A great railroad at work

[RAM]

I ran across a interesting you tube video A great railroad at work.  a 1942 production by the New haven RR.  It show a lot of thing that are not allowed today, but that was the way they did it.  That was the railroad operation that I watched for years.. 

[jward]

do tell?
can we get a link? new haven is one of my favourites too, though i never got to see it in person.

[Joe Satnik]

Pretty sure this is the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aq_YcGK9aAU

Hope this helps.

Joe Satnik

[Woody Elmore]

Wow - what a great documentary. I just loved the hokey background music. Lowell Thomas as narrator - none better. Nothing like a good WWII propaganda movie.

It is an interesting snippet of life just at the beginning of the Second World War. Did you notice that the dining car staff were all african-Americans? Cooking and pullman car portering were all the RR jobs open to them (or dirty jobs like cleaning out the ashpans on engines.)

I just loved to see how they were loading the diner with chickens. That wouldn't do today - too much of a risk of salmonella.  Incidentally, the pantry they show being stocked is a movie set, not a real dining car.

The NH was a great railroad. Even in the McGinnis era of black, orange and white it was interesting. Too bad that cars, trucks and interstate highways killed business. The final indignity was to see the NH rolled into the railroad whose name I never mention (hint - letters were PC)

[Desertdweller]

The NH was a very beloved railroad.  Even today, the CT DOT trains are painted in New Haven colors.  The railroad never died in the hearts of the people.

When I worked in Hartford, I asked why, since the NH was held in such high regard, the state did not purchase it rather than let it sink into the green railroad mess.

Apparently, either the sentiment or the money wasn't there at the time.  In due time, the state got their railroad back.  It did my heart good to see how this railroad was resurrected from the dead.  No freight service this time around, but the NH was passenger-oriented, anyway.

All sorts of NH equipment have been saved, from locomotives to passenger cars to stations.

Gee, wouldn't it be nice if some other fallen flags could return like that?  I see similar sentiments concerning D&RGW.  Maybe heavy rail commuter trains on the Front Range will have a D&RGW theme.  The Anschutz Ski Train was a Rio Grande operation in the "single stripe" scheme.  The Royal Gorge train runs in Rio Grande colors, as does the Durango and Silverton.

The Rio Grande railroad was Denver's hometown railroad, as was the Colorado and Southern.  Maybe some civic pride will result in some silver and gold commuter trains.

Les

[john tricarico]

this is a great video,, or film about the new haven,,, its also available on dvd

[Doneldon]

The Rio Grande railroad was Denver's hometown railroad, as was the Colorado and Southern.  Maybe some civic pride will result in some silver and gold commuter trains.

Les-

That's a great idea!

                      -- D

[Len]

What's really cool is watching the NH run the wheels of the DL-109's 24 hours a day during the war. Hauling passengers all day, and freight all night, just stopping for fuel, water for the steam generators, and crew changes.

Len

[CNE Runner]

The New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad was, at one time, one of the most profitable lines in the U.S. Unfortunately it was the focus of some very unscrupulous management. For example, its first president absconded with two million dollars. J.P. Morgan and Diamond Jim Brady also had their 'hands in the till'.

A definitive book on the subject is the long out of print The New Haven Railroad - Its Rise and Fall by John L. Weller. To quote from the cover leaf: "Once the blue-chip jewel of Morgan's vast railroad empire and then a secretive monopoly in New England transportation, the New Haven was to become the prey of speculators, scoundrels and scalawags."

I suggest that anyone interest in the New Haven try to find a copy of this informative book. As one frontiersman is credited saying; "The bigger they are...the harder they fall."

Ray