Enoch was born on May 2, 1801 probably in Weston, Massachussets. He was the son of Enoch and Hannah (Ewing) Train, and a descendant of John Traine who came from England in 1635 and settled in Watertown, Massachussets.
After the death of his father in 1805 his mother married Capt. Levi Bishop of Windsor, Vt.
During the second quarter of the nineteenth century, Train became one of Boston's most active merchants. He seems to have made a specialty of the Baltic trade, but he also had business connections in South America.
His particular distinction, however, comes from the fact that in 1844 he established a line of sailing packets between Boston and Liverpool. Ever since the formation of the Black Ball line in 1817, New York had had a virtual monopoly of the packet service. The only successful outside rival was the Cope line from Philadelphia. Nearby Train had as a competitor the Cunard line, which had been maintaining regular steamship service between Liverpool and Boston since 1840. Bostonians were openly skeptical about Train's venture.
The most of his earlier ships were criticized as slow; frequently, moreover, the lack of adequate eastbound cargoes in Boston led him to sacrifice regularity of sailings--an essential packet feature--and send his ships to Southern ports for cotton cargoes. He made a shrewd move in 1844, however, when he commissioned Donald McKay to build the Joshua Bates and then persuaded him to move his shipyard from Newburyport to East Boston. About this time young George Francis Train, a kinsman, became associated with Enoch as a clerk; later he was Liverpool manager, and finally a partner.
During the next nine years McKay built for the Train line the Washington Irving, Anglo-Saxon, Ocean Monarch, Anglo-American, Parliament, Daniel Webster, Staffordshire, Chariot of Fame, and Star of Empire. Some of these were clipper ships and at least one, the Staffordshire, was diverted from the Liverpool run for a voyage to California and Calcutta. McKay's masterpiece, the Flying Cloud, was built for the Trains, but was sold by them to Grinnell, Minturn & Company of New York for $90, 000, double the contract price. Altogether, the line owned or chartered at least twenty-four different ships.
The immigration which followed the Irish famine of 1846 gave the line a great impetus and Train aggressively encouraged the bringing of immigrants to Boston, widely distributing advertising in Europe. By arrangements with European and American railroads, through rates from foreign cities to the interior of America were offered. The Train line also did a business, amounting it is said to $1, 000, 000 a year, in sending remittances from the immigrants in America to their old homes. The line derived its popular name from the "white diamond" which appeared on the red house flag; the ships also carried a large black "T" on their fore-topsails.
Two of the Train ships, the Anglo-Saxon and Staffordshire, were lost off Cape Sable; the Ocean Monarch was burned near Liverpool with a loss of 400 lives, and with the general slump in American shipping about 1854 many of the ships found their way into British hands.
In 1855, Train was one of the leading incorporators of the Boston & Europe Steamship Company, which never materialized, and the panic of 1857 seems further to have increased his business difficulties. Train is credited with being one of Boston's public-spirited citizens and his name is associated with the development of Fenway Court. He resided on Mount Vernon Street, Beacon Hill.
He died at Saugus, Massachussets, and was buried in Mount Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge.
His portrait shows a narrow, thoughtful, dignified face, with a high forehead.
His first wife was Adeline, daughter of Silas and Nancy Tobey Dutton. Their daughter, Adeline Dutton Train Whitney, was a well known writer of stories and verse. Train's second wife, whom he married in January 1836, was Almira Cheever.
