The New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad, or simply New Haven as many refer to it, is an interesting railroad to model. With all of the currrent offerings from Walthers, Atlas, Precision Scale and Bachmann, to name a few, it seemed an excellent opportunity to model a unique railroad.
Steam, diesel and electric locomotives hauled freight and passenger between New York City and Boston, Mass. This was the main thoroughfare of the New Haven with the Railroad's namesake at the epicenter. Here, electrics from New York swapped power to continue the trip to Boston. But the New Haven was much more diverse than just an A to B mainline. There were so many ancillary lines that it could be closer described as an A to Z railroad reaching to such outposts as the all-freight line to Maybrook, NY; Provincetown, out on Cape Cod; the Northwestern town of Pittsfield, MA and the heavily industrialized town of Holyoke, MA; and many, many more.
With all the options available, the location that was most appealing to me was the hilly Highland line that was tucked away in northern Connecticut connecting Waterbury to Newington. Within this geographical location, the tucked away city of Waterbury seemed an interesting location to model that would offer an interesting variety of motive power -- both steam and diesel -- heading passenger and freights. The actual location of my layout will depict Waterbury to Bristol, CT.
As with many modelers, I chose the late steam early diesel transition era. More specifically 1949 (plus or minus one or two years). By this time, the mainline from Waterbury to Plainville was single tracked, while from Bridgeport north to Waterbury was still doubled. Regardless, during this time, steam with footprints ranging from 2-10-2s and 4-8-2s were still plying the rails lugging freight to Hartford. From the west, helpers were required on Maybrook jobs to the summit at Terryville. The helper, typically an R1 4-8-2, was stationed at the Waterbury roundhouse. Waterbury was also the terminus of two freights -- one from Cedar Hill, the other from Bridgeport.
With the advent of the FAs, the helper was eliminated. Locals powered by RS1s originated from the west at Waterbury to Plainville and from the northeastern city of Hartford to Plainville. Old photos reveal these trains sometimes arriving at Plainville at the same time.
While freight was the mainstay of the Highland, there were plenty of passenger traffic passing through this area as well. Pre-diesel power was a variety of 4-6-2 pacifics which eventually gave way to RS1s, RS2s and DL109s. While this area didn't see any Pullman trains nor heavy mail trains, I took some liberties here.
A few years ago I became obsessed with kitbashing New Haven-specific Pullmans and Parlors from Rivarossi 12-1 using New England Rail Services widow and air conditioning kits. It started innocently enough with the 8-1-3 Breslin Tower. This was followed by another 8-1-3 Victoria Tower. Then the sole 14 section New Franklin and 14 Single Bedroom Nightfall. Soon I found myself recreating most of the pre-Budd Senator with 30-1 Paine Wingate in PRR garb save for the "New Haven" lettering. With more than two dozen modified Riv Pullmans, the obsession finally ended with the Solarium Observation car Murray Hill. So yeah, we'll have a Pullman consist --even if it is a detoured train avoiding a wreck on the mainline.
With this variety of locomotives, vast passenger and freight equipment, lush deciduous rolling hills and a busy interchange, the Highland line was exactly what I was looking for to fit the 20 x 13 foot space allocated to my New Haven RR. While the layout is in the construcition phase, there are several sections to view the locomotives and rolling stock for the railroad.