any New Haven fans ....

The New Haven had a fleet of 125 NE-5 steel cabooses acquired in 1939, 1942 and, like C-627, in 1944.

MELGAR

This morning after posting out a MO at the Spencer,NC P.O. to a fellow forum member for a passenger set passed by the NCTM.  And here is what I saw.

briansilvermustang posted:

July 30, 2019 MELGAR removed photo.

                                                   info on this train please....

Picture shows the John Quincy Adams, the New Haven's second lightweight train, delivered in February 1957 by ACF Industries. The train was made up of five three-unit coaches with each unit 34 feet in length. It seated 478 passengers but had no dining services. Fairbanks-Morse diesel-electric locomotives (road numbers 3100 and 3101) were positioned at the front and rear of the train, each producing 1,720 HP. They operated into Grand Central Terminal on the 650-volt DC third-rail and thus were given the New Haven designation EDER-7 (Electric-Diesel-Electric Road). At twelve feet in height, they were more than two feet lower than a New Haven C-Liner diesel locomotive. The train had a top speed of 117 MPH and went into service on the Shore Line in March 1957. It was considered rough-riding and the lack of dining facilities was problematical on the roughly four-hour run between New York and Boston. The train was withdrawn from service in 1958. The picture shows the fifteen coaches and two locomotives. Note also that the locomotive appears to be displaying a white flag - indicating that it is some kind of a special train...

MELGAR

Mel, thank you for the info on the John Quincy Adams, the New Haven's lightweight train, Brian

          are the cars articulated ?

briansilvermustang posted:

Mel, thank you for the info on the John Quincy Adams, the New Haven's lightweight train, Brian

You're welcome, Brian. Writing about New Haven trains keeps me out of trouble...

Yes - cars were articulated.

MELGAR

MELGAR posted:

briansilvermustang posted:

Mel, thank you for the info on the John Quincy Adams, the New Haven's lightweight train, Brian

You're welcome, Brian. Writing about New Haven trains keeps me out of trouble...

MELGAR

An interesting fact: Amtrak runs the newer model of the Talgo train between Seattle and Vancouver today. We ride and they are pretty comfy. Just took 50 years to get them right   Look up Amtrak Cascade to see. And a really funny transition car to the F59 diesel that is NOT 2 foot lower than the FM diesel of 1957

Brian,

These were not the cars on the JQ Adams. The New Haven cars were only 34 feet long and had four windows on each side... Note in the picture how each truck was shared by two units.

MELGAR

          thank you Mel.  do you happen to know what train these cars are from....

briansilvermustang posted:

July 30, 2019 MELGAR removed 2 photos.

          are these the type of cars on the NH  John Quincy Adams train...

I believe this car was part of the Flying Yankee, a train run jointly by the Boston & Maine and Maine Central Railroads which entered service between Boston, Portland and Bangor, Maine in 1935. The train operated until 1957 and has been in the process of restoration at Lincoln, New Hampshire. New England - yes. New Haven - no...

MELGAR

thank you again Mel !!

briansilvermustang posted:

Hey Brian:

I somehow missed this when you first posted it.  Can you give us more info about his lovely watercolor?  Who did it?  Are prints available?  Does the artist have a website?

Thanks.

Steven J. Serenska

Here is one in my front room.

Steven,

New Haven FL-9 2019 is pictured at Thomaston, Connecticut, home of the Railroad Museum of New England. Their website states that FL-9 2019 has been used as a regular engine on their excursion trains since 2009. You can find information on the watercolor at the link below.

http://www.jamesmannartfarm.com/jmas311.html

MELGAR

MELGAR:

Thanks for that.  It's exactly what I needed.

On the subject of the New Haven RR and train room decorations, there are a number of 1940's New Haven posters showing a number of New England locations.  These are widely available, relatively inexpensive, and are quite attractive:

While the poster above is my favorite, the one below will be posted above the exit to my Rhode Island-themed train room after I get it framed:

There are many available and, if you live in or are from New England, there's sure to be one that suits your needs. This link shows all of them on eBay.

Enjoy.

Steven J. Serenska

Serenska posted:

briansilvermustang posted:

Hey Brian:

I somehow missed this when you first posted it.  Can you give us more info about his lovely watercolor?  Who did it?  Are prints available?  Does the artist have a website?

Thanks.

Steven J. Serenska

 

 

                                     http://jamesmannartfarm.com/jmas311.html

briansilvermustang posted:

July 30, 2019 MELGAR removed photo.

K-Line New Haven ALCO RS-3 #518 and MTH New Haven ALCO DL-109 #719.

MELGAR

                                                 COOL !! very nice Mel

briansilvermustang posted:

Was this DL109 used as a stationary power plant in this timeframe? The all orange paint seems to be maintenance of way colors?

briansilvermustang posted:

Kind of a dumb question, but the New Haven is the only road I have noticed that will put a leading zero in front of a three digit engine number. Does that zero signify anything???

Apples55 posted:

briansilvermustang posted:

July 30, 2019 MELGAR removed photo.

Kind of a dumb question, but the New Haven is the only road I have noticed that will put a leading zero in front of a three digit engine number. Does that zero signify anything???

When the New Haven Railroad began to buy diesels, they prefixed the diesel road numbers with a "zero" to indicate that the locomotive was "0ther" than steam. After all steam engines had been retired, the zeros were removed.

MELGAR 

briansilvermustang posted:

July 30, 2019 MELGAR removed photo.

During the 1950s, New Haven managements allowed their electric locomotives to deteriorate and began to use FL-9 diesels to pull freight trains under wires that had to remain electrified for passenger service into New York City. After declaring bankruptcy in 1961, the trustees realized they needed new electric freight locomotives and, in 1963, they acquired 12 nearly new electric locomotives from the Norfolk & Western’s Virginian Railway at the bargain price of $300,000 total. These 3,300 HP motors, designated EF-4, and numbered #300-310, were known as “bricks” on the New Haven and usually ran in pairs. They utilized 11,000-volt AC power and converted it to DC for the traction motors, like the New Haven’s EP-5 passenger electrics. They ran between Cedar Hill (New Haven) and Bay Ridge (Brooklyn) and lasted until the Penn Central takeover in 1969, when they became PC Class E-33 and were removed from New Haven territory. They became Conrail property in 1976 and ran until 1981.

MELGAR

MELGAR posted:

Apples55 posted:

briansilvermustang posted:

Kind of a dumb question, but the New Haven is the only road I have noticed that will put a leading zero in front of a three digit engine number. Does that zero signify anything???

When the New Haven Railroad began to buy diesels, they prefixed the diesel road numbers with a "zero" to indicate that the locomotive was "0ther" than steam. After all steam engines had been retired, the zeros were removed.

MELGAR 

Thanks MELGAR. You are a treasure trove of fascinating info.

I would order a Lionel Legacy FL9 so fast....

 

Thanks MELGAR. You are a treasure trove of fascinating info.

I've been called a lot of things before - but never a "treasure trove..." 

MELGAR

A correction to my earlier post:

The New Haven Railroad began the practice of having a "zero" prefix on the road numbers of its electric locomotives in 1906, when it was building its AC electrification between Woodlawn, New York and Stamford, Connecticut. The zero indicated that the locomotive was "0ther" than steam. This numbering also applied to New Haven diesel locomotives beginning in 1931 and lasted until steam engines were retired from the railroad in the 1950s. 

MELGAR 

MELGAR posted:

A correction to my earlier post:

The New Haven Railroad began the practice of having a "zero" prefix on the road numbers of its electric locomotives in 1906, when it was building its AC electrification between Woodlawn, New York and Stamford, Connecticut. The zero indicated that the locomotive was "0ther" than steam. This numbering also applied to New Haven diesel locomotives beginning in 1931 and lasted until steam engines were retired from the railroad in the 1950s. 

MELGAR 

Thanks for the additional info, MELGAR... You're still a treasure trove   

Putnam Division posted:

WOW! A great topic. I grew up near the New Haven line in the northeast Bronx that eventually crossed the HellGate bridge.

My paternal grandparents lived in Larchmont just north and west of the station. I grew up watching McGinnis-liveried jets go flying by! I could get up close before I-95 was built.....

Of course, in 1958, I asked Santa to bring me the New Haven F3 freight set in the Lionel catalog.

This is my office computer, so I don't have a lot of pics here....this is what I have:

My DL 109-110 with PS3:

My EP-5 set from the 56 Lionel catalog:

My F3 set from the 58 Lionel catalog:

I grew up in Mt. Vernon, NY, and the New Haven Line ran through the heart of the City. Great pictures; they bring back fond memories. I often rode those NH trains with my mother, who took me with her to go shopping in NYC.

When I was a kid, a hardware store in Mt. Vernon, Telly Hardware, sold Lionel Trains. My Dad took me there when I was about 10 or 11 years old. They had a Lionel EP5 that I most wanted, but it was a little too expensive, so my Dad bought me a B&O center cab 44 ton Lionel Diesel, a very nice peppy engine made in the late 50s, which I still have and run on my layout. 

I'm sure what I am about to say applies to many of us. Forty years later, I go to a train show, see that Lionel post-war NH EP5, and made it mine. I think I especially love it now because I could not have it when I was a kid.

I even love the ridiculous sounding bicycle horn in that Lionel post-war EP5. 

  nmp...                  some New Haven running at N J hi-railers train club.....

Eddiem and I set up a small layout at the Cheshire CT train show today. 

We got to meet MELGAR!

PS: That is not us in the photo.

The first Acela train in the morning leaves Providence, RI at 5:40am and will get you to NYC about 3 hours later.  This is useful, because you can get there comfortably in time for a 10am meeting pretty much anywhere in Manhattan.  One of my favorite things to do on that train is sit on the left side of the train (water side) and watch the sunrise over Westerly, RI and Stonington, CT.

The five photos below were taken from inside an Amtrak train running along the Northeast corridor in a few Connecticut shore towns such as Old Lyme, Madison, Noank, etc.  These were taken on the second train out of Providence which leaves at around 6:50am.  I was on my way down from Rhode Island to attend the Fall TCA York meet, so the pictures are that much more special for me.

The first two show just how close the tracks are to the water's edge.  Believe it or not, these are further away than some spots where the right of way is literally 10-20 feet from the water.

The promenade, fencing, and benches along this stretch are somewhat new, having been added to this beach in the past few years.

The next image shows one of the many small salt marshes in the Madison, CT. area.  If I had had my thinking cap on, I would have taken a photo of one of the half dozen or so gated grade crossings through this area.  It's hard to believe that the Acela still passes by several roads that are only protected by crossing gates.

The final two photos show another stretch of beach from the train window.  These photos are kind of hard to capture because you need to time your shots to miss the overhead wire stanchions as they pass by the windows.  You have to sit there and get into a groove of 1-2-3-click!, 1-2-3-click! as the train passes the stanchions.

Whenever you take the train from NYC to New England, remember to sit on the right going north and the left side going south for the best water views.

Steven J. Serenska

Great photos, Steve! It is a very scenic ride along what once was the New Haven Railroad. I often ride Shoreline East from New Haven to New London, just to enjoy the views...

And likewise it was great to meet Don Masso at today's show in Cheshire, CT.

MELGAR

There's one stretch of that line where I clocked the Acela at 149 MPH. Wow. A very nice ride.

And a newer train coming in the next 2 years or so.

It's 2 weeks before Christmas, 1957 and time to do some last minute shopping at Macy's in NYC. Before we board the New Haven in downtown Mt. Vernon, my mother and I stop at the Beehive for the best brunch money can buy including a milk shake served in the big old fashioned tin (that means 2 milkshakes for the price of one).

After brunch, got to run to catch that New Haven Train in the pictures below so we can buy more Lionel trains at Macy's. 

Meant to caption that NH tool train in the hole. Sorry, not the most computer facile on the forum

Ran this last night after servicing a GG1. Oiled and greased it for the first time in over 15 years. I'll take Bosch purple grease over Red&Tacky any day - 15+years service life! Anyway here's the "Merchants Ltd" pulling in for a mail stop. Now i need a favor. Running 042 curves, full scale equipment just doesn't look right. Hence i've decided to build my own EP3 "Flat Bottom" on a spare K-Line GG1 chassis out of a combination of brass and styrene. Does anyone have any photos showing the roof top details. At this point i'm thinking of building the roof out of wood with .010" styrene laminated over it unless i can find someone to make me a 3D file to have it printed in 3D.

Check the motor height on that K line GG1 - I wanted to do an EP4 on a Williams GG1 - the older ones have pretty tall motors (but I think the recent ones have much smaller motors - I may be back in business). Was gonna rig something up using either a modified EP5 shell from a lionel or hack up some F3 shells. The nose/window height on the EP4 is tighter than the F units - wasn't sure exactly how to work that. Maybe 3D print.

Jim

Jim, Funny you should mention that. As i was doing some preliminary measurements and making the first of several cardboard mock-ups, i was using the aforementioned GG1, an older Williams one, that was on one of my benches for service to get some measurements. Motor height was clearly going to be a problem.  I then pulled a K-Line one out of the box and happily discovered it has smaller motors.