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!!!