Ca 1940 timetables for Provincetown service

I've seen in other posts that passenger service to Provincetown ended in September, 1940. I'd like to know if anyone can point me toward timetable information for the passenger service that did run prior to that time. In particular, I'd like to know if it's possible to find scans of timetables, as I'd like to see a listing of the stops and times for the services that ran to and from Provincetown. Thanks.

Since there have been no replies, I figure something's better than nothing, so here is what I found in the Sept. 1937 Official Guide, the closest one I have to 1940, in a schedule effective Aug. 8, 1937 (the paper is brittle and flaking, and not really possible to copy):
Train 619 left South Station at 7.35 am daily, arriving in Yarmouth at 10.09 (en route to Hyannis); train 679 left Yarmouth at 10.19 daily except Sun. & Hol., arriving in Provincetown at 12.08 pm. Train 709 left South Station at 12.18 pm Sat. only, last trip Sept. 4; a parlor car for Hyannis was set off at Yarmouth 2.22-2.25 pm, and No. 709 arrived in Provincetown at 4.10 pm. Returning, Train 678 left P. at 1.45 pm daily except Sun. & Hol., arriving in Yarmouth at 3.36 to connect with No. 726 out of Hyannis, leaving daily at 3.47 pm, and arriving in South Station at 6.05. On Monday, Sept. 6 only, Train 770 left P. at 6.40 pm, arriving in South Station at 9.55 pm.

Apart from that, there were 3 bus trips between Hyannis and P. via Yarmouth, leaving Hyannis at 6.30 am daily (no connection from Boston), 5.52 pm daily except Sun. & Hol., with connection at Yarmouth from Boston, and 9.55 am Sun. only, with connection at Yarmouth from Boston. Returning, there were departures from P. at 7.17 am daily except Sun. & Hol., connecting at Yarmouth for Boston, 7.05 pm daily (no connection for Boston), and 1.59 pm Sun. only, connecting at Yarmouth for Boston.

Stations served by the trains were (from Yarmouth) Bass River, South Dennis, North Harwich, Harwich, Pleasant Lake (on flag), Brewster, East Brewster, Orleans, Eastham, North Eastham, South Wellfleet, Wellfleet, South Truro, Truro, North Truro, and Provincetown; trains 709 and 770 skipped a few.

It that's all they had over Labor Day weekend in 1937, my guess is that trains 678 and 679 ran year round (probably for the Post Office), and that was it. If you're curious, it's possible that Dr. Frank Scheer at the Railway Mail Service Library (e-mail at f [email protected]) may know whether by any chance a Highway Post Office was introduced in the fall of 1940--if so, that would have enabled the New Haven to take the train off, no doubt to their great relief.

As far as finding something to scan is concerned, I did find an ad at http://www.railroadmap.com for a disc of an Official Guide from 1936, but I don't know how much they're asking.

Hope this helps to some extent.

I have some stuff regarding this but I just haven't had the time to research it, maybe later this week or next week.
Noel Weaver

My August 1940 Official guide shows 5 round trips from Boston to Hyannis, but by that time all the Provincetown runs are marked as "bus".

Thanks for your responses!

I'm rather ashamed to admit it, but my last trip to P'town was in 1962, shortly after the line was abandoned. The rails were gone, but the roadbed was fully intact and the telegraph poles were still standing.

I have rarely seen photos of the Cape Cod-Provincetown subdivision on the "hook" of the Cape. Can anyone recommend where I can find some?

Noel Weaver wrote:I have some stuff regarding this but I just haven't had the time to research it, maybe later this week or next week.
Noel Weaver

I was waiting to see a post from you before I posted anything. I'll be looking forward to seeing what you find; I'm getting interested in it myself. I'm wondering whether the decline in rail service was due to the Depression or began earlier--also whether that train in 1937 had an RPO.

Here is what I came up with regarding passenger train service between Yarmouth and Provincetown.
As of timetable no. 131, dated 4-25-37 there was one round trip out of Hyannis to Provincetown and return connecting at Yarmouth with a train from and to Boston. This ran daily except Sunday and the timetable shows "m" stops which were for handling mail. There was an additional train in the summer on Saturday from Hyannis and Sunday from Provincetown and this trip required a second set of equipment, the two trains met at Brewster on Saturday.
Timetable no. 132, 9-26-37 shows no more passenger service between Yarmouth and Provincetown.
Timetable no. 133, 10-10-37 shows one round trip as above daily except Sunday on the same schedule and again handling mail enroute. This lasted until timetable no. 136, 7-17-38 when all of the service between Yarmouth and Provincetown was
discontinued. That's right, in the middle of the summer. The additional weekend trains also operated during the portion of the summer of 1938 that service operated.
Up until 1938 there were 15 intermediate stops and the running time was about an hour and 50 minutes, for the summer of 1940 there were 5 intermediate stops and the running time was 1 hour and 35 minutes stopping at South Dennis, Harwich, Orleans, Eastham, Truro and Provincetown. Apparently no mail was handled on the summer service in 1940.
I suspect that through most of the above period especially in the off season the equipment on the Hyannis - Provincetown train was a gas electric motor car of some sort of which the NHRR had a number of.
Hope this answers the questions.
Noel Weaver

Again, this is great information. Thank you very much for your replies.

adpurple wrote:I've seen in other posts that passenger service to Provincetown ended in September, 1940. I'd like to know if anyone can point me toward timetable information for the passenger service that did run prior to that time. In particular, I'd like to know if it's possible to find scans of timetables, as I'd like to see a listing of the stops and times for the services that ran to and from Provincetown. Thanks.

Some of what you are looking for can be found on this web link:

Cape Cod Timetables - collection
http://www.scribd.com/collections/41266 ... Timetables

The posted collection of scanned timetables covers passenger service to/from Cape Cod over the years.