The New Haven Railroad's "Yankee Clipper" headed by Engine No. 1396 - a Pacific type 4-6-2 locomotive, enroute through Forest Hills, Massachusetts, on June 11, 1934. Operating between Boston and New York on a 4-hour and 45-minute schedule, this All-Pullman train comprised Club car, two Parlor cars, Dining car, and Sun Parlor Observation car. The "Yankee Clipper" rolled over the New Haven's main line rails - between Grand Central station (New York) and Back Bay, South Station (Boston) - a rail distance of 229.5 miles - at an average speed of 51 miles per hour. This was an excellent schedule for the era.

South Station in Boston, June 1930. At this date the large train shed was being removed as part of the overall modernization of the station. Platform canopies were the replacement. This large terminal had twenty stub end tracks. In the background a steamship is moored at the wharf and in the foreground are the tracks and depot of the Boston Elevated Railway.