Electrification

I'm curious as to why electrification was never more widespead on the New Haven. I'm aware that there were plans early on to build catenary on the entire Shore Line between New York and Boston, but why was electrification otherwise pretty much limited to southwestern Connecticut?
Why didn't the New Haven ever experiment with it in, say, the Boston area, so that the whole project could eventually "meet in the middle," as it were?

They ran out of money and never had enough again except to electrify some terminal trackage in The Bronx, Bay Ridge and the Danbury Branch. The NH financed an extensive network of trolley lines in Connecticut, central and western Massachusetts and Rhode Island, a suburban electric railroad from The Bronx to White Plain and Port Chester, NY and a number of steamboat lines on LI Sound. Most of these proved to be a big drag on the NH's finances which propped them up.

There were several trial electrifications in the Boston area; Nantasket Beach Branch, part of the South Shore Branch from Braintree. The PW & B from Providence to Bristol and Fall River. One track of the Hartford-Bristol, CT (other track remained steam operated) was electrified. Power was transmitted by trolley wire or a Lionel type center 3rd rail. The Nantasket Beach was the oldest and it was more to experiment with electricity which was just being harnassed for railroad propulsion. Some of the others were tailored to local situations.
Boston's South Station had a lower level designed for electric trains, used once by a steam train for testing purposes. This was done about the time the station opened. Never electrified. This would have been a suburban operation only, not long distance. You could still spot the approach to the lower level until station reconstruction in 1980s.
NH also allowed its trolley subsidiaries to string wire at a number of locations on its steam lines to allow cross country shortcuts for these properties.

The NH first had to electrify the mainline in 1907 to comply with NY's anti-steam ordinance. After that, they started pushing eastward, reaching New Haven (IIRC) a little before WWI (I don't have my books in front of me).

During WWI, there wasn't time to expand, plus the fact that they were controlled by the USRA (who was more likely to maintain the status quo).

After the RR was released by the USRA, the RR was in bad shape after being run into the ground by the gov't. Capital was used to restore the road.

In the rest of the 1920's, the NH expanded electrification in the NY area, with most of the available capital going to the NYW&B (which was a huge mistake). The NYW&B was the suburban RR that closed only 10-20 years after opening, I think.

Other capital expenses were used (as mentioned) to buy and maintain trolley lines throughout Conn., R.I., and Mass.

By the time the NH looked east again, they hit the Great Depression, and no way were they going to spend capital money then. The NH fell into bankruptcy in the mid-1930's, and the trustees planned electrification and a 4-track mainline to start in at least the Boston to Providence section after the Depression was over. (for proof, one only has to look at the 1936 East Foxboro overpass and note that while it has three tracks, the abutments are 4 tracks wide)

Well, after the Depression was WWII, which while increasing traffic on the RR, also cut way the heck back on steel uses, including things like catenary towers.

After the war, the RR invested in new passenger cars and diesels to replace the used up and old steam power-era equipment. By time that arrived, the RR was starting to see it's revenues drop, and by 1958, it was loosing money. After that, it was all downhill from there.

Paul Cutler III,

The New York Westchester & Boston closed twenty five years after opening. 1912-1937

The first eletric railroad to be built from the ground up opposed to the electrification of an existing railroad. High level platforms, sliding doors with a door in the middle of each car, heavy duty operation, etc.

It was a beautiful railroad with grand designs for the future.

A big mistake. I see it as a road too far ahead of it's time.
Loves the Westchester !

It was the construction of the NYW&B Rwy that took the needed funds for electricfying the tracks from New Haven to Boston. Original plans called for 4 electified tracks from New Haven to Boston and electrifying the Springfield line as well.

The New Haven had purchased or leased so many lines. They also controlled several other systems, like B&M, MEC, Rutland, and NYO&W. The New Haven was in financial trouble even before WWI.

The Westchester was only part of the problem. The New Haven under
Mellon and others wanted a vilrtual monopoly on rail transportation in at
least southern New England and maybe elsewhere too. They wasted so
much money in poor investments, trolley lines, and other stuff that they
ultimately went bankrupt.
The investment that it would have taken to electrify the line to Boston was
used up even though it could have saved them a fortune in operating
costs.
Incidentally the Port Chester extension to Port Chester was only in service
for 8 year, 1929 to 1937. They cut a lot of corners when it was built but
at the shutdown, the line was essentially still new. Had the Westchester
survived through WW-II, it might have still been in operation in an altered
way today. It would never have made it to Harlem River but perhaps a
decent connection between the Westerchester and the New Haven could
have been done at Columbus Avenue or maybe in the 1930's it could have
found a way to operate to Penn Station or the LIRR station at Long Island
City. In my early days on the NHRR, I worked with some people whom
had previously worked for the Westchester and from what they told me,
the Westchester ran a pretty darn good operation. Often times the people
from the Westchester hired out on the NHRR in a different craft from what
they did on the Westchester but they were darn good railroad people.
Noel Weaver

Is that the same Mellon that controls today's Guilford?

Yes it is!! The curse lives on!!

-Noel, you have mentioned a few times that some of the NYW&B employees later ended up on the New Haven. In particular, you have told forum members about Bob Burghardt, who was in the famous "end of the line" newspaper photo Dec. 31, 1937.
-do you recall any other persons, and what they did?
-I thought your impressions about the line, that it was competently run and efficient were interesting also. Conidering how broke the NYW&B was for most of its career, one might have expected cost-cutting and cornar cutting rather than efficiency. Since well-maintained electric railways and their equipment can last a long time, there was probably a lot of useful life left in the NYW&B equipment when the line was discontinued.It would be nice if there were a "Westchester" division of Metro-North to go with the Hudson, Harlem and New Haven divisions.


Roger

As I have said before, the NYW&B operated before my time but from what
I have been able to find out, there were some cuts made well before that
final shut down on December 31, 1937.
One such cut was the elimination of night agents at a fair number of
stations but I don't think it was too big a job for the conductor to collect
transportation on a one car train that probably for the most part was far
from fully occupied. Some towers were not in operation at the end
either. The tower at West Farms (174th Street) (SS-8 on the NHRR) was
done away with some time before final shutdown as well. They only used
tracks 1 and 4 between 180th Street and West Farms although tracks 2
and 3 could be used by use of hand switches at West Farms.
The NYW&B was basically a newer railroad with newer equipment and
newer facilities than the existing railroad and equipment on the New Haven
and probably as a result of shorter trips and shorter trains had less wear
and tear than the existing NHRR equipment.
The NYW&B was built too early and scrapped too early.
Noel Weaver

I think we're straying off the original topic of "electrification."

-otto-

-ok, let's stray back. Why did the New Haven defy the recommendations and experience of most electrical engineers and take the risky step of entrusting its future to AC? Why did the financial people like J.P. Morgan etc. trust the management of the NYNH&H to take this massive, expensive gamble that AC would work on a large scale? - we are talking not only commuter trains but mainline passengers, freight, switching yards etc. Never been done before. It looks routine now, but it was an awesome moment back then.

Roger

Because in 1904, it was obvious that DC at 600 volts wasn't going to cut it for mainline electrification. AC equipment in general was rapidly maturing. 3kv DC rail gear was a way off - I believe even the Italians didn't get it until the 1930's.

IIRC, Westinghouse was contracted to do the system, and they were AC (remember the war of the currents?).

I suspect, had it failed, Westinghouse would have had a bit of explaining to do...

AC transmission was at least somewhat known back then (the IRT used it, the LIRR used it). 25Hz was a common frequency at the time. Motor technology was rapidly advancing.