Routes serving state capitals

The cover photo of the Summer/Fall 2013 timetable (which features the Carolinian crossing the Potomac) has a brief trivia on page 3, noting that the Carolinian serves three state capitals and to name them. That got me thinking: Which route serves the most state capitals?

Zephyr (4)
Northeast Regional (full length BOS-NPN): 4 (5 including Inland Route)

Many routes serve two or three.

There is one route that serves both a State capital and Provincial capital.

I would say the Downeaster would be the shortest of the routes serving state capitals.
The Coast Starlight comes in second by serving three, I think.

I count four for the Silver star. (Five if you include the connecting train listed on the timetable).

Four on the Silver Star, and two more on the connecting service: Boston and Providence.

Rockingham Racer wrote:I would say the Downeaster would be the shortest of the routes serving state capitals.

The Downeaster route is 116 miles and serves only one state capital, Boston, Massachusetts. The remnant of the Inland Route, New Haven to Springfield, is 63 miles and also serves one state capital, Hartford, Connecticut.

Well, on the other side of the ledger, the Sunset goes across more than half a continent, and doesn't hit a single one. (I'd say Maricopa is too far from Phoenix to count.)

Interestingly, the Maple Leaf is the only train that serves both the capitol city of two different state/provinces in two different countries.

Any NEC train between Boston and Richmond serves four state capitals, Boston, Providence, Trenton and Richmond plus Washington, DC. Trains 91 and 92 (The Silver Star) also serves four state capitals, Trenton, Richmond, Raleigh and Columbia. There are also at least four state capitals that do not even have a freight railroad; Annapolis, Carson City, Juneau and Honolulu. I have a very early issue of Trains Magazine that featured an trip to visit all 48 (at that time there were only 48 states) capitals by rail and it was very interesting. Annapolis at the time had electric service on the Baltimore and Annapolis while Carson City had a V & T mixed train from Reno. What are the largest capital cities with no passenger service? Phoenix and Columbus come to mind. What is the smallest capital city with passenger train service? Montpelier is not only the smallest capital with rail passenger service but the smallest capital city period and it is a charming place to visit I might add.
This is an interesting subject.
Noel Weaver

Noel Weaver wrote:Any NEC train between Boston and Richmond serves four state capitals, Boston, Providence, Trenton and Richmond plus Washington, DC. Trains 91 and 92 (The Silver Star) also serves four state capitals, Trenton, Richmond, Raleigh and Columbia. There are also at least four state capitals that do not even have a freight railroad; Annapolis, Carson City, Juneau and Honolulu. I have a very early issue of Trains Magazine that featured an trip to visit all 48 (at that time there were only 48 states) capitals by rail and it was very interesting. Annapolis at the time had electric service on the Baltimore and Annapolis while Carson City had a V & T mixed train from Reno. What are the largest capital cities with no passenger service? Phoenix and Columbus come to mind. What is the smallest capital city with passenger train service? Montpelier is not only the smallest capital with rail passenger service but the smallest capital city period and it is a charming place to visit I might add.
This is an interesting subject.
Noel Weaver

Mr. Weaver, do you recall what year the issue of Trains came out? I'm curious about two cities: Olympia, WA and Santa Fe, NM. I wonder if they count East Olympia as service to Olympia? Olympia proper is served via a branch. In re Santa Fe, ATSF discontinued branchline service from Lamy in favor of buses or other transportation at a very early date. DRGW's narrow guage system (the Chili Line) continued to serve Santa Fe until '42 or '43. But did passenger service continue until that date?

You are correct that Phoenix and Columbus are the largest capital cities without Amtrak service. The capitals without Amtrak are, IIRC:

Montgomery AL
Juneau AK
Phoenix AZ
Dover DE
Tallahassee FL
Honolulu HI
Boise ID
Des Moines IA
Frankfort KY
Baton Rouge LA
August ME
Annapolis MD
Lansing MI (assuming E. Lansing does not count)
Helena MT
Carson City NV
Concord NH
Santa Fe NM
Bismarck ND
Columbus OH
Pierre SD
Nashville TN
Olympia WA (assuming E. Olympia does not count)
Madison WI
Cheynne WY

Corrections will be gladly accepted.

Now here's a trivia challenge for everyone: for each of these cities (excepting Juneau and Honolulu), when were they last served by Amtrak or another intercity passenger rail carrier? For some it will be easy, for some not so much.

Mods: I beg your indulgence on this--it's sort of Amtrak related.

AgentSkelly wrote:Interestingly, the Maple Leaf is the only train that serves both the capitol city of two different state/provinces in two different countries.

Excellent, Mr. Skelly. The Adirondack serves Albany, but Montreal isn't the capital/provincial seat of Quebec (Quebec City) and the Cascades don't count because 1) Victoria is the seat of BC and 2) depending on how you count E. Olympia, Olympia is not directly served by Amtrak.

Keystones serve trenton and harrisburg. :D

I think both East Lansing and East Olympia should both count. Montpelier, Vermont is served by Montpelier Junction Station but today the timetables simply refer to the stop as Montpelier. The V & T mixed train came off when the railroad made its last trip in mid 1950.
I will have to dig for the Trains issue and it will take considerable time and work so not right now.
Trains 5 and 6 (The California Zephyr) also serve four different capitals; Lincoln, Denver, Salt Lake City and Sacramento.
Noel Weaver

The (old Amtrak) NATIONAL LIMITED once served 5 ... Trenton, Harrisburg, Columbus, Indianapolis and Jefferson City. The Washington DC connection/thru cars omitted Trenton, but added Baltimore.

BTW, at the time, there was a through sleeper to Los Angeles on the Southwest Limited; the Southwest did not serve Topeka at the time. Lamy doesn't really count, so the western connection added no capitols for this service.

John Laubenheimer wrote:The (old Amtrak) NATIONAL LIMITED once served 5 ... Trenton, Harrisburg, Columbus, Indianapolis and Jefferson City. The Washington DC connection/thru cars omitted Trenton, but added Baltimore...

Baltimore isn't a state capital.

"East Olympia" hasn't been called that in years....the station is called "Olympia-Lacey" by Amtrak.