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.

Speaking of F-Units

In last week's post I mentioned that the Santa Fe locomotive that was featured took the place of the aging F-Units in the Santa Fe Railroad's fleet. This week, the post card we are exploring has a picture of one of the many types of F-Units that were made.

This particilar unit is unique among F-Units, but it is still a good example of what an F-Unit would have looked like. The following information is taken from the website: https://www.american-rails.com/fl9.html The EMD FL9 was one of the more unique locomotive designs ever conceived. It was developed by General Motors' Electro-Motive Division for the New York, New Haven, & Hartford Railroad (New Haven Railroad) which had a system comprising both electrified and non-electrified lines (and on in which relied heavily on commuters between New York and Boston for revenues). As such, the New Haven Railroad wanted a locomotive which could operate over both lines without the need to switch out power, thus saving time and making train operations more efficient. While a sound theory and a reliable locomotive, the FL9 did not prove to be an entirely successful alternative for the electrics it replaced. The EMD FL9 began production in October, 1956 and was ordered upon the request of New Haven Railroad's new head of operations at the time led by Frederic Dumaine and Patrick McGinnis. Their belief with this dual-power locomotive was to eventually eliminate all electrified operations on the railroad, which consisted of the southern half of the system between New Haven and New York City. The FL9 was based from the FP9, which itself was a variant of the F9 only intended for use in passenger service like the FP7. Longer than the F9, the FP9 was 54 feet in length to house a steam generator. However, the FL9 required a length of 59 feet for its unique rear truck and electric equipment (and not to mention also housing a steam generator); thus, its similar dimensions and designation. The FL9 would prove to be EMD's longest F unit it ever developed. You see above, on the front of today's post card, that the F-Unit featured as built for the New Haven Railroad. The following information is taken from the website: https://www.nhrhta.org/history The New Haven Railroad was formed in 1872 when the New York & New Haven and the Hartford & New Haven railroads were merged together to form the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad Company (The New Haven Railroad). The New Haven's 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 over 25 railroad companies, dramatically expanding from its original 450 route miles to over 2,047 miles of trackage. The New Haven Railroad operated in the states of New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts. 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. By 1910, J. P. Morgan, as president of the railroad, practiced monopoly building efforts, which were in violation of various federal and state anti-trust laws. They came under direct criminal investigation and Morgan had so over-extended the company that it came very close to financial collapse. Thankfully, during World War One, the New Haven Railroad was taken over by the federal government and operated by the United States Railroad Administration. The various war emergency protections afforded the railroad and the great influx of military related business put the New Haven back on its feet again. In 1920, the New Haven Railroad reverted back to civilian ownership. Then, the Great Depression of the 1930s brought the New Haven Railroad once again to the brink of insolvency. 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 Railroad bought in greater numbers than any other railroad, were used in round the clock service on passenger trains during the day and used on freight trains at night. The short-lived and controversial administration of president Patrick McGinnis, which commenced during April 1954 and was over in January 1956, put the New Haven Railroad through a comprehensive corporate image design project which gave the railroad a new 'NH' logo and red, white, and black corporate color scheme. This is the scheme that you see on the engine on the front of the post card. The New Haven's president during the latter half of the 1950s, George Alpert, 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. This is the type of locomotive you see on the front of the post card. Unfortunately, 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 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 post card was published by Audio-Visual Designs. The following is taken from their website: https://www.audiovisualdesigns.com/ Founded in 1964 by the late Carl H. Sturner, Audio-Visual Designs has been a leader in providing high quality railroad images products for over 4 decades. The business was originally located in Earlton, NY. The name was derived by the products sold at the time – audio soundtracks of trains well as visual items (post cards, books, & calendars). The first All Pennsy Calendar was published in 1966 and for many years used exclusively the photos of Don Wood, a long time friend of Carl's. In the late 80's, Carl started showcasing other photographer's work as well. Railroad Christmas cards were added to the line of products early on and with a few exceptions have featured real photos of trains in action. Three railroad books have been published by Audio-Visual Designs: I Remember Pennsy, Locomotives in My Life, and The Unique New York and Long Branch: all of which were projects worked on by Carl and Mr. Wood. Audio-Visual Designs has also published books for other non-railroad related organizations. By the time of his untimely passing in 1995, Carl had grown Audio-Visual Designs into an established icon in the railfan community - providing an enjoyable aspect of both the railfanning and model railroading hobbies. We serve many excursion railroads, museums, and hobby shops with stock post card images, greeting cards, custom products and the All Pennsy Calendar. In 1997, the business was purchased by us (Joe & Colleen Suo) and moved to the present Herkimer, NY location. Due to the timing of the current owners’ purchase of the business and the initial raising of funds, there was a 2 year gap in the All Pennsy Calendar production. For the years 1997 & 1998 there were no Pennsy calendars. However, they have maintained and expanded the level of quality in their products and services established by the founder.