The ''Colonial'', also known as the ''Colonial Express'', was a service of the

Pennsylvania Railroad The Pennsylvania Railroad (reporting mark PRR), legal name The Pennsylvania Railroad Company also known as the "Pennsy", was an American Class I railroad that was established in 1846 and headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was named ...

and New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad between Union Station in Washington, DC and South Station in Boston, Massachusetts. It was operated until 1973 by Amtrak.

History

The ''Colonial'' began on January 18, 1892, as a daytime express service between Boston and Washington. From Boston, the train traveled west over the New York, New Haven & Hartford's Shore Line and then the New Rochelle branch to the Harlem River. There, passengers boarded the passenger steamer ''Maryland'', which carried them to

Jersey City, New Jersey Jersey City is the second-most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, after Newark.New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

traveled to Jersey City, then transferred to Manhattan-bound ferries. Passengers continuing south on the ''Colonial'' boarded a new train in Jersey City, which used the Pennsylvania main line to reach Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic, and the 30th most populous city in the United States with a population of 585,708 in 2020. Baltimore was ...

and Washington. The train was renamed ''

Federal Express FedEx Corporation, formerly Federal Express Corporation and later FDX Corporation, is an American multinational conglomerate holding company focused on transportation, e-commerce and business services based in Memphis, Tennessee. The name "Fe ...

'' in 1894. In the early 1910s the waterborne segment was dropped; instead, the Boston train ran into

Grand Central Terminal Grand Central Terminal (GCT; also referred to as Grand Central Station or simply as Grand Central) is a commuter rail terminal located at 42nd Street and Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Grand Central is the southern terminus ...

, while the Washington train terminated at Penn Station, which had opened in 1910. Passengers used ground transport to move between the two stations, which were a little over a mile apart. In 1917 the opening of the Hell Gate Bridge, which linked the Bronx and Queens and linked the PRR and the New Haven, allowed trains to run directly through Penn Station. The PRR merged into Penn Central Transportation in 1968, which absorbed the NYNH&H in 1969. When Amtrak began operations on May 1, 1971, it took over the ''Federal'', which ran as trains 170 and 171 (changed to 173 and 174 in the November 14 timetable). Its last trip was made on April 28, 1973. Amtrak reused the name in 1976 for a new Boston– Newport News train, the ''

Colonial Colonial or The Colonial may refer to: * Colonial, of, relating to, or characteristic of a colony or colony (biology) Architecture * American colonial architecture * French Colonial * Spanish Colonial architecture Automobiles * Colonial (1920 a ...

'', which replaced the Newport News section of the '' James Whitcomb Riley''.

References

External links