A Few of My Favorite Things

With a little time to spare on vacation, the aggressions of the day taken out on culverts, leaves and other winter related cleanup, time to play with the files again. Thank heavens for photo files, my lack of actual rail sightings could get me down.

You'll notice that everything in this posting either has or at one time boasted the McGuiness inspired "NH" logo of the once mighty New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad. Thanks to the guys at the Danbury Railroad Museum for their one of a kind collection and CDOT for their eye on their heritage, NH freaks like me can get a fix now and then. An expedition with the Wheelman to see Ken Buckman (founder of Broken Knuckle Video) on CSX's Mohawk Sub. in New York and a morning chase of the Housatonic RR put us in front of the museum and the commuter train at the right hour of the day.

I've actually seen each of these items, or at least something in their class, in actual operation. The "Washboard MUT's" seen to the right were still going well into the Penn Central era when my family would take the odd train trip from New Haven to NYC to visit old friends - an adventure in its own right. These guys were likely what we rode. I vividly recall the attendant going down the aisles with the candy and newspapers, an NH institution. On the return trips I remember the arcs of the pantographs flashing in the night landscape. Above left are the unique "Roger Williams" high speed RDC's. Danbury has both ends and one of the middle units. In 1975 I caught one end in Amtrak paint off my train as it headed into New Haven station. At the time I had no idea what I was photographing with my Kodak 110 instamatic. The same goes for the FL9's on the left. Another uniquely New Haven item with 5 axles and the capacity to go all DC power with diesels shut down for NYC service. They were also the last EMD "F Units". 1975 was not the last time I saw these guys in action. The Maine Eastern has been using a pair for service to Rockland which naturally I've had to photograph. At over $400 a pop in N scale, I'll pass until I hit the lottery.

The RDC's on the right are a fuzzier item in my history. I never have ridden in one but I have seen them sitting for others to ride. As far as actual NH, I've seen these a couple of times in Amtrak service to Springfield. Again the 1975 trip, one of these was hitched to the "Roger Williams" unit. The next trip in 1977 I got one in the full red, white and blue of Amtrak in Springfield off the Lake Shore Limited. It even had the Hancock air whistle (sound like steam whistles) common on the NH, like this specimen. A shrunken pair of these pose on my N scale layout, and yes, I made sure they have the Hancock's properly attached.

This caboose is the tail end of my Danbury selection. I never got to see these before Penn Central butchered some of them into the bay window with cupola monstrosities you see here. I did see my first at Pitcairn Yard outside of Pittsburgh in 1977 when the Broadway Limited I was on was 5 hours late (a future story). The paint was new Conrail blue but the oddity was duly photographed anyway. It was years before I realized it was a New Haven N5 caboose in it's former life. I've seen plenty of these since that trip. Naturally I've acquired all 5 NH schemes of the original version in N scale, thanks to Atlas and Brooklyn Locomotive Works.

No trip with the Wheelman is complete without a tale telling of his famous luck. We started the day by greeting the sun in Canaan, CT to chase the Housatonic RR. We had coffee at the nicely restored Maine Central caboose - now coffee stand - by the depot. This was the usual wild ride along all manner of roads following the line and it's daily southbound (a future story too). With daylight to spare and the timing good, we managed to get into the Danbury museum which we normally see after business hours. With still more daylight, a local map and a Metro North timetable, we took yet another detour to Ansonia to catch a Waterbury Line commuter train. Wouldn't you just know it, it not only had Virginia Railway Express cars, but they were being pushed by one of the CDOT/Shore Line East McGuiness painted geeps. What a day for New Haven fans! Naturally we chased this guy to Waterbury for yet another adventure. And here we were giving up a day of rest that we had originally intended to be home for. What were we thinking!


BC