About two years ago, Jacob Klerman posted some consists and car
assignments on the B&M Yahoo forum for passenger trains on the B&M-
CPR Connecticut River Valley line. These were taken from a B&M
conductor's notebook that he had acquired on the railroad-paper
market. As a follow-up to Jacob's postings I researched and posted
information about the equipment that appeared in the consists,
including making corrections for many of the CPR sleeping-car names
that were misspelled.
Given the interest in the CPR's Vermont line and its operations I
thought I'd repost some of this information on this forum. I've
included a couple of the earlier, more interesting consists for
trains that appeared on the CPR's Lyndonville Sub and the B&M
between Wells River and White River Junction, as well as provided
some general comments about some of the equipment assignments that
were deduced by Jacob's looking at many other consists. Note that
this particular conductor tended to work the same trains repeatedly
so although we don't get consists for all trains on this line we do
get a good picture from many consists of the same small group of
trains.
Here's a couple of typical consists:
CPR Train #210/B&M Train #78 ("Red Wing") - 1 August 1950 (Tuesday)
CPR E-8A #1802
CPR baggage-express #4337
B&M baggage-mail #3151
B&M milk can car #1864
B&M coach #4524
CPR coach #2132
CPR 8sec-1dr-2cpt sleeper ROSSLAND
B&M 12sec-2dbr sleeper BUTLER UNIVERSITY
CPR 3cpt-1dr-buffet-lounge-sleeper MOUNT HUBER
CPR Train #209/B&M Train #79 ("Red Wing") - 18 November 1950 (Sat.)
B&M E-7A #3820
B&M baggage-mail #3151
B&M baggage-express #3290
B&M coach-smoker #4403
CPR coach #2132
B&M 12sec-2dbr sleeper BUTLER UNIVERSITY
CPR 4cpt-1dr-parlor-buffet-lounge-sleeper LAKE HURON
As far as my comments concerning a synthesis of car assignments, to
begin with note the alternating assignment of road power as Duane
Goodman reminded us about recently that was typical for this train.
The B&M mail car assigned to the Newport & Springfield RPO in both
of these consists was an interesting car and one of only two such
cars on the B&M. It was 70' long (the longest mail car owned by the
B&M) with a 30' mail apartment and 40' baggage-express section. It
was a very early all-steel car (built by Laconia I believe although
I may be wrong) and was ahead of its time design wise as it had a
low-arch 'turtle' roof.
The CPR sleeper ROSSLAND was an extra car. Extra sleepers appeared
on the "Red Wing" quite regularly during the 1950-1951 time period
covered by this particular conductor's records. Both CPR-operated
and Pullman-operated sleepers appeared, always heavyweights. It
appears that who supplied and presumably staffed the sleeper
depended on where the extra move originated. If in Canada, it was
the CPR. If in Boston, Pullman. Regardless of whose car it was most
of the time the extra sleeper was a 12sec-1dr car or other type of
car with mostly sections. Both N- and S-class CPR cars showed up
regularly and a Pullman was usually an older Plan 2410x car from the
Pullman pool although occasionally a railroad-owned car such as from
the PRR or Southern would show up. CPR 10cpt sleepers from the GLEN
class were also frequent visitors which I found interesting as
corresponding all-room Pullmans seemed not to show up. Perhaps the
clientele that generated the extra sleepers was different in
different directions. It's interesting to note that the 8-1-2 CPR R-
class cars such as the ROSSLAND noted in one of the consists above
were unusual on this train.
Finally, I felt that the consists Jacob shared with the B&M group
were particularly interesting because they captured the "Red Wing"
during a timeframe when the assigned CPR sleeper-lounge was going
through a transition period. Up until about mid-1950 the 3cpt-1dr-
buffet-lounge MOUNT-class cars were regularly assigned. These were
the last of the classic open-end observation cars to appear on
the "Red Wing". There's a nice shot of another car in this class
(MOUNT PALLISER) sitting the B&M's yard in Boston in 1948:
http://photos.nerail.org/showpic/?
photo=2006020211421227226.jpg&order=byyear&page=1&key=1948
although the caption contains a lot of errors. Clearly it's the "Red
Wing" consist laying over, not the "Alouette". One can see one of
the Pullman UNIVERSITY-series cars just ahead of MOUNT PALLISER.
Being 1948 the B&M had not yet purchased their two UNIVERSITY
sleepers from Pullman.
Then beginning in mid-1950 and for about a year thereafter a 4cpt-
1dr-parlor-buffet-lounge LAKE-class car was used on the "Red Wing"
which is somewhat surprising to me given that the parlor seating in
this type of car really doesn't seem appropriate for this strictly-
overnight train. I suspect these cars were intended to be short-term
fill-ins, perhaps while other types of cars were being rebuilt.
Then beginning in mid-1951 we begin to see the well-known 4dbr-1cpt-
buffet-lounge CAPE-class cars that most of us identify with the "Red
Wing". The two consists I posted above show the first transition
from MOUNT- to LAKE-class cars.
I hope fans of the Lyndonville Sub find this information of some
interest.
John S. Horvath
