Trains ran north to Springfield, Massachusetts, over the New Haven, where they were handed off to the Boston and Albany Railroad (B&A), which carried them to Worcester.

[1] The completion of the Hell Gate Bridge in 1917 allowed direct rail service from New England through New York to points south, so the New Haven added Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia sections to the Bar Harbor Express which were hauled by the Pennsylvania Railroad.

Destinations north of Portland included Ellsworth, Mount Desert Ferry in Hancock, and Rockland.

In 1957 the Maine Central truncated the run to Bangor, and ended the train altogether on Labor Day, 1960.

It went from New York City's Grand Central Terminal to New Haven, Providence, Worcester, Lowell, Portland and the Bar Harbor region.