The \”Point\”-series sleepers were the New Haven Railroad\’s post-war luxury flagships for overnight travel and could be found on trains across the nation. Built and then delivered by Pullman-Standard beginning in December 1949, these 27 cars had 14 roomettes and 4 bedrooms and were named after projecting pieces of land along the southern New England coastline.
As delivered, the cars were painted with a Pullman Green window band and a black roof vs. the older Hunter Green paint. In the summer of 1955, all New Haven stainless steel cars were repainted with orange window bands and \”NH\” McGinnis logos over each truck. The removal of the skirting between the trucks on most of the NH\’s stainless-steel fleet started in the fall of 1957. However, due to being off the home road quite often, not all the \”Point\”-series sleepers lost their skirts right away or even at all.
The most important daily Boston-New York overnight train, the Owl, ran with up to nine(!) of these cars. A pair would be on the Boston to Philadelphia/Washington D.C. overnight trains, like the Federal, Quaker, and William Penn, the daily New Yowk City-Portland State of Maine, and connections to Springfield, Mass. In the 1960s the cars were listed as spare on the NH, they were used in general Pullman service and seen as far away as Dallas, Denver, and Miami, FL. They were also heavily used on summer camp trains from major east coast cities to nothern New England.
After hte Penn Central merger in 1969, seven cars were sold to the Long Island Railroad for use in parlor car service out of New York City. They remained in service until 1976.
This all-new Rapido model features:
Accurately designed from original blueprints
Rapido\’s renowned stainless steel finish
Partial skirting or no skirting as appropriate for each scheme
Full and correct interior details with extra optional parts
Track-powered constant lighting for DC and DCC
Full underbody details
Operating diaphragms with end gates
Separate grab irons, factory-installed
14-BNO-11 trucks with blackened metal wheels
22\” minimum radius (18\” radius with modifications)
Macdonald-Cartier metal magnetic knuckle couplers