coverage of Greater Boston in the United States. Trains run over of track to 141 different stations, with 58 statio ...

service from Middleboro to Buzzards Bay. Scheduled passenger service between Boston and Hyannis resumed in May 2013 with the inauguration of the '' CapeFLYER'', a collaboration between the

Cape Cod Regional Transit Authority Cape Cod Regional Transit Authority (CCRTA) operates a bus transit system of fixed and flexible routes, seasonal rail service to Boston, and a paratransit service in the Cape Cod region of Massachusetts. The CCRTA was created under the provision ...

and the

Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (abbreviated MBTA and known colloquially as "the T") is the public agency responsible for operating most public transportation services in Greater Boston, Massachusetts. The MBTA transit network in ...

, and it was made permanent in the 2014 summer season after a successful trial run during the first year.

References

External links

Photographs of Amtrak's ''Cape Codder''
, Cape Cod Rails website
Cape Cod Timetables (1872-2013)

New Haven RR Timetable, 1955, Cape service: Tables 24-30
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cape Codder (Train) Former Amtrak routes Passenger rail transportation in Massachusetts Passenger rail transportation in Rhode Island Passenger rail transportation in Connecticut Passenger rail transportation in New York (state) Railway services introduced in 1986 Railway services discontinued in 1996

History

NY,NH&H service

Amtrak service

See also

References

Further reading

External links