Official Naugatuck Railroad thread (NAUG/RMNE)

[CannaScrews]

The source that I heard "FL 4 and a half" from was the late "Uncle" Harry Vallas, who began his railroad career on the New Haven but was "legislated out of his job" as a diesel fireman in 1964 and ended up on the Long Island R R where he was set up as an engineer.

The McGinnis/Alpert bunch saw fit to do away with this good operation and go all diesel and it was a mistake from square one. That some railfans today seem to worship that bunch of gangsters and no nothings is repulsive to me and probably other old timers who remember what the New Haven was before they came on the scene.
Noel Weaver

Not to put words in other people's mouths, but from my standpoint, the only good that came of of that era was a modernization of the APPEARANCE of the railroad through advertising and the Herbert Matter design efforts. McGinnis was good at marketing and promoting himself. In that effort, the New Haven was changed.

Other than the UP, which clung to its color scheme and heraldry since dieselization, what other railroad has publicly embraced a "heritage" logo and color scheme which still affects the public in a positive manner. Certainly not the grey of the New York Central, or the tuscan of the PRR or the orange/red/black of the SP. Norfolk Southern? Just acknowledgement of their past, not a statement of its present or future.

[YamaOfParadise]

Definitely true. McGinnis was first and foremost a businessman, and he certainly did modernize the way the NH appeared to the world. Both of the McGinnis themes of the NH and B&M remain some of my favorite railroad liveries, and the designs are so representative of their times. Alpert was at least a little better, but he was still in the same general school of thought as McGinnis. The New Haven really needed some sort of miracle president to recover after the McGinnis era; the combined damage the flooding and McGinnis' policies did was huge. And that's before taking into account the industry-wide downward trend for railroads and the recent competition brought by the completion of the Connecticut Turnpike (and other new freeways) on the New Haven's bread-and-butter - passengers - in an era where the automobile was a center of American culture.

But McGinnis definitely was a criminal; the same antics he did with the NH he went on to do with the B&M... which got him sent to (the not-cushy) federal prision for picking up graft from the new diesels he introduced there. It's at best speculative if he had the same kind of kickback scheme with his short NH tenure, but... the potential truthfulness of that still doesn't impact the stupidity of his diesel fetish. Thank god the plan to cut back electrification on the mainline didn't ever come to fruition. The FL-9's certainly had their niche to fill with providing a one-seat ride, but I have doubts if the ridership retention or increase a one-seat ride would bring was significant, or even beneficial at all to the "old" practices of switching power. Time-wise, the benefits of a fully-electric train in the electrified zone and a more efficient diesel on the rest of the system would be about even in time as a FL-9. And I can't see it being cost-effective, as there's no way the FL-9 would be able to be cheaper to operate under the wires... even with the low cost of diesel back the diesel back then.

McGinnis certainly was the wrong president at the wrong time with the wrong policies... deferred maintenance is a plague enough to railroads, but having it come into effect during the worst flooding in the state's history was deadly to the railroad. It's a wonder that as much as the railroad as it did got rebuilt... which ties us back in to the Naugy.

[Scalziand]

Saw the Northern Lights train in Thomaston Station this afternoon on the way back from getting a Christmas tree in Harwinton. Looked rather nice all decked out in Christmas lights. :D

[CannaScrews]

A 17:00 UTC Santa Express train has been added for Saturday, December 19th to let those who have been unable to get tickets at the other times.

Come a little early & have breakfast at Patties in downtown Thomaston. It's a truly retro diner.

PS. For the non-astronomical set, that's Noon.

[MEC407]

Photo by Michael A. Burke:

http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=558076" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[ATK]

Who was out there yesterday at the dam flying the drone? I assume taking pictures of the 2pm train?

[BostonUrbEx]

Is this purely a tourist outfit or is there freight business?

[F-line to Dudley via Park]

Is this purely a tourist outfit or is there freight business?

They've always done a few one-off freight movements per year...but been a long, long time since there was a regular customer. That's due to change very soon because they got a $1.6M TIGER grant to upgrade their freight infrastructure. New waste transfer station customer affiliated with the CT Resource Recovery Authority (CRRA) has been signed on, loads to be interchanged with PAS in Waterbury. No idea what's going on with that...slow going and been a long time since the PAR forum's EDPL thread has had an update.


C&D carloads are pretty much the only business out there to chase now or future. But since CSOR out of Hartford makes a pretty good living handling debris as their #1 traffic source and the CRRA agency already has a rail spur at their big Hartford master facility--with plans to expand rail usage--there's some moderate pre-existing scale that makes it a *slim* net-positive investment. Nothing crazy, but enough to window-dress some mutually passenger-beneficial grant applications around and score an award. Every time they talk about freight "potential" on the Valley RR, it's same as this...C&D, roping in a rail spur attached to an on-line CRRA affiliated facility, handoff to one of the Class II's to bring to Hartford. Microscopic, but because CRRA is a state agency whose private-contractor transfer facilities are usually in it for the long haul this is stable, regular, and semi-captive business that the excursion carriers can make a quick buck off despite the tiny carload counts. Naugy's got the equipment roster and trained staff for hauling freight, so if the load exists they can move it.

[FLRailFan1]

It would be funny if the NH2525 was the locomotive to move the C&D Business...See the Valley move C&D with their #47 steam locomotve... that would be cool!!

[CannaScrews]

Construction of the 3 track yard at Frostbridge Road for the C&D facility.

[Cosmo]

It would be funny if the NH2525 was the locomotive to move the C&D Business...See the Valley move C&D with their #47 steam locomotve... that would be cool!!

The Valley doesn't have a #47.
Most likely if ever, they would use one or more of their 80-tonners... that's IF EVER.

Now back to your regularly scheduled program.

[J.D. Lang]

Construction of the 3 track yard at Frostbridge Road for the C&D facility.

Congratulations! Excellent.
J. D. Lang

[CannaScrews]

It would be funny if the NH2525 was the locomotive to move the C&D Business...See the Valley move C&D with their #47 steam locomotve... that would be cool!!

The Valley doesn't have a #47.
Most likely if ever, they would use one or more of their 80-tonners... that's IF EVER.

Now back to your regularly scheduled program.

Perhaps the reference was to the #1647 - the Choo-choo from China, subsequently sold to the NYS&W.

[daylight4449]

Construction of the 3 track yard at Frostbridge Road for the C&D facility.

That's some good stuff...

[BostonUrbEx]

What is anticipated for service here? How many cars will be churned out on a daily/weekly basis?