SOUTHERN NEW ENGLAND

[Music] [Music] southern new england a land of rolling green hills and valleys caused by sparkling streams that flow to the rock bound shores a land of thriving farms and picturesque villages from a pilgrim beginning southern new england has sailed the historic currents of america's struggle for liberty here is a wholesome way of life that is flavored by a seagoing tradition graced by the pursuit of knowledge rich in literary landmarks like the house of seven gables famed for its schools from the original little red schoolhouse to magnificent university 300 years of experience have endowed southern new england seven million people with a heritage of industrious activity that makes for good business and better living inseparably bound to the proud traditions and rich history of southern new england orange railroads who have built the mighty framework of rails that has helped to make new england great today as for more than a century a symbol of this progressive railroad transportation is the new york new haven and hartford railroad company among the new haven's many pioneering achievements is this the first diesel electric switcher in new england electrification of the run between new york and new haven completed in 1914 was proof again that the new haven management keeps abreast of railroading development and is one of the first extensive users of diesel electric motive power the new haven has continued its leadership in the service of southern new england of course the transportation facilities of an area are no better than the railroad's ability to route and dispatch its thousands of freight cars with a minimum of lost time to this end the new haven has established several large modern freight classification yards in strategic locations largest is the cedar hill yard at new haven from which many thousands of cars are cleared every day 880 acres with 154 miles of trench and storage space for 15 000 cars makes cedar hill the largest classification center east of the mississippi frequent fast freight provide excellent transportation for new england shippers with overnight service to most points within the region south to new york and philadelphia and north of portland maine via the new haven's connection with the boston and maine and worcester massachusetts schedules are coordinated with those of connecting railroads through several gateways for speedy service to and from all points west north and south serving the new haven system as one of its chief western gateways is the maybrook line running through this mountainous area northeast of poughkeepsie down to hopewell junction onto danbury boxford derby junction south of the main line at devon and into new haven at its western maybrook terminus the new haven railroad connects with incoming trains from the west and the south the lehigh and hudson river lehigh and new england new york ontario and western jersey central and the area half of all of the new haven's eastbound straight is rooted through this gateway coal from the mining feed meat and dairy products drained from the fertile farmland petroleum and road oil iron and steel the raw material for skilled new england manufacturers from the eastbound receiving yard at maybrook the long trains are carefully pushed up to the top of the 17-foot high hump where the cars are uncoupled by the hump conductor to roll by gravity down into the gentle incline of the classification yard for regrouping into outbound trains skillfully switch to their proper tracks the cars are break to a stop at the end of their ride and strung together when the makeup is completed the road locomotive is added to the head end the caboose is coupled to the rear and another train is underway every day up to 1 000 cars are routed eastbound out of this bustling classification yard at may brook 4 000 tons per train rolling east to market the route itself is typical for this part of the country from green top hills down to the lowlands of the coast let's take a look at it from the railroaders perspective from an operating standpoint the road is a problem in grades permissible speed stops mileage and motive power it used to take 46 steam locomotives to haul the freight ups and down these graves but steam is no longer the best answer to give its customers the finest in transportation the new haven has contributed another milestone to its railroading progress by converting the motive power of the entire maybrook line from steam to a fleet of 15 three-unit alco ge diesel electric locomotives more ton miles in less time with fewer trains let's see how these 4 500 horsepower three unit beauties do the job on one of the regular runs from maybrook to the cedar hill yard at new haven starting at the touch of a hand the diesel electric responds instantly to its controls with an effortless urge of power smooth starting like this means less possibility of damage to the cars and ladies here's modern motive power flexible over a wide range of operating speeds to start us rolling toward poughkeepsie on the first leg of the eastbound run with this new diesel electric the upgrade out of maybrook is no longer the problem that it was when the steamers were pulling these long trains as a matter of fact it took an additional locomotive to push the steam flames on their way from the departure yard after leaving the pusher at berea the next problem was the grade out of the hills down to the hudson river here was constant application and release of the air brake to stay within the required speed limit increasing the wear and tear on the air brake system as the train slowed down the bridge here at poughkeepsie is the gauntlet type the two tracks are combined into a single track crossing 212 feet above the water even with a 12 mile per hour limit the old steamers pounded the bridge track pretty hard the constant impact of those powerful drive rods and huge counterweighted wheels hammered out a tough life for rails and road beds but let's get back to our new 4500 horsepower diesel electric here she is breaking along not even windy and what a pleasure for the engineer and crew as she rolls downgrade to the hudson positive high capacity dynamic braking using the electric traction motors at the wheel axles as generators to reduce speed smoothly make the whole train down at a steady controlled pace without having to use the air brake system for reel saving and maintenance on car wheels and brake shoes the new haven has also found that with the smooth attractive effort of these new locomotives bridge maintenance is much less of a problem now road beds are subject to less hardware and rails hold up longer out in the countryside again our streamlined lady rolls on pulling her long string of cars with horsepower to spare the 12-cylinder four-cycle diesel engine each one of these three 1500 horsepower units is built to operate many hundreds of thousands of miles without an overhaul from his comfortable seat the engineer has fingertip command with his conveniently arranged controls no more straining to see out either this cab has real visibility back there's the old abandoned hopewell junction engine house in the days of the steam locomotive hopewell was a very busy junction point every run had to stop here for a train inspection farther down the tracks are the water tower and coal pockets used to cost a lot of money to keep the steamers on the road but that's all a part of the past now there's no need to maintain those expensive facilities anymore no more lost time stops for water and coal and as we begin the hard grade from hopewell junction up toward coatway and into the steep hills there's no more huffing and topping like this it took the time and expense and the pushing of an extra locomotive to get these long trains up the drain yes sir the old steamers really had to labor making this time more precious time was lost when the whole train had to be stopped at reynoldsville summit so that the pusher locomotive could be uncoupled from the caboose for its unproductive return back to the hopewell engine house but what a powerful color our diesel electric is 127 000 pounds of available attractive effort with every wheeler driver do the job without a whimper a new system of turbo supercharging has added 90 percent more horsepower to these locomotives and as we come down the first grade out of these hills the use of this new dynamic braking instead of air braking ensures the smooth and safe handling of cars and content shortly after leaving new york state we passed the famous danbury fairgrounds in connecticut as we roll eastward on departures the steamers had to stop here or at the fairgrounds for another time-consuming train inspection and take on water just beyond boxford is another long downgrade nine miles with a slowdown order which limits the speed of the train to 15 miles per hour here comes a west bound up the grave loaded with new england merchandise for customers all over the country sometimes the whole cargo is potatoes sometimes cranberries fish from the coast steamers used to limit the westbound run to 2000 tons but with this modern motive power the westbound load is increased by 1200 tons getting back to our eastbound train now we swing south along the housatonic river to join the main line of devon for the last leg of our journey as it eyeballs down these busy electrified tracks on connecticut's south shore our sleek diesel electric locomotive plays a proud role in the new haven pattern of modern transportation with the city of new haven as a backdrop we thread our way northeast to the outskirts through a maze of tracks pull into the receiving yard at the cedar hill freight terminal it's another good run and it's right smack on the schedule this then is the newest chair in the new haven story dedicated to the mainline operation of the may brook road as it speeds the freight with its powerful new alto ge diesel electric locomotive these sleek modern giants are the symbol of railroad leadership as the new haven continues to serve southern new england you