The Delaware and Hudson was a bridge line, which page 10 of this timetable defines as “a railroad transporting large volumes of traffic as an intermediate carrier and acting as a connecting link or bridge between the originating and terminating lines.” While the PRR, NYC, CP, and CN were mainly east-west carriers, the D&H was a north-south line connecting with the Pennsy in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania; the New York Central in Schenectady; and the Canadian roads in Rouses Point, New York, just across the border from Lacolle, Quebec.

Click image to download a 7.0-MB PDF of this timetable contributed by Ellery Goode.

Its main passenger service was the Albany-Montreal portions of two daily New York City-Montreal trains, the daylight Laurentian and the overnight Montreal Limited (with the Albany-New York City portions handled by the New York Central). From Rouses Point, the trains were handled by the Napierville Junction Railway, which happened to be owned by Delaware and Hudson.

In 1955, the Montreal Limited had 7-1/2 sleeping cars (the other half being a lounge), coaches, and a diner for breakfast. The timetable promises that the train was fully air-conditioned. The Laurentian was just coaches, a parlor car, and a diner for lunch. The timetable says that “regularly assigned cars are air-conditioned,” but some non-air-conditioned cars might be substituted.

A third train went only as far as Rouses Point. It included a sleeping car from New York to Plattsburgh, home of one of the State Universities of New York. From New York it arrived in Plattsburgh at 4:41 am, so I’m not sure it would be worth paying for a sleeping car.

One other train went from New York to Plattsburgh, and two more went as far as Saratoga Springs. D&H also had branchline trains from Albany to Binghamton and Fort Edwards to Lake George. Another branch went to Rutland but by 1955 it was served by buses.