The ''Laurentian'' was a named

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 the

Delaware and Hudson Railway The Delaware and Hudson Railway (D&H) is a railroad that operates in the Northeastern United States. In 1991, after more than 150 years as an independent railroad, the D&H was purchased by the Canadian Pacific Railway (CP). CP operates D&H ...

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

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

, providing same-day daylight service. The train used the D&H's famed route along

Lake Champlain , native_name_lang = , image = Champlainmap.svg , caption = Lake Champlain-River Richelieu watershed , image_bathymetry = , caption_bathymetry = , location = New York/Vermont in the United States; and Quebec in Canada , coords = , type = , ...

north of

Albany, New York Albany ( ) is the capital of the U.S. state of New York, also the seat and largest city of Albany County. Albany is on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River, and about north of New York City ...

. The ''Laurentian'', along with its overnight companion the '' Montreal Limited'' (#61 northbound/#62 southbound), was the flagship of the D&H from its inauguration in 1923 until its discontinuance on April 30, 1971. Since 1974, Amtrak has operated the '' Adirondack'' over the same route.

History

The D&H inaugurated the ''Laurentian'' in 1923 as a daytime service between New York City and Montreal, Quebec, via Albany and Lake Champlain. On the D&H section,

steam locomotive A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, oil or, rarely, wood) to heat water in the locomot ...

s pulled the train from its inception until 1953, when it received

diesel Diesel may refer to: * Diesel engine, an internal combustion engine where ignition is caused by compression * Diesel fuel, a liquid fuel used in diesel engines * Diesel locomotive, a railway locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engin ...

equipment. The

New York Central Railroad The New York Central Railroad was a railroad primarily operating in the Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The railroad primarily connected greater New York and Boston in the east with Chicago and St. Louis in the Midw ...

handled the train between New York and Albany. From the time of the NYC's merger 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 ...

in 1968, the New York City to Albany segment was operated by the

Penn Central The Penn Central Transportation Company, commonly abbreviated to Penn Central, was an American Railroad classes, class I railroad that operated from 1968 to 1976. Penn Central combined three traditional corporate rivals (the Pennsylvania Railroad ...

. Altogether, the distance between New York City and Montreal was .

Route

The train covered a

New York Central The New York Central Railroad was a railroad primarily operating in the Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The railroad primarily connected greater New York and Boston in the east with Chicago and St. Louis in the Midw ...

route from New York City's

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 ...

until crossing the Hudson River to the D&H station in Albany, then moving onto D&H tracks headed north to Watervliet and thence to Saratoga Springs. Thereafter, the train followed the route that has become the route of Amtrak's successor '' Adirondack,'' to Fort Edward, Whitehall, Ticonderoga, Plattsburgh and on to Canada. However, its night-time counterpart, the ''Montreal Limited'' (D&H #9, beginning the trip as NYC #61), took an express route from New York City to Troy, where it switched to D&H territory; then crossing the Hudson, straight through Saratoga without stopping, and made its next stop at the final U.S. city on the route, Rouses Point. Following the demolition of Troy Union Station, the night train added a Poughkeepsie stop and stopped at Albany instead of Troy; it also added a stop at Plattsburgh.

Demise

By 1964, the D&H, which showed little interest in passenger service after the

Second World War 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 ...

, considered discontinuing the ''Laurentian'', prompting an outcry from riders in upstate New York. The ''Laurentian'' survived and received an unlikely upgrade in 1967 at the hands of

Frederic C. Dumaine, Jr. Frederic C. "Buck" Dumaine Jr. (1902 – March 13, 1997, in Weston, Massachusetts) was an American business executive who served as the president of the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad from 1951–1954, Avis Rent a Car System from 1957–1 ...

, the D&H's new president and a proponent of passenger travel at a time when most railroads in the United States were scaling back or abandoning service altogether. The D&H acquired streamlined

ALCO PA The ALCO PA was a family of A1A-A1A diesel locomotives built to haul passenger trains. The locomotives were built in Schenectady, New York, in the United States, by a partnership of the American Locomotive Company (ALCO) and General Electric ...

diesel locomotives from the

Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway , often referred to as the Santa Fe or AT&SF, was one of the larger railroads in the United States. The railroad was chartered in February 1859 to serve the cities of Atchison, Kansas, Atchison and Top ...

(ATSF) and passenger coaches from the

Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad The Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad , often shortened to ''Rio Grande'', D&RG or D&RGW, formerly the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad, was an American Class I railroad company. The railroad started as a narrow-gauge line running south from De ...

(D&RGW). Repainted in the D&H's distinctive blue-silver-yellow livery, the ''Laurentian'' cut an impressive figure in its last years, and this equipment remained in use until the start-up of Amtrak on May 1, 1971. Amtrak declined to retain the New York-Montreal trains, and the ''Laurentian'' made its last run on April 30, 1971. In a rare move, however, Amtrak used D&H equipment between Albany and Montreal between 1974–1977 for its newly-named '' Adirondack'' passenger service.

Notes

References

* * *

External links

1954 timetable
{{DH named trains 1923 establishments in the United States 1971 disestablishments in the United States Delaware and Hudson Railway International named passenger trains Named passenger trains of the United States Railway services introduced in 1923 Railway services discontinued in 1971