The ''Federal Express'' (after April 1939, officially known as just the ''Federal'') was an

overnight Overnight may refer to: Film and broadcast media * ''Overnight'' (1985 film), a Canadian comedy film * ''Overnight'' (2003 film), 2003 documentary film * ''NBC News Overnight'', an American late night newscast from the early 1980s * ''The Overn ...

named passenger train run by 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 ...

and the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad between Washington, DC's Union Station and Boston, Massachusetts's South Station from 1912 to 1971. At different times, its route has taken it across the Hudson River via a car float between Port Morris and

Jersey City Jersey City is the second-most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, after Newark.ferry A ferry is a ship, watercraft or amphibious vehicle used to carry passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A passenger ferry with many stops, such as in Venice, Italy, is sometimes called a water bus or water taxi ...

''Maryland''), the Poughkeepsie Bridge, and finally the

Pennsylvania Tunnel and Terminal Railroad The New York Tunnel Extension (also New York Improvement and Tunnel Extension) is a combination of railroad tunnels and approaches from New Jersey and Long Island to Pennsylvania Station in Midtown Manhattan. It was built by Pennsylvania Rai ...

. The final routing was identical to today's high-speed

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 ...

. The train carried

sleeping car The sleeping car or sleeper (often ) is a railway passenger car (rail), passenger car that can accommodate all passengers in beds of one kind or another, for the purpose of sleeping. George Pullman was the American innovator of the sleeper car. ...

s and coaches, as well as mail and

baggage Baggage or luggage consists of bags, cases, and containers which hold a traveler's personal articles while the traveler is in transit. A modern traveler can be expected to have packages containing clothing, toiletries, small possessions, trip ...

. As the train operated well outside of dinner hours after 1917 (10:00 - 11:00 PM departure), food service was limited to beverages and light snacks on departure, and

continental breakfast Breakfast, the first meal of the day eaten after waking from the night's sleep, varies in composition and tradition across the world. Africa Breakfast in Africa varies greatly from region to region. Algeria Breakfast in Algeria is heavily influe ...

in the morning, generally dispensed from a lounge car which also contained sleeping accommodations.

History

Through trains between Boston and Washington began operation on May 8, 1876, using the steamship ''Maryland'' to transport up to six passenger cars between NYNH&H's Harlem River station and Harsimus Cove (close to the Exchange Place terminal) on the Pennsylvania Railroad. The first services were an overnight train that ran on the combined New York and New England Railroad (Boston-Hartford) and NYNH&H route, and a day train on the shore route. A sample timetable shows that in 1893 there was a Boston-Washington day train called the ''

Colonial Express The ''Colonial'', also known as the ''Colonial Express'', was a service of the Pennsylvania Railroad and New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad between Union Station in Washington, DC and South Station in Boston, Massachusetts. It was operat ...

'' but the overnight train (now using the NYNH&H shore route) still had only generic names like Boston and Washington Express (its southbound name on the NYNH&H). By 1903 the overnight train was called the ''Federal Express''. The boat passage allowed passengers to avoid the complicated transfer in New York via city streets and a Hudson River ferry. It was especially convenient for the overnight train where passengers could choose to remain in their Pullman sleepers. The two trains made their last trip by steamer on October 17, 1912. The Pennsylvania Railroad was by that date running all other through trains into its new Pennsylvania Station in New York rather than via Jersey City. The ''Colonial Express'' was changed to involve an omnibus connection between Penn Station and

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 ...

. Because of the overnight run, the ''Federal Express'' was run this way for only one transitional day. On October 19, the ''Federal Express'' began operating over an all-rail route via the Poughkeepsie Bridge. The routing involved a long detour between New Haven and Trenton, using the NYNH&H

Maybrook Line The Maybrook Line was a line of the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad which connected with its Waterbury Branch in Derby, Connecticut, and its Maybrook Yard in Maybrook, New York, where it interchanged with other carriers. It was the main ...

(via Derby,

Danbury Danbury is a city in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States, located approximately northeast of New York City. Danbury's population as of 2022 was 87,642. It is the seventh largest city in Connecticut. Danbury is nicknamed the "Hat City ...

, and Brewster, New York), the NYNH&H's Central New England Railway across the bridge to Maybrook, New York, the

Lehigh and Hudson River Railway The Lehigh and Hudson River Railway (L&HR) was the smallest of the six railroads that were merged into Conrail in 1976. It was a bridge line running northeast–southwest across northwestern New Jersey, connecting the line to the Poughkeepsie Br ...

to Belvidere, New Jersey, and the PRR's

Belvidere-Delaware Railroad The Belvidere-Delaware Railroad (Bel-Del, 1851–1871) was a railroad running along the eastern shore of the Delaware River from Trenton, New Jersey north via Phillipsburg, New Jersey to the small village of Manunka Chunk, New Jersey. It became ...

branch. Due to freight congestion on the Maybrook Line, the train was discontinued on January 9, 1916. With the opening of the New York Connecting Railroad on April 1, 1917, the ''Federal Express'' and ''Colonial Express'' were restored as through trains via Penn Station and the Hell Gate Bridge. On this final routing the ''Federal Express'' initially made the run in 12 hours 10 minutes, later reduced to 9 hours 45 minutes averaged both ways. The ''Federal'' operated without interruption through World War II, also avoiding (barely) the yearlong 1945

Office of Defense Transportation An office is a space where an organization's employees perform administrative work in order to support and realize objects and goals of the organization. The word "office" may also denote a position within an organization with specific dut ...

ban on sleeping car routes less than 450 miles, though the train's intermediate sleepers such as Philadelphia-Boston and Washington-Providence were so affected. This ban was in anticipation of

Operation Magic Carpet Operation Magic Carpet was the post-World War II operation by the War Shipping Administration to repatriate over eight million American military personnel from the European, Pacific, and Asian theaters. Hundreds of Liberty ships, Victory ships ...

. After the war, the ''Federal'' was gradually re-equipped with railroad-owned lightweight sleepers and coaches from

Pullman-Standard The Pullman Company, founded by George Pullman, was a manufacturer of railroad cars in the mid-to-late 19th century through the first half of the 20th century, during the boom of railroads in the United States. Through rapid late-19th century ...

, including New Haven coaches of the 8600-8702 series, sleepers of the 14-roomette, 4-double bedroom ''Point''-series of 1948 and the 6-section, 4-double bedroom, 6-roomette ''Beach''-series of 1955. Food service was provided by a buffet-lounge car which also contained 6 double bedrooms, from the prewar and postwar PRR ''Falls''-series until 1960, and a 1955 New Haven ''State''-series car of similar configuration thereafter. Other PRR coaches and sleepers could sometimes be found as well on the postwar ''Federal'', though its consist was mostly New Haven by joint agreement. Penn Central, formed in 1968 from merger of the PRR and the

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 ...

, became the operator of the entire train in 1969 when PC's court-ordered purchase of the New Haven took effect. The cars with the open sections were soon withdrawn, when PC declined to continue offering the section as a travel option (neither PRR nor NYC ever ordered lightweight sleepers with sections). Buffet-lounge service ended in 1970, replaced by a snack bar coach; only a single roomette-and-bedroom sleeper remained each way between Washington and Boston, as by that time the pick-up/setout intermediate sleepers from Philadelphia, Penn Station and Providence had also been discontinued. Also with the PC takeover,

GG1 The Pennsylvania Railroad GG1 is a class of streamlined electric locomotives built for the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR), in the northeastern United States. The class was known for its striking art deco shell, its ability to pull trains at up to 10 ...

electrics operated the train all the way between Washington and New Haven, changing to or from newly assigned ex-PRR E units between New Haven and Boston. The ''Federal'' made its last runs on May 1, 1971, as Amtrak, which began operations on that day, had declined to include an overnight train on the Northeast Corridor in its initial system. However, after only a year, popular demand caused Amtrak to re-introduce just such a service, the Boston-Washington ''

Night Owl A night owl, evening person or simply owl, is a person who tends to stay up until late at night, or to the very early hours of the morning. Night owls who are involuntarily unable to fall asleep for several hours after a normal time may have d ...

'' (now carrying numbers 66-67 since previous numbers 176-177 were reassigned to a day train). The ''Night Owl'' was later extended to Newport News in 1997 and renamed the ''

Twilight Shoreliner The ''Twilight Shoreliner'' was a passenger train operated by Amtrak on the Northeast Corridor between Boston, Massachusetts, and Newport News, Virginia, via New York City and Washington, D.C. Amtrak introduced it in 1997 to replace the '' Ni ...

'', with the addition of a specially branded sleeper and lounge car. When the sleeper was dropped with the discontinuance of the ''Twilight Shoreliner'' in 2003, the ''Federal'' name was revived briefly when trains 66 and 67 became coach and business class-only. In 2004 however, the name was dropped for good in favor of Amtrak's '' Regional'' (eventually ''Northeast Regional'') branding. Typical of overnight trains, the ''Federal'' also carried

U.S. mail The United States Postal Service (USPS), also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or Postal Service, is an independent agency of the executive branch of the United States federal government responsible for providing postal service in the U. ...

as well as checked baggage. Trains 172 and 173 carried the Washington & Boston Railway Post Office until May 1, 1971, being the next-to-last RPO service in the United States (Amtrak operated the very last, the New York & Washington RPO, until 1977). The ''Federal'' had no need to carry a separate sleeping car between Penn Station and Boston, as the New Haven had its own overnight train between

and South Station, the ''Owl'' (trains #2 and #3).

Wrecks

1911 Bridgeport wreck

There was a wreck on July 11, 1911, in which the Federal Express plunged down an 18-foot embankment, with at least 14 fatalities. The train was also carrying the St. Louis Cardinals baseball team.

Union Station crash

On the morning of January 15, 1953, at Washington's Union Station, the ''Federal'' overran the end of the track and into the concourse. According to official ICC reports, a design flaw on New Haven coach #8665 allowed the handle of an angle cock valve in the air brake system to come into contact with the coupler, causing the valve to close. This disabled the brakes on all of the following cars, rendering them inoperable by the locomotive operator. Approaching automatic block signal #1339, the engineer attempted to apply the brakes to slow the train, with no effect. The unbraked cars pushed the

locomotive and two passenger cars off the end of Track 16 at the station. They crashed through the Stationmaster's office and fell through the floor of Union Station into the baggage room below. The operator at control Tower "K" had contacted station personnel by phone to warn them of the runaway train and the station was evacuated before the crash. The GG1 engine, engine #4876 was later cut into pieces, removed from the baggage room, and reassembled at the Altoona shops of the Pennsylvania Railroad. With a new frame and superstructure, it then re-entered commercial service for another 30 years. This crash inspired the finale for the 1976 film, '' Silver Streak.''

1955 Bridgeport wreck

Two and a half years later, the ''Federal'' was involved in another serious wreck, this time with fatal consequences. On July 14, 1955, New Haven train 172, bound for Boston, derailed in

Bridgeport Bridgeport is the most populous city and a major port in the U.S. state of Connecticut. With a population of 148,654 in 2020, it is also the fifth-most populous in New England. Located in eastern Fairfield County at the mouth of the Pequonnoc ...

at 3:42 am while going around one of the New Haven electric main line's sharpest curves, the 30 mph Jenkins Curve (named for the factory of valve manufacturer Jenkins Bros., then located on the inside of the curve). The electric locomotive, EP-4 No. 363, and 15 of the train's 17 cars derailed from track 2 (the eastbound inner track); traveling down the curve's outside embankment, the locomotive struck Alco S-1 switcher 0949 working freight cars in the railroad's Bridgeport Lower Yard, causing it to derail as well. Two catenary poles were knocked down, along with all of the wires, blocking all four main tracks. Fifty-eight crew and passengers were injured, including the switcher's crew; the sole fatality was the ''Federals engineer. The streamlined EP-4, from a class of six units which had much in common with the PRR GG1s, was not repaired and was scrapped. The cause of the wreck was determined in the official ICC accident report to be excessive speed on the curve, which the train took at a speed estimated between 60 and 75 mph, as determined from flange marks on the rails as the train started to leave the rails. The death of the engineer, together with confusing speed estimates and braking testimony from the fireman and other crewmembers (the speedometer was not visible from the fireman's seat), prevented a clear picture as to ''why'' the engineer failed to slow his train down. However, other testimony from the fireman, in describing the engineer's last moments, suggest a possible lack of situational awareness while attempting to make up time (the train, already late leaving Penn Station, had gotten up to 26 minutes behind schedule).

References

PRR Chronology

The Crash of Runaway Train #173

External links