Connecticut Company Trolleys

Model Railroader Prototype information for the modeler
1

I am planning a new layout featuring the New Haven Union Station. It was served by the trolleys of the railroad owned Connecticut Company. My building just won’t look right without the trolleys stopping there to let off and pick up passengers.

I am looking for plans of both the 40’s era enclosed cars and the Open Bench cars that were used thruoughout the forties to transport football fans to the Yale Bowl. When at Hamden High School I ushered those games to get in free and rode those open bench cars to and from Church Street to catch the bus to Cheshire.

2

Do you have any photos of these cars? Sounds like fascinating stuff! I can go dig through my old TRACTION & MODELS to see if there are plans in there, or for anything similar…are you planning on scratchbuilding the trolleys?

3

Yes, I have pictures. I have “New Haven Streetcars” published by the Branford Trolley Museum and Also another by Carstens, but no plans in either of them.

Most of the photos are three quarters views, they just loved to shoot them going around corners so it is very hard to extrapolate the dimensions. If I know how wide a window is I can extrapolate all dimensions from just that info. I want to make prototypicallly correct models so accurate dimensions are a must.

I plan to make brass etchings, either self made or from an etching vendor. I am thinking that I can use the mechanism from Bowser or some other trolley maker.

Are there any trolley or traction model makers advertised in the trolley Mags? Dumb question, I know, but that might help if I got some back issues.

4

According to the “Traction Handbook: Traction Plan Index #1” there are plans for a few things under “Connecticut Railway & Lighting Co.” aka Connecticut Co., at least as of 1972 when the book was printed…

Several were apparently available from a commercial supplier named John D. Sommers, of Sandy Hill Road, Middlebury, Connecticut 06762, including a 42’ 15-bench open car, a 41’ wood city car, and a 43’ city car.

Model Railroader May 1963. Page 48, has plans for a 42’ wood 15-bench open car, and MR October 1940 p. 532 has plans for a 48’ steel suburban car.

“Traction Heritage” Vol. 3 #2, p. 50, has plans for a 39’ steel cab-on-flat dump motor.

Railroad Model Craftsman, May 1959, hpage 42, has plans for a 41’ wood shear plow. The plans for the shear plow were reproduced in the second edition of Carstens’ TRACTION PLANBOOK on Page 89.

If any of the Connecticut Co. cars are standard designs, you can look for produced models off the shelf–I found one pic of a single-truck Birney model in Connecticut Co. scheme (along with a kitbashed Connecticut Co. car) in TROLLEY TALK #55, Page 5. If they really used Birneys, those can be found on eBay in HO and O scales.

In ERHS Bulletin $47, “Light-weight Cars”, there is a photo of Connecticut Co. #3001, which appears to be a fairly standard double-truck Birney. Ken Kidder imported both plastic and brass versions of this streetcar, which are similarly available to someone willing to hunt–I think someone involved with AMB/LaserKit is working on reproducing the double-truck Birney body in laser-cut plastic but don’t know the details.

I didn’t find anything in my back issues of T&M…

5

Thanks a bunch Jetrock, Sir. That is a good bunch of leads. Just the car lengths are a good starting point. I can load a photo into TurboCad and scale it to 42 feet and all the rest will fall into place.

The 3000 cars are the ones I am looking for as well as the steel open bench cars such as 1461.

Is there a traction and trolley modelers forum?

6

The Gauge (www.the-gauge.com) has a fair sample of traction modelers, and there are Yahoo-groups out there for some traction lines. I’m a west coast guy so I’m afraid I don’t know anything at all about New England lines, although your message has spurred a little short reading about the Connecticut Company.

If the 3000 series cars are double-truck Birneys, they are a fairly standard design and should not be too hard to find.

7

BigRusty: are you anywhere near New Haven? I think both of the Connecticut trolley museums have Connecticut cars, as well as the Seasgore museum in Maine. There may be pictures on their websites.

8

I live in Scottsdale, AZ which is about 2,000 miles and fifty years from New Haven (my former residence 50 years ago). I have visited the Branford Trolley Museum twenty years ago to this very day and ridden their open bench trolley. I have their great book, but alas NO PLANS. Most of the captions don’t identify the builder except some 4 wheel old time Birneys.

9

Sorry I can’t help with plans, but just had to comment on the coincidence. I went to Hamden High (probably some years behind you, graduated in '64) and also ushered for three seasons at Yale Bowl to get in to see the games.

While I remember Union Station pretty well, the trolleys were gone before my time.

Small world.

Best regards

Ed

10

Hi Ed, you may be a lot farther from New Haven than I am. The Hamden High Class of '44 is having its 60th reunion this year. The trolleys were done around 1950, but they were a big part of the New Haven scene, especially in the thirties and early forties.

11

BigRusty, I don’t have any plans as I model D&RGW in HOn3, but I do live about 20 minutes from the Branford Trolley museum and I’m planning to drive up to the Shoreline museum in Maine in two weeks. Are there any digital photos you might need? Details you’re interested in? I’d be happy to see what I can find for you. I could also talk to the folks down in Branford and see if they know of any available plans. Always happy to have an excuse to visit the museum again.

12

Would the same trolley company have serverd Hartford? I’m going to be doing the Hartford Union station (eventually) so I’m interested as well. I live in Canton, CT so I’ll eventually get to the trolley museums, just don’t know when. Randy

13

As to plans…

There is one Connecticut Company plan in Carsten’s “Traction Planbook” => http://www.rrmodelcraftsman.com/ => on page 89 titled, “Connecticut Company’s Shear Plows 0120 & 0130” with a 1942 photo, and a note that the plow was burned in 1947.

At trains.com, “The Model Train Magazine Index Index” has a link to four traction publications => http://index.mrmag.com/tm.exe?L=1&tmpl=tm_book => that includes the “Traction Planbook” articles. Look for “Traction” under “Locomotives.”

There is a treasure-trove of prototype traction photographs at Dave’s Electric Railroads => http://www.davesrailpix.com/. This website is a prototype gem for pictures, but no traction plans.

The Connecticut Company => http://www.davesrailpix.com/ctco/ctco.htm => has hundreds of photos and over 250 for the New Haven Division alone. The James Street Carbarn with the Esso gas station, and Savin Rock Amusement Park including the roller coaster and picnic shelter drop-off, and open-bench cars are represented, but; there are no photos of the actual New Haven Union Station.

I can see why The Connecticut Company provides such a rich traction heritage for New Haven natives.

14

The Connecticut Company owned virtually every trolley line in Connecticut before the trolleys demise. It wasn’t a large interconnected system, but several disconnected lines. I’m pretty sure that Hartford was a CC system, but I’ll check next time I’m in Branford.

15

Rusty, you might try contacting the Shoreline Trolley Museum- here’s a link:

http://www.bera.org/bery100.html

Erik

16

Hi skimoose from Meriden. Coincidentally, From 1954 through 1956 I was Merchandising Mgr. at the The Miller Company in Meriden. Is that plant still standing? You guys have all been a great help. I am more interested in plans than buying models because they are expensive and I need a lot of them. On football game Saturdays the cars were lined up for blocks waiting to pick up incoming passengers and take them to the Yale bowl so there was a constant stream of them running south on the viaduct past the station and then crossing over to get in the line again. What a lot of operating fun that would be. I can do brass etchings from my own dwgs, they are very cheap to do, and being retired, I have the time. I also love painting and decaling. Hopefully I can find a source for the decals. If not, I can probably have them produced by one of the specialists in custom decals. I see that Bowser has some traction power units that might work.

17

Some great links, thanks. Unfortunately, I’m modeling in 1948, and it appears that the Hartford trolleys ended their service in '41. Too bad, I thought it would be kind of fun to do the trolleys. Randy

18

Depends on how true to prototype you want to be…one can always surmise that the streetcars might have kept running for a few years, had (X, Y or Z) happened…

19

I suggest trying The NHRHTA New Haven Railroad Forum [ found at http://www.nhrhta.org/ ] starting with this link: http://p068.ezboard.com/fthenhrhtanewhavenrailroadforumfrm2.showMessage?topicID=4249.topic The NHRHTA publishes the SHORELINER, early issues of which always had a section on trolley systems controlled by the New Haven Railroad. I believe technical drawings of trolleys were also published or may be available from members, just by asking (after joining the forum - no cost).