Federal Express (train)

Federal Express

Overview
Service type	Boston, Massachusetts Washington, D.C.
Distance travelled	458.6 miles (738.0 km)
Service frequency	Daily
Train number(s)	South/North 27/62 43/62 71/72 171/172 173/172 177/176 67/66
On-board services
Seating arrangements	Reclining seat coaches
Sleeping arrangements	Sections, roomettes and double bedrooms
Technical
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in)

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

.

The train carried

continental breakfast

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

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

. 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

Belvidere-Delaware Railroad

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 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.^[3]

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

, 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.

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 (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, 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

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 Grand Central Terminal 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.^[4]

Union Station crash

On the morning of January 15, 1953, at

.

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

, had gotten up to 26 minutes behind schedule).

See also

• Twilight Shoreliner

References

• PRR Chronology Archived 2006-09-07 at the Wayback Machine
• 1915 L&HR timetable
• The Crash of Runaway Train #173

External links

• Washington DC Chapter NRHS Wreck of the Federal Express Archived 2012-03-10 at the Wayback Machine
• Accident report for the 1911 Bridgeport wreck - Interstate Commerce Commission