Sunday, July 20, 2025

The New Haven Railroad, A Brief History and the Class of '56 Part 2

Greetings All,

New Haven Railroad, A Brief History

and the Class of '56 Part 2

Welcome back to this two part series that takes a look at the New Haven RR. Yesterday we focused on some of the events leading up to the 1955 order for sixty diesel electric locomotives by New Haven president Patrick B. Ginnis. Today we'll take a look at the arrival of these locomotives in 1956 which happened during the presidency of George Alpert.

"New Haven EMD GP9 1221" by Digital Rail Artist is marked with CC0 1.0.

Who was George Alpert?

After the ouster of Patrick B. McGinnis the New Haven presidency was awarded to George Alpert, a Boston attorney with no railroad experience. Mr. Alpert faced a tough situation having to immediately announce "adjusted revenue figures" indicating Mr. McGinnis had been exaggerating the NH's income. In attempt to correct some of the errors of the prior administration maintenance expenditures were increased. 1956 would be the last year that the New Haven would show a profit.

Four of the fifteen Fairbanks Morse H16-44s class of '56 locomotives haul a long train from Cedar Hill Yard towards Terminal Yard.

Alpert was also stuck with certain policies already committed to by his predecessor. The three high speed trains that cost $5 million arrived in 1956 and 1957 were instant failures. Mr. Alpert continued McGinnis' ill advised plan to cut back on electrification. With the new 1956 road switchers now in service the NH retired all of the electric freight motors by 1959.

"4 More of Roger Puta's New Haven Photos" by railfan 44 is marked with Public Domain Mark 1.0.

Factors Beyond The Railroads Control

Other factors that were affecting the railroad were the 129 mile Connecticut Turnpike(I-95) constructed parallel to the New Haven's mainline between 1955 and 1958. New Haven's piggyback service could no longer compete with truckers on this new tax payer funded highway. The RR's longest freight haul was just 280 miles between Boston and Maybrook via the Poughkeepsie Bridge.

Basically the New Haven was one big switching yard with huge operating costs. Most freight was inbound, terminating on the railroad and the NH was forced to haul a lot of empty cars enroute back to their owners.

Passenger revenues also suffered as airlines serving the NH region began purchasing their first jet powered aircraft at the same time. Between 1954 and 1964 the NH suffered a two-thirds drop in its Boston-New York passenger counts.

Some of The Class of '56 in Model Form!!!

Three of the five locomotive models from three builders that arrived on the New Haven RR in 1956 were lensed at Terminal Yard shortly after their arrival.

One of the thirty EMD GP9s (1200-1229) lays over in Terminal Yard with a short passenger train. The GP9s were the cream of the 1956 crop and could be found on many priority passenger and freight trains.

Four of fifteen Fairbanks-Morse H16-44s (1600-1614) are on track #1 ready to depart with a heavy mail and express passenger train. The FM purchase by a RR looking to economize and standardize its fleet raised some eyebrows.

Two of the fifteen Alco RS11s (1400-1414) are getting ready to depart Terminal Yard with a freight train for Cedar Hill Yard.

Still on the New Haven roster were the forty five Alco RS3s (517-561) that were delivered between 1950 and 1952. The RS3s were fine work horses in both freight and passenger service and well liked by the crews.

A lone RS2 from the Alco class of 1947 was found lingering in Terminal Yard. The NH purchased seventeen RS2s (0500-0516) to help eliminate steam. The NH used the 0 prefix during the steam to diesel transition era to eliminate confusion with steam locomotives who were similarly numbered.

The RS3s will take the RS2 back to Cedar Hill Yard on their next train out.

Still in service are the PA1s of which twenty seven (0760-0786)

arrived from Alco in 1948-1949 with the 0 number prefix. Also in service are the FM CPA24-5s. Ten of the five axle locomotives (790-799) arrived in 1950-1952.

Class of '56 Locomotives Missing From the Model Fleet

At this time there are two of the 1956 locomotives not currently in my 1:87 scale fleet. Both are EMD models, the first being an SW1200 of which the New Haven received twenty units (640-659).

"File:EJE Yellow SW1200.PNG" by PeaceFrog70 is licensed under CC BY 3.0.

The second Class of '56 locomotives not in the fleet were the two FL9s delivered in 1956 for testing. They were a disaster and had to be sent back to EMD for additional work and corrections. The NH would receive them back with 28 others in 1957 (2000-2029).

Checkout the 1956 graduates and friends in action

Final Thoughts and Comments

The New Haven Railroad was Class 1 RR and a big commuter hauler in the NY Metro area until January, 1969 when it was absorbed into the Penn Central. The railroad was hampered by many factors from its beginning. Poor decisions and policies from the top along with a shrinking industrial base, interstate highways and airlines eating into its freight and passenger traffic and costly commuter operations led to their final bankruptcy in 1961.

With the merger of the PRR and NYC into the Penn Central being announced the bankrupt New Haven sought inclusion arguing that a bankrupt railroad could never complete with a super railroad which was what the Penn Central was supposed to be.

Lastly the 1956 engines were mostly still in service during the 1960s and at the time of the New Havens inclusion into the Penn Central which suits me perfectly.

Thank you for reading and watching!!!

PCCM 112 will begin this Friday July 25th

See you soon!!!

Saturday, July 19, 2025

The New Haven Railroad, A Brief History and the Class of '56 Part 1

Greetings All,

New Haven Railroad, A Brief History

and the Class of '56 Part 1

Some recent purchases and projects had me revisiting my New Haven Railroad books, DVDs and online sources that focused on the pivotal year in New Haven history of 1956 which ushered in a swarm of new diesel locomotives.

This two part New Haven Railroad series is dedicated to my late friend Dennis Shore who introduced me to the the New Haven via his extensive collection of O scale NH equipment about 30 years ago. Growing up in the Bronx he witnessed the parade of New Haven Trains each day and was an avid rider and train volunteer at the Naugatuck Railroad in Connecticut.

The New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad

A Brief History

The NY, NH & Hartford RR was a Northeastern Class 1 railroad that was in existence for 96 years. The company was the result of an end to end merger of the the New York & New Haven and the Hartford & New Haven in 1872. Commonly known as the New Haven it disappeared into the Penn Central on January, 01, 1969. At that time the NH was a bankrupt rundown property and its trustees were threatening to shut down the railroad because of its desperate cash situation.

"4 More of Roger Puta's New Haven Photos" by railfan 44 is marked with Public Domain Mark 1.0. To view the terms, visit https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/?ref=openverse.

With board member J.P. Morgan leading the NY,NH&H board of directors and his associates the New Haven controlled pretty much every aspect of public transportation in southern New England and through much of the Northeast controlling 10,000 miles of railroads, steamboat systems along with electric, gas and water companies and employing over 125,000 people.

Financier J.P. Morgan, likely beating off someone accusing him of being a robber baron.

"Financier J.P. Morgan, likely beating off someone accusing him of being a robber baron. Did this while helping @fieldgray4 with some research for his history class. #365project #draweveryday #UShistory #jpmorgan #anger #ows" by Gideon Burton is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/?ref=openverse.

Under NY,NH&H president Charles S. Mellen, a Morgan protege, the New Haven evolved into the system that lasted thru 1968. Significant accomplishments included the electrification of the mainline west of New Haven, CT, construction of the Hell Gate Bridge, assembly of the Maybrook freight line and the acquisition of locomotives and rolling stock that would serve the railroad until dieselization. But all of these projects cost money and would have pushed the railroad into insolvency if the federal government hadn't taken control of the railroads during World War I.

"Hells Gate Bridge" by Bo47 is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/?ref=openverse.

Fast Forward to 1935-1948

After declaring bankruptcy in 1935, World War II put the NH back in the black under principal trustee Howard S. Palmer. Over the following 12 years the railroad became a leaner more competitive operation shedding their steamship lines, bus subsidiaries and cutting back on their extensive duplicative branch lines. Freight traffic tripled from 1938 thru 1944 allowing the railroad to emerge from bankruptcy in 1947. Palmer was named president of the newly reorganized company.

"Diesel power" by Boston Public Library is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/?ref=openverse.

The Decline Begins Again 1948-1954

"Friendly Interests" of Frederic C. Dumaine purchased enough of New Haven's preferred stock in 1948 to seize control of the railroad. One of the "friendly interests" was none other than Patrick B. McGinnis. Under Dumaine service deteriorated, employee moral sagged, maintenance expenditures were slashed and the NH began selling its extensive real estate holdings.

"Canton Junction (Canton, Massachusetts)" by cmh2315fl is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/?ref=openverse.

After Dumaine passed away in 1951 the reins were handed down to his son Frederic C. Dumaine Jr (Buck) who showed a different management style adding additional trains and reinvesting in the railroads infrastructure however he was not pleasing certain stockholders who thought the RR should be paying higher dividends and spending less on capital expenditures. After a bitter proxy fight in 1954 Patrick B. McGinnis emerged as the victor and took over the presidency.

Decisions Have Consequences 1954-1956

New president Patrick B. McGinnis would be at the controls of the New Haven for one year and 10 months and the decisions made during this time would have terrible consequences that would plague the railroad for the next 25 years. For example the maintenance budget for physical plant and equipment was slashed from 9.5 million in 1954 to just 2.2 million for all of 1955.

When McGinnis took over the NH was completely dieselized but the electric motor roster was elderly. The Cos Cob, CT generating plant was working beyond capacity, in need of updating and the NH was contracting with online utilities to provide additional power.

"Electric power" by Boston Public Library is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/?ref=openverse.

Although the ten new EP5 Jets and 100 M.U. cars ordered by Buck Dumaine were under construction McGinnis elected to reduce electric operations east of Stamford, CT with the EP-5s and M.U. cars handling commuter traffic to and from Grand Central Terminal. Dual powered electric/diesel locomotives would be invented and purchased to haul all passenger thru trains and all freight traffic would be handled by diesel locomotives.

"New Haven RR Midland Div Readville" by clamshack is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.

Hey, Big Spender

With the New Haven barely hanging onto solvency in 1955 paying dividends instead of investing in the railroad (sound familiar PC fans?) NH president McGinnis embarked on a diesel locomotive buying spree that the railroad could not afford spreading the wealth among EMD, Alco and Fairbanks Morse. These locomotives would arrive on the NH in 1956 wearing the large NH heralds dubbed the McGinnis scheme. Ironically the man himself had been shown the door in January 1956.

"New Haven train" by jeferonix is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/?ref=openverse.

Other questionable expenditures included the 15 year lease of of 200 piggy-back flatcars that required special loading equipment and were difficult to interchange. Another failure was McGinnis's purchase of

three high speed trains, the John Quincy Adams, the Daniel Webster and the Roger Williams.

"Forest Hills - El and New Haven RR looking N." by clamshack is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/?ref=openverse.

The Roger Williams, shown above, featured six modified RDC cars with streamlined end cabs that were compatible with the other RDCs in the fleet while the Adams and Webster trainsets were quickly and quietly removed from service shutting the door on Mr. Ginnis's high speed train experiments.

Tomorrow we'll turn the page to part 2 of this story and focus on the Class of '56 and the George Alpert era on the new Haven RR.

Sources

The New Haven Railroad The Final Decades by Scott Hartley.

New Haven Trackside with Thomas J. McNamara by Jeremy F. Plant

Classic Trains Magazine Spring 2015 FL9 article by J.W. Swanberg

Thanks for reading!!!

See you tomorrow!!!

Friday, July 18, 2025

Locomotive Spotlight #4-2025 / New Haven Alco RS11s

Greetings All,

Locomotive Spotlight #4-2025

New Haven Alco RS11s

Welcome to another post in the locomotive spotlight series. Today the spotlight will shine on a pair of Proto 1000 HO Scale New Haven Alco RS11s which will begin a three part New Haven series that will continue thru this weekend. Lets take a look at the models and prototype.

A pair of HO Scale Proto 1000 Alco RS11s numbered 1405 purchased from Trainz dot com joined the fleet in June, 2025.

Prototype Information

The ALCO RS-11 is a class of diesel-electric locomotive rated at 1,800 hp, that rode on two-axle trucks, having a B-B wheel arrangement. This model was built by both Alco (327 units) and Montreal Locomotive Works (99 units) for a total production of 433 units.

"Alco RS11 Demonstrator DL701" by Digital Rail Artist is marked with Public Domain Mark 1.0. To view the terms, visit https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/?ref=openverse.

The American Locomotive Company, Alco, produced the first three RS-11s in February 1956 as a demonstrator set. This locomotive, classified by ALCO as model DL-701, was their first high-horsepower road switcher, intended to be a replacement for the very popular RS-3 road switcher.

Featuring a V-12, 1,800 hp 251B diesel engine, the RS-11 was ALCO's answer to EMD's very successful GP9. The turbocharged RS-11 accelerated faster, had a higher tractive effort rating and typically used less fuel than the competition. It was also quite versatile and could be found in heavy haul freight as well as passenger service. It was produced in high-nose and low-nose versions.

"LV Alco RS-11s" by GG-1 K4s is licensed under CC BY 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/?ref=openverse.

While the RS-11 benefited from the increased power and reliability offered with ALCO's new 251B engine, and was arguably a more advanced product than the GP9, its market acceptance was disappointing against the reputation EMD's locomotives had made for superior reliability.

Model Information

The two HO Scale Proto 1000 Series RS11s turned out to be brand new in the box which was a mixed blessing of sorts.

Here they are assembled and ready for testing.

After spending many years in their respective boxes it became clear rather quickly than some lubrication would be needed. Not surprising it also became clear that the axle gears would need to be changed. The gear issue with the P-1000 and P-2000 HO scale models has been well documented on this blog and other sites as well.

What did surprise me was that the usual cure for the axle gears was to replace them with Athearn axle gears which in this case made the engines run louder. Huh. I had some Walthers drop in replacement wheels and axles in the parts department and they worked fine. I found additional Walthers replacements online and ordered four sets which would be enough for the remaining NH RS11 and give me a complete set of spares.

While I was waiting for the new parts to arrive I got to work on renumbering one 1405 to 1401. The RS11 below has been stripped of its cab numbers using Walthers Solvaset and an eraser. The number boards were brush painted black with a clear gloss coat added.

Luck would have it that a Miccroscale set of NYC diesel decals had a similar font and size as the NH 1405. Below the 1401 and 1405 have been slightly weathered and both sport new axle gears.

A close up of the front of the1401. Unlike the NYC and PRR the New Haven RS11s were set up to run short hood forward.

The hind end of the 1405. The NYC numbers were a close match for the NH numbers from the factory.

I was hoping to be able to operate the RS11s in multiple with a P-1000 GP9 1210 like the prototype NH did. The GP9 has been in my NH fleet for well over twenty years. Unfortunately, they did not M.U. well and my DC Layout has no speed matching technology. The 1210 remains in solo service for now.

Thankfully the RS11s run well together and they'll be able to hold down assignments in both freight and passenger service and look pretty good doing it.

The 1401 leads a train out of Terminal Yard.

Checkout the new New Haven RS11s in both passenger and freight service

Final Thoughts and Comments

After lubrication and new axles the P-1000 NH RS11s are running well in both passenger and freight service with some tonnage limitations in freight service as you will have seen above. Personally, I thought they had the muscle to get that train up the 2.5% grades to Terminal Yard and was surprised when they stalled on the slide. Looks like I'm going to need another New Haven RS11!!!

Sharp eyes will note that the sunshades have been removed from both locomotives. Some by accident and some on purpose. I really liked they way they looked but they were prone to breaking off. After finding one trackside and breaking off another when putting it back into its styrofoam cradle I had enough and removed them.

The purchase of these two locomotives opened up the door for another look at the New Haven Railroad which I documented on two blog posts which will follow tomorrow and Sunday. Of particular interest to me was the NH Class of '56 locomotive purchases.

Thanks for reading and watching

See you tomorrow

Friday, July 4, 2025

The AP 500s and Independence Day Special

Greetings All,

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY USA!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY STATUE OF LIBERTY

The AP 500s

In late May of 2025 the Patti O Paint Shop was contracted once again by long time customer the Atlantic Pacific Railroad to paint and letter three Walthers undecorated ACF 50' exterior post boxcars.