This Railroad Sounds Dangerous!!!

The Batten Kill Railroad (reporting mark BKRR) is a class III railroad operating in New York. That is the name of the railroad on which the locomotive and passenger cars on the front of this post card are operating. The BKRR was formed in 1982 beginning operations on October 22 on a pair of abandoned Delaware and Hudson Railway branch lines, totaling about 30 miles of track. The information in this blog is taken from our friends at Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batten_Kill_Railroad The Greenwich and Johnsonville Railway (G&J) was incorporated in the late part of the 19th century, and built a rail line between Greenwich and Johnsonville, New York. Around 1900, G&J became a subsidiary of the Delaware and Hudson Railway (D&H). By 1907, the G&J (with support from parent D&H) had built a branch from Greenwich to Greenwich Junction (just south of Salem) where it connected to the D&H's Washington Branch that was built circa 1856. The old G&J route to Johnsonville was abandoned in July 1932 and all traffic henceforth went via "The Junction" in Salem. Most of the abandoned section to Johnsonville eventually became County Route 74. Following the 1980 closure of the Georgia Pacific pulp & paper mill in Thomson, New York, the D&H planned to abandon the G&J along with the adjoining Washington Branch, which ran from Eagle Bridge, New York to Castleton, Vermont. In 1982, Mohawk-Hudson Transportation, owned by Ron Crowd, purchased the railroad from the D&H, forming the Batten Kill Railroad. Crowd had the distinction of being the first African-American to own and operate a railroad in the United States. While initially financially successful, a series of national railroad strikes in the mid-1980s left the railroad in a less profitable state. In 1994, the railroad was turned over to NE New York Rail, a non-profit, and the BKRR remained the operator. Passenger excursions were started, but were terminated by late 2003 due to declining ridership. In November 2008, William Taber purchased the Batten Kill from Mohawk Transportation and the estate of the late Ron Crowd. Taber is the current President and CEO of the railroad. There is an informative article about the Batten Kell Railroad on line at Railfan.com Here is a link to connect you to more information about it. https://railfan.com/batten-kill-railroad-at-40/ Here is a teaser taken from the article to get you to go read the rest of the article: "Bucolic Washington County, a place that once inspired Shaughnessy and renowned painter Grandma Moses, is the setting for one of railroading’s most improbable short line survivors. Forty years after these lines were given up for dead, Batten Kill is surviving — if not thriving — in the modern age. And it’s doing so with a fleet of historic Alco locomotives built just a few valleys over in downtown Schenectady."

The picture on the front of this post card was taken by James Conroy. I could not find anything definitive on the internet about him, so I simply honour his name here. The post card was published by Audio Visual Designs in Herkimer, New York. This post card is one of 333 from this company. They are the biggest supplier of the post cards in my collection.

The Only One Left...

The Alco RS3 locomotive on the front of this post card is dressed in the paint scheme of the New Haven Railroad as seen in the 1960s.

This locomotive was built in 1950 and is the only survivor of the New Haven Railroad's fleet of RS3 diesel locomotives. Sadly, the New Haven Railroad is no more. Thankfully, the Railroad Museum of New England has kept this locomotive to remind us of better days. What better place to find the history of a railroad that no longer exists, than to go to their historical preservation society? That is where this summary of the history of the New Haven Railroad as taken from the New Haven Railroad Historical and Technical Association. The NHRHTA is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt non-profit service organization, with over 1,900 members. Its primary purpose is the accumulation, tabulation, and distribution of historical, educational, and technical data specifically related to the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad Company and its predecessors. This is their website: https://www.nhrhta.org/history This is the history of the New Haven Railroad as I summarized it from their website: The New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad Company, commonly known as the New Haven Railroad or simply, 'The New Haven', operated in the states of New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts. The New Haven operated freight and passenger trains over a Boston - New York City main line and several branch lines. The New Haven was one of the few railroads in America to operate steam, diesel, and electric locomotives at the same time. In its day, the New Haven was generally considered the largest and most important transportation enterprise in New England. The New Haven Railroad was formed in 1872 when the New York & New Haven and Hartford & New Haven railroads were. Early management focused on expanding the company through an aggressive policy of mergers and acquisitions. Consequently, by the turn of the century the New Haven had absorbed many smaller railroad companies, dramatically expanding from its original 450 route miles to over 2,047 miles of trackage. The New Haven Railroad was always a technologically innovative company. Early experiments in electrification were performed on several branch lines during the 1890s. These experiments resulted in the entire main line from New York City to New Haven, Connecticut being put under catenary wires by 1914. Their car and locomotive shops at Readville, Ma. were among the first large industrial plants in America to be designed to take advantage of scientific work management principals. Around the turn of the century, the New Haven Railroad came under the control of J. P. Morgan, the notorious financier. Morgan set out to build a complete New England transportation monopoly using the New Haven Railroad as his cash cow and base of operations. By 1910, J. P. Morgan's monopoly building efforts, which were in violation of various federal and state anti-trust laws, came under direct criminal investigation. Additionally, Morgan had so over-extended the company that it came very close to financial collapse. The war in Europe was the only thing which kept the New Haven Railroad out of bankruptcy at that time. The generally favorable business climate of the 1920s permitted the railroad's management to rebuild worn out equipment and infrastructure. The 'Great Depression' of the 1930s brought the New Haven Railroad once again to the brink of insolvency. In the 1930s, through bankruptcy protections, the New Haven persevered and even managed to make some progress during this time of great trouble. The New Haven Railroad introduced the very first streamlined passenger train to New England, the unique Goodyear Zeppelin 'Comet'. The New Haven also bought its first diesel switchers and modern lightweight passenger cars during the depression years. Additionally, the New Haven bought a small fleet of streamlined steam locomotives, streamlined electric locomotives, and initiated one of the first large scale piggyback freight operations. The Second World War introduced the New Haven Railroad to the concept of mass dieselization. The then new Alco/GE DL-109 diesel passenger locomotives, which the New Haven bought in greater numbers than any other railroad, were used in round the clock service on passenger trains during the day and on freight trains at night. The New Haven was considered so important to the war effort that the War Production Board released enough rationed materials to permit the railroad to obtain additional diesel and electric locomotives during the war years. The company purchase a large fleet of new diesel locomotives and streamlined passenger cars as soon as the war ended. Consequently, by the late 1940s the New Haven could boast one of the most modern passenger train fleets in the country. The dramatic increase in traffic caused by the war brought the railroad out of bankruptcy during 1947. The 1950s decade was a time of change and transition for the New Haven. Three different management teams purchased a variety of passenger and freight equipment from several different suppliers, causing supply and maintenance headaches and draining cash reserves. Some New Haven Railroad innovations of this era, such as the new parking lot passenger station established at Route 128 near Boston and the Rail Charge Card, were great successes. Other New Haven innovations such as the Mack FCD rail busses and Clejan piggyback flatcars, were great failures. President Patrick McGinnis, whose term ran from April 1954 to January 1956, put the New Haven through a comprehensive corporate image design project which gave the railroad a new 'NH' logo and red, white, and black corporate color scheme. The next president was an early champion of government subsidies for money-losing railroad passenger operations and purchased the unique dual-powered EMD FL-9 diesel-electric-electric locomotives. Expensive hurricane and flood damage during 1954 and 1955, competition from government subsidized highways and airlines, high rates of taxation, enormous commuter service losses, and the out-migration of heavy industry from New England to the south and west caused the New Haven Railroad to go bankrupt again in 1961. After a decade of struggling along under trustees, the New Haven Railroad was absorbed by the ill-fated Penn Central Transportation Company on January 1st, 1969.

The photo was taken by Scott A. Hartley. There is an article in "Trains" magazine on line that is an interview with this person.https://www.trains.com/trn/railroads/history/beyond-the-byline-with-scott-hartley/ The article includes the photo on the front of this post card; so, I know I have the right person. The post card was published by Audio Visual Designs in Herkimer, New York.

Was this a Wild Goose Chase?

The locomotive on the front of this post card has the lettering that says it belongs to the Lamoille Valley Railroad (LVR). It is an Alco RS11, Number

3612. The back of the post card says that it is crossing the Ammonoosic River in Bath, New Hampshire. Here comes the Wild Goose Chase: The Lamoille Valley Railroad operates LVR as an affiliate of the New Hampshire & Vermont Rrailroad. It is running on former Boston & Maine trackage. The locomotive was previously owned by the Duluth, Winnipeg & Pacific Railroad before it was sold to the Vermont Shortline Railroad. I tried to find a descrption of the LVR on line. Here is all that I could find that might fit the bill: It is from our friends at Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Johnsbury_and_Lamoille_County_Railroad HOWEVER.... I am not sure they this article talks about this railroad??? Here it is:The St. Johnsbury and Lamoille County Railroad (StJ&LC) was a railroad located in northern Vermont. It provided service to rural parts of the state for over a century, until track deterioration and flood damage made the line unusable and uneconomical to repair, which forced the line to close in 1995. The railroad began construction in December 1869 as part of the Vermont Division of the Portland and Ogdensburg Railway to connect the Great Lakes with Portland, Maine. It was completed on July 17, 1877, with Governor Horace Fairbanks driving in the silver spike in Fletcher. The Vermont Division was extended to Rouses Point in 1883, allowing it to connect to the Ogdensburg and Lake Champlain Railroad and provide a direct connection to the Great Lakes.[1] The eastern end of the Vermont Division was leased to the Maine Central Railroad in 1912, and the remainder of the line became a subsidiary of the Boston and Maine Railroad. The Boston & Maine operated their segment as the St. Johnsbury and Lake Champlain Railroad after 1925. This segment was reorganized as the St. Johnsbury and Lamoille County Railroad in 1948.[2] Passenger service ended in 1956. Trucks had taken all of the milk traffic by 1961, but bridge line traffic had increased six-fold following the 1953 dissolution of Maine Central's joint operating agreement with Boston and Maine Railroad. However, light-duty rail and covered bridges prevented the line from accepting new heavier "incentive" freight car loadings. The covered bridges were replaced or reinforced so worn out light diesel locomotives could be replaced by larger locomotives; but track conditions deteriorated under the heavier loads.[3] The State of Vermont purchased the line in 1973. The line was then operated by Morrison-Knudsen as the Vermont Northern Railroad for a time. In 1978, local shippers took over the operation and it became the Lamoille Valley Railroad. In 1989, the line was leased to a Florida company and was operated by them until major flooding in 1995 and 1997 damaged the line so much that it was not profitable to repair the track. In 2002, the state of Vermont started converting the 96-mile route into a recreational trail and created the Lamoille Valley Rail Trail.

Here is the back of the post card. It tells us that the photo was taken by Brian Fay. It is also part of the confusion.

Oh, so short lived!!!

The Erie Western Railway began operations with seven locomotives: three Alco C420s and four Alco RS-3s.

The locomotive on the front of this post card is one of the Alco RS-3s. It is seen here in Griffith, Indiana on July 8, 1978. The Erie Western Railway was created because the former main line of the Erie Lackawanna Railway, which went bankrupt in 1972, was not included in the federal government's creation of Conrail. This prompted the Erie Western to be formed by shippers and others who wanted to retain and preserve rail service. The Erie Western was incorporated in August 1977 and began operations under an Interstate Commerce Commission car service order on September 25, 1977, to operate freight service for 158 miles on the former Erie Lackawanna Railway main line from the Indiana/Ohio state line near Wren, Ohio west to Hammond, Indiana. The railroad also operated a 27-mile branch line extending from Decatur to Portland, Indiana. The Erie Western also possessed ICC-granted rights to operate from Hammond to Chicago on trackage rights over the Chicago and Western Indiana Railroad. These trackage rights enabled the ERES to interchange with many of the Windy City's major Class Is including the Santa Fe, Milwaukee Road, Grand Trunk Western, Louisville & Nashville, and Norfolk & Western. Operating a railroad, even a short one like the Erie Western Railway, is expensive and the railroad soon failed and discontinued operations on June 24, 1979.

The photo was taken by Thomas J. Golden and the post card was published by Mary Jayne's Railroad Specialties. I have 243 post cards in my collection from her. This is the second largest group of post cards from one publisher in my collection.

Half of the Fleet in One Picture!!

The two Alco RS27 locomotives shown on the front of this post card represent one half of the RS27 locomotives in the Chicago & Northwestern

Railway’s fleet. The back of the post card says that they are being posed for their official portrait. In fact, the copyright on the photo belongs to the Chicago & Northwestern Railway. Later, these locomotives were sold to other railroads: one to Peabody Coal and three to the Green Bay and Western Railroad. Then, the Green Bay and Western scrapped one and sold the other two to the Minnesota Commercial Railway. Here are some of the technical details about the Alco RS27s: Production began in December of 1959; Production ended in October of 1962; They had 4 axels (B-B configuration); The horsepower was rated at 2,400 hp; The engine was Alco’s 251B, a V-16 design, with a 10, 688 cubic inch displacement; They used four GE 752 traction motors, one on each axel; The locomotive was 57 feet and 2 ½ long with a 40 foot 4 inch wheelbase; The wheels were 40 inches in diameter; It was 9 feet 11 1/8 inches wide; It could carry up to 2,000 gallons of fuel; Its tractive effort was rated at 64,200 pound;s Its top rated speed was 75 miles per hour . You can find more information about the Alco RS27 at these two websites: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ALCO_RS-27 https://www.american-rails.com/640.html

The post card was published by Audio Visual Designs. AVD was started in 1964 by Carl Sturner for the sole purpose of providing railfans with sound recordings of locos and trains as well as with photochrome postcards of trackside photos. These stunning color images were taken all over the country by some well-known photographers such as David Sweetland. The history and product line of AVD can be found on the company's website at www.audiovisualdesigns.com

Where is the Storm?

The three Alco RS2 locomotives are wearing the “Lightning Stripe” paint

scheme of the New York Central Railroad. This picture was taken in 1961, toward the end of the era in which this design was used by the company. The lightning stripe paint scheme was a distinctive feature of their diesel locomotive. This design was very popular in the company in the 1940s to the 1960s. The design is characterized by a series of vertical and horizontal stripes. They were used on many classes of New York Central locomotives, both freight and passenger. Typically, the stripes were dark grey for passengers and black for freight locomotives. The design was a key component of the New York Central’s branding. It was used in several different forms, including the famous “cigar band” oval. The lightning strip scheme was a visual representation of the New York Central’s identity. You can find out more about these lightning stripes in the following websites: https://groups.io/g/NYC-Railroad/topic/lightning_stripe_scheme_and/18455571 https://railroad.net/dates-of-nyc-graphics-t48322.html And here is the back of the post card:

Identity Confusion?

The RS1 by the American Locomotive Company was the first in a long line of Road Switchers introduced by the company in early 1941. The RS36 was the final model that Alco sold in 1963. The picture on the front of this post card is of an RS2. The RS2 started as a 1,500 horsepower locomotive but was increased to 1,600 later in the production line. Our friends at Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ALCO_RS-2) tell us this about the development of the RS2 locomotive: “The RS-2 was a further development of the road switcher concept inaugurated with the RS-1. Externally, the RS-2 bodywork was more rounded. A more significant change was the switch from the RS-1's ALCO 539T engine to the ALCO 244, adding horsepower to better handle heavy road service. The new engine was a turbocharged four-stroke V12 diesel engine with a 9 in × 10+1⁄2 in (229 mm × 267 mm) bore and stroke developing 1,500 (later 1,600) hp at 1,000 rpm. Compared to the 539, it had a smaller cylinder and higher cylinder speed. Production of the RS-2 was delayed several months while ALCO worked out the new four-pipe divided low-rise manifold for the GE constant-pressure RD-1 turbocharger. The 244 engine was not a reliable design, however, and was replaced in less than ten years by the ALCO 251 engine.” 377 RS2 models were manufactured from 1946 to 1950. The Lehigh Valley Railroad ordered five RS2 locomotives for their roster. The records that I could find online tell us that the locomotives were numbered from 210 to 214. This picture shows one numbered as 217??? The picture was taken in the yard at Buffalo, New York in 1976; perhaps there were some changes made that warranted a new number for this locomotive. I wrote some information about the Lehigh Valley Railroad in the November 5, 2025, post; you can go back and read about some of its history there. Here is the back of the post card.