Breaking a leg

[John Stanton]

I made a study of trains going north, from D.C. In a nutshell, it's a mess. There was stage coach south from Washington.
The trains out of DC were B&O to Baltimore. At Baltimore the B&O turned west and went to Ohio. The cars headed to NYC were dragged through Baltimore, by horses, from Camden Yards to the Presidential St. Station, and put back on the tracks. from there they went to the Susquehanna River where the trains were put on barges and floated from Havre de Grace, Md to Perryville, MD. (When the DC to Baltimore track was closed, the south bound trains were floated to Annapolis, and put on the track to DC). Going north - from the Susquehanna, it was a straight shot to the 30th Street Station in Philly. End of the line. From there the traveler caught a ride to downtown Philly (30 blockes, in some sort of a Cab) and a Ferry Boat ride to Camden, N.J. The NJ RR track was a different gauge than any one else, so that all traffic through NJ, was on a NJ owned train. From there to Jersey City. End of the line. Next -catch a ferry over the Hudson to Manhattan. Overnight stay in NY. The next train left late in the afternoon. The train, the "New York New Haven, & Hartford". Went east to New Haven, turned North to Hartford. Here they picked up the "Connecticut River line" to Springfield, Mass. North to Batttleboro, Vt and the "Central Vermont RR", to White River Junction. Then to Monpelier - Burlington - St. Albans - Canada and Montreal. The trip was scheduled for 18 hours. There were no "Sleeping Cars", no "Diners", no "little boys room" ( in an emergency- you used the open platform between cars. ) There was a "Bunk Room" on some trains, but there was no fresh linen and the ventilation was poor. I have a "Time Table", if you want distances between stops, and the estimated arrival and departure times at each town. Sarah rode this part of the line unescorted.

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P.S. I read that when U. S. Grant went through Philly on the night of April 14th. The Army met the train at the 30th St Station and provided U. S. Army ambulances, and horses, to take him to the Delaware River, and the Ferry ride to Camden. JFS