Nostalgia & History > Play it Again, Sam: Montrealer at White River Junction

Night train. Amtrak's southbound Montrealer makes a wee-small-hours overnight stop at White River Junction, Vermont, ca. 1980. The train operated on a Montreal-Washington schedule. Visible are a former Union Pacific and Pullman "Pacific" series 10 roomette/6 double bedroom sleeper, and a 24 single room/8 double room Slumbercoach economy sleeper. The Montrealer of that era carried a piano-bar/lounge car, but (famously) no piano player. That left the piano for passenger use, often by folks who'd spent rather too long bending their elbows at the car's bar. (My photo.)

Art House



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/06/25 09:28 by aehouse.

---

That's a great B&W night photo!  Early HEP conversion!  Still in the older paint scheme.

Very nice picture Art!  The Montrealer, both the Amtrak version and it's predecessor, has always been a favorite of mine.  The train in your photo is southbound, which at the time made it's WRJ stop around midnight.  You were a few years removed from the piano-bar era by 1980, as the Montrealer was one of the early HEP long-distance conversions made in 1977....note the Amfleet car behind the Slumbercoach.  Usual motive power was a New Haven-based F40PH, sometimes supplemented by one of Amtrak's five HEP-converted E8s 495-499.

Dave