I’ve modeled freelance layouts before but now I’m interested in Prototypes. Can anybody give me any info on the New Haven railroad? I’m interested in official names and what it is called today (as I hear it no longer exists). Also, which locos were used in it’s life span and what industries did it serve?[:)]
The NH was predominantly a commuter railroad. It is now mostly part of Amtrak, with significant parts held by the commuter agency in the Boston and New York area. The rest of your questions are a bit extensive, join the NH Historical Society, and read some books. Your local library probably has some books on the NH.
In addition, there have been several NH related articles in the magazines, do a search in the “Index of Magazines” see link above.
Sponge:
Have a look at the New Haven railroad historical society web page www.nhrhta.org/
which took me about 10 seconds to find on Google.
And since we are on the subject: Its increasingly difficult to take seriously requests for infomational help from people who don’t do the most obvious things to help themselves prior to posting requests here. Word in season as they say.
Good Luck
Randy
Sorry Randy,
I thought this forum was to help other modelers. I’m not that familiar with Google. If I knew howto get info that way I wouldn’t have posted on this forum. However, thank you for the link to www.nhrhta.org/. I found it very helpful.
Dave
A good place to start researching almost any prototype railroad that no longer existis is “The Historical Guide to North American Railroads,” from Kalmbach Books. It lists 160 lines abandoned or merged since 1930, including the New York, New Haven & Hartford, to give it its full name. You’ll find a brief history, a map, representative photos, and a collection of data including recommendations for further reading. This book is available in hobby shops and bookstores, and on the shopping section of this Web site.
And if you’re interested in New Haven steam power, see the “Guide to North American Steam Locomotives,” compiled by George Drury, which includes articles on the history and development of engines on all major railroads, and has rosters for each road. It’s also published by Kalmbach and availalble through the same outlets as the other book.
Best wishes,
Andy
Randy,
I guess it has never occured to you that not everyone is (or wants to be) a “dweeb” or “nerd” or a contributor to Bill Gates’ next billion !!
You were downright rude to someone else the other day (re: Coal Cars) with
“Have you thought of using your initiative, going to the Walthers site and finding out for yourself?”
If you are so bloody “computer literate” and if you think that being so, is so essential – would it not be more logical to politely help those who are less knowledgeable [?] – than to be so arrogant and offensive, to other members!!
Try to enjoy our hobby – please.
[:D][:D]
Gentlemen, gentlemen,
Perhaps it would help smooth things if Andy or some other knowledgeable person at MR put a brief site tutorial in all that white space to the right of the MR logo, unesthetic as that might be. It should encourage newcomers to try to do what was called “completed staff work,” during my AIr Force officer training. Basically, answer as many things as you can before you present your work to someone else.
Spongebobdjv,
The browser that you use to access the Net should have either a window or a drop-down menu that has “Search” as its title. In some cases, the browser may even have a default search engine - for Netscape it happens to be “Google.” In most instances “Google” is one of the best engines available.
Type the topic in which you’re interested in the window, hit the Enter key and wait for the resulting list of “hits” which the search engine presumes fits your search request. The learning curve isn’t that steep, and you’ll soon get a sense of what
works and what doesn’t. In the bar at the top of this site, there is a window titled “Search the forums…” It works the same way, and will allow you to find most of the previous threads that relate to your topic. No search dictionary or cataloguing scheme is perfect, so it may miss a few. Hope this helps.
Bob
NMRA Life 0543
Hello Spongebobdjv,
[:)]I’m a New Haven fan myself. I was a kid in the late 60s and early 70s and saw plenty of NH action (as well as New York Central). I hope that you found the answers you were looking for. I too am not incredibly computer or electronically literate, so don’t be offended by negative responses. Randy was trying to be helpful, and his “blunt” approach may just be his personality. (My wife is the same way! - she cooled her “jets” when she noticed that I totally ignore her when she’s in this mode!).
If you decide to model the late streamlined / commuter years, I believe that the Funero car kits (see Walthers Catalog) resemble the commuter cars the closest. They’re resin but easy to airbrush. They are expensive though. I plan on buying one a month until I wind up with a 7 car set.
BTW: Modelers that I’ve spoken to in the past that like the NH almost always state that the FL9 was their favorite locomotive (some are still in existence). Mine in particular is the EP5a. Streamlined GE, sleek double-ended electric locomotive that had an unfortunate knack for [:0] ELECTRICAL FIRES! Never a boring railroad! Inspite of this, it was always thrilling to see these units at speed pulling silver and red passenger trains!
Don’t overlook the fact that NH also ran plenty of freight. NH was sucked in by the Penn Central in 1969 or 70 and became history. Penn Central bankrupted in the Mid 70s. Became Conrail with 5 other railroads. Conrail kown affectionatly as “BIG BLUE” in turn was divided up between CSX and NS just a few years ago.
On a side bar: The railine that is part of the Northeast Corridor which the NH ran most of their passenger trains is now owned by Amtrak though
Thanks everyone. You’ve all helped a lot.
A excellent (and easily readable) introduction to the NYNH&H is Peter E. Lynch’s book New Haven Railroad. You will see that the New Haven was more than commuter trains. In fact, IMHO, it is the sheer diversity of the NH that makes it a matter of intense interest (and devotion) today. ALso the NHRH&TA’s magazine Shoreliner is an excellent source of information. BTW, I got my interest in railroading from hearing family stories about life and activity on and around the NH in the 20s and 30s, and then spending a lot of time around it as a kid (it helped to have friends who worked for the road…) Anyway, you’ve picked a worthwhile and most most interesting prototype - enjoy, and keep asking questions.
work safe
Michael, Don’t waste your time on this one, Sponge isn’t first or the last one he’s been down rude to[V][V][V][V]
Sponge, I’m a NEW HAVEN fan my as well as NYC, any questions that you have, post them here and I’ll see if I can help, if not, I’ll help you find the answer somehow, promise.[:)][:)]
Good to know Emeraldisle!
One thing I am doing that you and other NH fans can do is send e-mails to Kato, Bachman (Spectrum), and ASModels to see if they would consider making the EP5a available in NH. It’s a shot in the dark, but locomotives have been introduced that frankly, I thought would never be even thought of. Case in point: the E33 electric from Spectrum. That was a nice surprise. The Proto 1000 RDC was another one! ( I thought that Athearn’s RDC would never get any competition!)
It’s basically the what’s in demand game.
Kato and Absolute Scale Models are asking for input suggestions for new locomotives, or in the case of AS Models, locomotive shells.