Maritimers' adventures by train to Boston on the Gull inspire musical
There was a time when you could catch a train from the East Coast of Canada to Boston
People heading south of the border this summer will likely be hopping on a plane or planning a road trip, but the train was once the go-to way for Maritimers to spend time in New England.
The Gull was a passenger service that operated daily between Halifax and Boston, making travel easier for people on both sides of the Canada-U.S. border.
Jacqui Clydesdale, a writer in Saint John, said tales of the train have inspired her to write a new musical based on people's adventures.
"A lot of people I know don't realize that there was a train to Boston … it's kind of an unexplored history," Clydesdale said.
"I think it would be nice to let people reconnect … remembering what it was like to have that kind of adventure and go from … small towns to big cities."
The route
The Gull ran between 1930 and 1960, over the lines of several railways, including Canadian National, Canadian Pacific, the Maine Central Railroad and the Boston and Maine Railroad.
The train would leave Halifax around 8:15 a.m. and make several stops in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, including in Truro, Amherst, Moncton and Saint John.
The Gull's last Canadian stop was McAdam before the train crossed the border at Vanceboro, Maine, and made several New England stops, including Bangor and Portland in Maine. It would arrive at Boston's North Station around 8:45 the morning after it departed Halifax.
Stories
Clydesdale is looking for stories from the train, but she's already gathered a couple.
One is about a career woman — a term for women who worked outside the home at a time when most did not — in the 1930s who would run from her office job in Saint John to catch the Gull on Friday evening.
"Party all night on a Friday night on the way to Boston, crash at a friend's place all day, get up and party again," Clydesdale said.
"Then basically make her way home on the same train to Saint John on Sunday night, just in time to get home Monday to change her clothes and get back to work."
Another is a young boy's trip to Boston with his grandfather in the '40s to watch the Red Sox and the legendary Ted Williams play at Fenway Park.
"They let the little kids [into the park] to catch foul balls at batting practice," Clydesdale said.
"Williams stepped up to the plate, and all the kids backed off because they knew he was going to hit that hard."
Reaching out
While the history of the train was an inspiration, the current political climate and strained tensions between Canada and the United States also inspired Clydesdale to research her musical.
"I was thinking a lot about … the relationship between the Maritimes and New England and how there's kind of this, you know, there's some tension these days with Canada -U.S. relations."
Clydesdale has partnered with Angela Boudreau, a local singer-songwriter, to write the music, but she's looking for more stories to help flesh out characters.
"I would love to hear adventures on the train itself, the kinds of things you were looking for when you were going to Boston," Clydesdale said.
"Were you going to meet family? Were you going to get a new job? Were you going to pursue your education?"
Clydesdale said anyone with a story to suggest can let her know at gull.stories@gmail.com.
With files from Island Morning