Alouette (train)

The Alouette was a passenger train jointly operated by the Boston and Maine Railroad and the Canadian Pacific Railway between Montreal, Quebec and Boston, Massachusetts.   The Alouette began service on April 26, 1926, operating on a daytime schedule with coach and parlor car service.   At Newport, Vermont passengers could transfer to Quebec Central Railway trains bound for Sherbrooke and Quebec City.  For passengers on the night train counterpart, the Red Wing (#325/#302), the train would join with the New York-Quebec City Connecticut Yankee to complete the trip to Quebec City.  Until late 1954, the train operated over Canadian Pacific trackage to Wells River, Vermont, where it entered the Boston and Maine for the remainder of the way to Boston via Plymouth, New Hampshire and Concord, New Hampshire on the division that the B&M had acquired with the purchase of the Concord and Montreal Railroad in 1895.   After the Boston and Maine abandoned its trackage north of Plymouth, the train was rerouted via White River Junction, Vermont.  The train continued to travel via Wells River, St. Johnsbury and Newport, Vermont, before completing the trip to Vermont. 

In 1956, the Alouette switched to using Budd Rail Diesel Cars, eliminating the buffet-parlor car.  The train lost its name and its original number and became #31 north and #32 south.  The overnight Red Wing was numbered #29/#30 and retained its sleeping cars.  The overnight Red Wing had its last run on October 24, 1959.  From April 25, 1965 the Boston & Mine pulled out of its cooperation, and the Alouette successor #31/32 only operated on the Canadian Pacific Railway's Montreal to Wells River, Vermont segment.  That remaining segment ended service on October 30, 1965.  This ended a tradition of Boston to Montreal trains, dating back to 1887. 

References

Category:International named passenger trains
Category:Railway services introduced in 1926
Category:Railway services discontinued in 1956
Category:Named passenger trains of the United States
Category:Named passenger trains of Canada
Category:Passenger rail transport in Quebec
Category:Passenger rail transportation in Vermont
Category:Passenger rail transportation in New Hampshire
Category:Passenger rail transportation in Massachusetts
Category:Passenger trains of the Boston and Maine Railroad
Category:Canadian Pacific Railway passenger trains