any New Haven fans ....

@MELGAR posted:

I recently purchased an MTH Premier model of New Haven EP-3 electric locomotive #0360 (20-5631-1E, MSRP $899.95, 2008) with 3-volt PS2 from Trainz, despite the fact that I already have two examples of this type of locomotive (New Haven #0353 in Pullman green with gold stripes and #350 in Hunter green with silver stripes) that I’ve never run. So, this one is the designated runner… These models were made in South Korea and have die-cast bodies. Trainz listed this one as C-7, in excellent condition, but I think it’s probably better than that. It certainly runs well. MTH has not been making models of New Haven equipment lately, so, I’ve been buying good quality used items from Trainz. I doubt the EP-3 model will ever be produced again by MTH.

The EP-3s were built by General Electric and known as “flatbottoms” on the New Haven. They entered service in 1931, ran between New York City and New Haven (72 miles), and were retired by 1961. New Haven’s ten EP-3s were initially numbered from #0351 to #0360. In 1946, #0360 was renumbered to #0350 to put all EP-3s into the 0350-0359 group. The zero prefix was removed from the EP-3s in 1950.

The videos show EP-3 #0360 with two trains of New Haven passenger cars. In the first video, the consist has a Railway Post Office and three 1920s Pullman Green heavyweight cars of the Merchants Limited. In the second video, it is pulling the RPO and three modern stainless steel passenger cars acquired by the New Haven in 1948 and repainted with an orange window band around 1955 during the McGinnis era. Therefore, by the time the former EP-3 #0360 could have hauled the McGinnis scheme passenger cars, it had been renumbered to #350.

MELGAR

Mel  was this engine part of "East Wind" set.  Did you get the yellow passenger cars that went with it? Would love to see

@Homey B posted:

So, I am a neophyte in passenger coaches, unless you're talking about the current fleet of LIRR/MNRR M1/3/7 we use daily :-)

Let's say that I wanted to haul these coaches with something other than a NH engine.  Would they be "close enough" if I used NYC or D&H power to move them?  Gotta figure they're too old for the Amtrak engine I somehow found living in my roster - I'll need something more 1970's for that consist.  I'm thinking more along first generation diesel timespan...

Thanks!

The New Haven's streamlined cars roamed far and wide - they were regular visitors on the Pennsylvania to Washington DC, and I believe Pittsburgh. They were also used on through service to Montreal and Maine, and could be found on the Boston & Maine, Maine Central, Central Vermont, and Canadian National. There was also "Inland Route" service from New York to Boston via Springfield in conjunction with the New York Central, so they could also be found on the ex-Boston & Albany behind NYC power east of Springfield.

Outside of regular assigned service, there are accounts of coaches making it as far as Florida during the winter travel season. The Delaware & Hudson also leased several Diners or Grill Cars (I don't recall which) shortly after the PAs arrived. During the Penn Central era, they became mixed into the rest of the Penn Central fleet. The coaches were also hauled by Delaware & Hudson PAs out of Boston when the MBTA leased the PAs in 1976 or 77, however most of the coaches by that time were in a mix of Penn Central or MBTA paint.

Hope that helps!

~Chris

Here is my version of Mel’s DL109 and EP3. Unfortunately my scenery is nowhere close to his. Scale all over the place. Note the giant waiting on platform for next train lol

@Wvm posted:

Here is my version of Mel’s DL109 and EP3. Unfortunately my scenery is nowhere close to his. Scale all over the place. Note the giant waiting on platform for next train lol

Well he could always ride on the roof.......

@Wvm posted:

Mel  was this engine part of "East Wind" set.  Did you get the yellow passenger cars that went with it? Would love to see

@Wvm,

Checking the product number (20-5631-1E) on MTH Trains, it comes up as the East Wind set with four yellow cars. Just the engine was available when I bought the locomotive from Trainz. If the cars had been available, I wouldn't have bought them. I have several types of New Haven passenger car sets all of which ran behind #0360.

MELGAR

You guys are very prototypical with those passenger cars mixed up like that. Being raised on the New Haven Springfield line, it was possible to see stream lined cars mixed with old heavyweights and American Flyer coaches. Very prototypical gentlemen.

A New Haven FM C Liner with a local passenger rounds the reverse loop at the Scranton end of my NYNH&H  NYO&W and slows for a station stop in Scranton. We have some flickering lights in those cars which will soon get Gun Runner John's constant lighting kits. That will please the patrons to have no light outs.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/hWptxvRB6xH2gM8R7

I ran two New Haven Alco diesels on my 12'-by-8' layout today. New Haven Alco S-2 #0615 model by MTH. New Haven Alco RS-3 #531 model by Atlas O.

MELGAR

Love the RS3 in the green/orange scheme

Shop crew removed the Alco 539 engines and added 2 EMD 567 16 cyl,also changed trucks to EMD E7....

New Haven #792 was a Fairbanks-Morse engine acquired by the New Haven Railroad in 1952. The model was made by Lionel with tooling that originated from MTH.

MELGAR

Melgar posted pics of his Long Island 0-6-0 switcher in thread Switcher Sarurday on Dec 16. Attracted is my New Haven from the same MTH run. I think it is the best smoking and sounding steam engine on my layout

December 20, 2023

New Haven Alco DL-109 #0719 (New Haven class DER-1) is an MTH Premier model (20-2325-1 with 5-volt PS2) delivered in December 2001 at MSRP $379.95. It has been running on my model railroads for twenty-two years with a BCR. Before running it today, I greased the worm gears.

Ten Alco DL-109 diesel locomotives (#0700 to 0709) were delivered to the New Haven Railroad between December 1941 and April 1942. They were immediately pressed into freight and passenger service on the shoreline between New Haven and Boston heading freight trains at night and passenger trains during the day. Alco received special permission from the War Production Board to continue building DL-109s for the New Haven Railroad and, by the end of World War 2, it owned a fleet of sixty. Each DL-109 had two Alco 539-T six-cylinder turbocharged 1000 horsepower diesel engines. The New Haven’s locomotives were geared for a maximum speed of eighty miles-per-hour for dual-service use.

The video shows it pulling three “American Flyer” passenger cars, the first of which arrived on the New Haven Railroad in 1937. The 21-inch models were made by Weaver.

MELGAR

Love those Osgood Bradley cars.  I have some 2 rail ones in the later McGuiness scheme on my radar to go behind my FL9s and my EP-5 when I get around to 2 railing that as well.  The fluted 8600 series PS cars would be a little more appropriate for that motive power, but not much in O scale out there for that.

The New Haven Osgood-Bradley cars were made in Worcester, MA starting in 1937. The first New Haven DL-109s went into service in 1941-'42. I think it's a realistic consist. However, Weaver did not include the skirting on its models.

MELGAR

I continued my recent project to lubricate my older PS1 locomotives. Today, it was New Haven EP-5 #371 with PS1, a model that was delivered by MTH (20-2195-1) in March 1999. The EP-5s hauled fast passenger trains in the electrified zone between New York City and New Haven, so I run this model at higher speeds on the O-72 outer loop of my 12'-by-8' model railroad.

MELGAR

@MELGAR posted:

I continued my recent project to lubricate my older PS1 locomotives. Today, it was New Haven EP-5 #371 with PS1, a model that was delivered by MTH (20-2195-1) in March 1999. The EP-5s hauled fast passenger trains in the electrified zone between New York City and New Haven, so I run this model at higher speeds on the O-72 outer loop of my 12'-by-8' model railroad.

MELGAR

Love the EP-5…….my K-Line number 379  TMCC/RS/Cruise is showing signs of age…..stuttering Cruise, bent chassis…..

The last time MTH produced them was 2013…….time for a repeat, I would think….
Thanks, Mel. Always love to see them!

Peter

@Putnam Division posted:

Love the EP-5…….my K-Line number 379  TMCC/RS/Cruise is showing signs of age…..stuttering Cruise, bent chassis…..

The last time MTH produced them was 2013…….time for a repeat, I would think….

Thanks, Mel. Always love to see them!

Peter

@Putnam Division

Peter,

I was thinking exactly the same thing as I ran the EP-5 today.

I never tire of running this train but I don't run it very often to try to preserve it. I would like to see MTH rerun some of the iconic models that they made around 2000, including the EP-5, but when the thought occurred to me today, I said to myself that it's not likely. I've been disappointed in what they've been producing during the past few years - and very little New Haven...

MELGAR

New Haven 535, an Alco RS 3 heads a freight towards Maybrook . The train is on the Scranton reverse loop

https://photos.app.goo.gl/a9JSQddJDX8xePD39

Here’s my custom painted Lionel New Haven 6464-425 boxcar, I painted the roof and ends in Scalecoat II New Haven orange, used Tamiya masking tape and flat clear coat over entire shell.

Looking for a Lionel 6464-725 in orange to paint roof and ends in black to go with this one.

George

The New Haven is sort of like a bug you get, even if you don't model it.  I had an estranged uncle, estranged because my dad did not like him that much because he was the baby of the family and never pulled his weight on the farm(back in the 19teens)...but, unbeknownst to me, he was an old school Lionel trains guy.  One day in 1983,  I got a call from the Greyhound bus station, telling me I had a package.  What was waiting for me,  was not 'a box' but my uncles Lionel train collection, all shipped in their original Lionel train boxes, many boxes in bad shape.  Somebody at Greyhound even taped up the end of one box, I was lucky nothing was lost.  My uncle was in his 80's and getting ready to move into a care facility, and found a good home for his trains.  In it was a mint NH EP5, which has made many a mile since 1983 with me, and a few years ago I decided to add to the fleet, putting together both freight and passenger consists, primarily spurned onward by finding the Lionel NH 1608W set with the add on set of the B unit and passenger car, a remake of the 1950's set, NIB on  a sell site called Mercari.  So my, ACL/SCL/N&W/SRR/ICG/CofG/FEC/RFP/GMO with UP thrown in for good measure so I can run a Big Boy,  has NH trains sharing trackage...all just for the  fun of it.  Someone commented about NH passenger cars in other RR consists, in my list of railroads, it was not uncommon to see a passenger car or two from one each of those RR on the newly merged SCL trackage heading south out of Jax Fla paralleling US 17 in the late 60's.  Not sure how Greyhound shipping is today, but it used to be the most economical way to send big stuff.  When my son got married and moved his new bride across country, I suggested Greyhound, and after he did all the research, 13 years ago it was still the cheapest and faster than the others for ground transportation.

@CALNNC posted:

The New Haven is sort of like a bug you get, even if you don't model it.

There is still a lot to see of what the New Haven Railroad built in Connecticut. The original line between New Haven and New York City (Woodlawn, NY) that opened in 1849, parts of the 1908 electrification, and some control towers (Signal Stations) are still there. So are the stations in Manhattan (Grand Central Terminal), New Haven, Hartford, New London, Danbury, Derby, Waterbury, and other smaller ones. The New Haven transported a large number of commuters into New York City and, for a relatively small and short track mileage, it was the major artery for freight and passengers between New York City and Boston.

MELGAR

Had to have Hudson i5. Finally found from forum sponsor Trainz. They graded like new but I would call mint with Railsounds and TMCC.  When I first ran it had no sound at all. I messaged Trainz and to their credit they replied immediately with a return lable, messaged me when they received, and had it repaired (loose wires) and back in delivery in 3 days  That's customer service !

I took these photographs of the former New Haven Railroad station in Waterbury, Connecticut on January 31, 2024. The building is presently in use by the Waterbury Republican and American newspaper.

The station is located at the north end of the 27-mile Waterbury Branch of Metro-North Railroad. It was built by the Seth Thomas Company in 1909 during the New Haven presidency of Charles S. Mellen. The tower is copied from the bell tower in the City of Siena, Italy and is 240 feet in height.

Waterbury was once the site of the largest brass manufacturing industry in the United States and was known as The Brass City. The New Haven Railroad had a large yard with 12 tracks to serve the brass industry during World War 2. After the war, brass was replaced by plastic for many common items.

MELGAR

Mel  Your travels. Photos, and descriptions bring the NH back to life.  Thanks for sharing

@MELGAR posted:

I took these photographs of the former New Haven Railroad station in Waterbury, Connecticut on January 31, 2024. The building is presently in use by the Waterbury Republican and American newspaper.

The station is located at the north end of the 27-mile Waterbury Branch of Metro-North Railroad. It was built by the Seth Thomas Company in 1909 during the New Haven presidency of Charles S. Mellen. The tower is copied from the bell tower in the City of Siena, Italy and is 240 feet in height.

Waterbury was once the site of the largest brass manufacturing industry in the United States and was known as The Brass City. The New Haven Railroad had a large yard with 12 tracks to serve the brass industry during World War 2. After the war, brass was replaced by plastic for many common items.

MELGAR

That would be a very interesting RR station to replicate in O-Gauge.

Ron

I've never been inside the New Haven Railroad's former Waterbury Station. It was purchased in 1952 by the family that owns the newspaper - long before I became a Connecticut resident. Metro-North now operates on a single track and has a small platform behind the building that is visible near the left edge of the second photo that I posted.

MELGAR

Well it’s finally back up in its original home. Sadly I’ll have to wait to get back up on top to take a picture of it. For the top cone I welded a NH on it.

NEW HAVEN I4 pulls an express that include an RAIL POST OFFICE, two RAILWAY EXPREESS Reefers and three Heavyweight passenger cars.

The I4 and RPO are by Weaver. The REA reefers are Atlas. The heavyweight passenger cars are Golden Gate Depot.

Here are three recordings of the whistle on my Sunset/3rd-Rail model of New Haven Railroad FL9 #2043. New Haven's FL9s had a Hancock whistle described by J. W. Swanberg in his book New Haven Power 1838 - 1968 as a "tuneful Hancock whistle."

I used to hear the FL9 whistles when they were running on Metro-North in Connecticut. The model sounds accurate to me.

MELGAR

Mel,

  I have a Hancock air whistle, with the air reflector housing, that I bought several years ago from a retired MTA cop. Supposedly, it came off of an FL9. Some day, I'd like to run some air through it (sorry to any neighbors).

Tom

Since Mel popped this thread up again.

Just added to the fleet a Weaver RS3 New York, New Haven and Hartford. I like the older NYNHH scheme as much as the McGinnis Black white and orange.

This engine came from Trainz with a balky e-unit so I'm planning to put a LionChief / bluetooth board in it. Could be a good avenue to upgrade basic engines to command control. The board was $80.00 from Lionel. About the same as a Dallee reversing board without the CC.

Bob

CTR.  You are so lucky to have a Weaver I4  I finally found an I5. Still looking for an I4

https://ogrforum.com/...2#183593148715027452

@RSJB18 posted:

Since Mel popped this thread up again.

Just added to the fleet a Weaver RS3 New York, New Haven and Hartford. I like the older NYNHH scheme as much as the McGinnis Black white and orange.

This engine came from Trainz with a balky e-unit so I'm planning to put a LionChief plus board in it. Could be a good avenue to upgrade basic engines to command control. The board was $80.00 from Lionel. About the same as a Dallee reversing board without the CC.

Bob

What is entailed? Does the board come with plug in? Level of difficulty?

@pennsyfan posted:

What is entailed? Does the board come with plug in? Level of difficulty?

Difficulty level will depend on whether I can figure out the pins on the board. Shouldn't be too hard but it will be a process to find what is for lights, motors, etc. I'll document as I go. I scoured the Lionel parts site but couldn't find any documentation on the LC/BT boards. The original LC's are well documented.

Once I nail down the pins it should be pretty simple. No smoke but the lighting will be upgraded to LED.

Bob

@RSJB18 posted:

Difficulty level will depend on whether I can figure out the pins on the board. Shouldn't be too hard but it will be a process to find what is for lights, motors, etc. I'll document as I go. I scoured the Lionel parts site but couldn't find any documentation on the LC plus boards. The original LC's are well documented.

Once I nail down the pins it should be pretty simple. I'm adding electro-couplers, but no smoke. Lighting will be upgraded to LED.

Bob

FYI, the LC+ will require the tach reader installation on a motor, don't forget that part.

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

FYI, the LC+ will require the tach reader installation on a motor, don't forget that part.

I mis-spoke John. This is a LC w/bluetooth board. Not a LC+

@RSJB18 posted:

I mis-spoke John. This is a LC w/bluetooth board. Not a LC+

Big difference.

"This is a LC w/bluetooth board. Not a LC+"

I thought LC doesn't allow for electrocouplers?

By the way, I and quite a few other folks eagerly await your description of how you added dirt cheap command control to a conventional loco.  Hopefully Lionel won't stop supplying the boards as soon as it is well known (thanks to you) how to do this conversion.  Under $100 would seem a pretty good deal, even given the labor needed.  I think that's what Ed Bender charged to add his TMCC "Train Brain" to my MTH GG1 PS1 equipped loco about 30 years ago .

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

Big difference.

yea...I'm recovering from a bad head cold....brain is not quite up to speed yet.....