The New Haven RR Image Page -- Sleeping Car Service

THE IMAGE PAGE

The 'image page' is where we put a changing variety of New Haven Railroad photographs and advertising material for you to enjoy. Be sure to check back here often because we plan to refresh these images on a regular basis.

Sleeping Car Service

February 1st, 2003

The New Haven Railroad offered sleeping car service on many of its night time runs from the late 19th Century up through the end of its corporate existance. Not only was sleeper service offered on long runs that extended off its regular service territory via connections with other railroads such as the Pennsylvania and Boston & Maine, it also offered sleeper service on the relatively short Shore Line Route between Boston and New York City. Between 1912 and 1969 the New Haven's sleeper service was operated by the Pullman Company. All items from the collection of Marc Frattasio.

This is a promotional folder for the Narragansett dating from the mid 1930s. The Narragansett was one of several overnight passenger trains that the New Haven operated between Boston and New York City during the 1930s that provided coach-class accommodations. The Narragansett operated in both directions, as did most named passenger trains on the New Haven, departing at 12:45 a.m. and arriving at its end-terminal just before 7:00. The Narragansett was intended to provide a less expensive alternative to a berth in a Pullman sleeping car, an important consideration for many cash-strapped travelers during the Great Depression. The Narragansett was ready for boarding at Boston's South Station and New York's Grand Central Terminal at 10 p.m., nearly three hours prior to its scheduled departure to allow passengers extra time to sleep, just like a normal overnight train equipped with sleeping cars. The lights were kept dimmed in the coaches and pillows were rented for a quarter. In later years sleeping cars were added to the Narragansett.

Promotional folder for the New Haven's overnight trains dating from the mid to late 1930s. Pullman sleeping cars ran between Boston and New York City as well as to and from many points located well off the railroad such as Washington D.C., Montreal Canada, Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont.

This is the interior center-fold of the New Haven Railroad overnight train folder shown above. Note that the Owl, a special sleeper-only overnight train, was kept to a 36 mile per hour schedule to provide a smooth ride and give passengers enough time to get an adequate amount of rest over the relatively short distance between Boston and New York City.

During the Second World War many sleeping cars were requisitioned by the government for use in troop movements. As a result, there developed a severe shortage of sleeping cars for civilian purposes. To help deal with this shortage, the government placed a ban on the operation of sleeping cars in civilian service on runs of less than 450 miles, as specified in the folder shown at right. The New Haven, being a small railroad, ended up with very few sleeping cars assigned to it. In fact, the government's ban affected every overnight passenger train on the New Haven except for the Federal and William Penn, which operated between Boston and Washington DC. One of the ways that the New Haven coped with the sleeping car ban was to assign parlor cars to trains that formerly operated with sleepers and give passengers blankets and pillows.

The Dollar Saver Sleeper was a special promotion targeted towards coach-class passengers in an effort to induce them to take an upper or lower berth in a sleeping car instead. This budget service was offered between Boston/Providence and New York City on the Owl, a long-established sleeper train that operated on a slow schedule to provide a very smooth ride. The Dollar Saver Sleeper promotion of 1960 represented the swan song of the heavyweight open-section Pullman sleeping car on the New Haven Railroad. This single-sided flyer dates from the early months of the promotion.

Here is a Dollar Saver Sleeper promotional folder from February 1960. The Owl departed Boston at 11:50 p.m. Monday through Saturday, arriving in New York City at 6:25 a.m. The train departed New York's Grand Central Terminal at 12:45 a.m. Sunday through Friday, arriving in Boston at 6:35 a.m. The Owl departed Boston at 12:30 a.m., arriving in New York at 6:15 a.m. on Sundays. On Saturdays the train departed New York City at 12:55 a.m., arriving in Boston at 6:20.

This Dollar Saver Sleeper promotional folder dates from July 1960. Open-section sleeper space was strictly limited as the heavyweight Pullman sleeping cars were well on their way out by this time. An upper berth was available for $3.78 and a lower berth for $4.98 on top of the normal coach fare for travel between Boston/Providence and New York City on the Owl.