The Original Montrealer/Washingtonian Route

The Montrealer/Washingtonian was named for the two cities the train served; Washington, D.C. and Montreal, Quebec.  This once popular corridor required five different railroads to complete the journey which included (from north to south) the Canadian National, Central Vermont, Boston & Maine, New Haven, Pennsylvania Railroad.  This, of course, was during an era of far more civilized travel, predating the airliner, and the trains provided first-class services during a trip that usually required around half a day to complete.  Inaugurated a few years before the Great Depression the Montrealer/Washingtonian would close out long-distance international rail travel in New England when both were discontinued during the mid-1960s.

The Montrealer pulling into the Holyoke rail station in the early 1960s. The depot station was designed by famed Boston architect Henry Hobson Richardson. Passenger trains stopped there until 1967, although the Montrealer would run through Holyoke until 1972. (Seminole Bailey Archive)

Mt.Tom Railroad - Circa 1902

Workers installing wire take a break to pose for this picture along the Holyoke Street Railway trolley line between Northampton and Holyoke in the early 1900s.  In the background is Mt.Nonotuck. (Seminole Bailey Archives)

Mt.Tom - Whiting Street Reservoir - early 1900s

A family poses for a picture on the cliffs of Mt.Tom around 1915. This photo was taken near the Tea Pavilion on the east side of the mountain with the Summit House in the background.

A wide angle view of the Mt.Tom Summit House just above the Tea Pavilion on the east side of the Mt.Tom summit. The stone foundation of the house still stands, part of the radio communications building.

 Looking southwest towards Ashley Reservoir from the western cliffs of Mt.Tom.

 

 The basalt cliffs on the west side of Mt.Tom just below the MM Trail of the Mt.Tom Range.

A southwest view of Mt.Tom with Whiting Street Reservoir in the foreground taken from Mountain Park near the trolley line to Lower Station  in the early 1900s.  (Photos courtesy of the Seminole Bailey Archive)

C. H. Tower Residence

The home of C.H. Tower at the southeast corner of Lincoln and Pleasant Streets in the winter of 1911. (The Seminole Bailey Archives)

B&M Railroad 1950s

Engine 4214 heading north pulling freight near Pulaski Park and the first level canal in the 1950s. In the background is the Whiting Paper Company. (Photo courtesy of the Edwin Bill Robertson Collection)

Central Vermont Railroad

Engine 600 of the Central Vermont Railroad heading south near the Holyoke Cove in the 1930s. (Seminole Bailey Archive)