Great video. My Great Grandfather was a engineer for the New Haven R/R, back in the late 1800's. He ran out of the Cedar Hill yard. His route was the Cheshire/Waterbury Line.
Rode this line for the first time when I was a college student up in the Boston area. Amtrak used to run trains from Boston down to New Haven through Hartford direct.
I think all your videos are fantastic. I grew up in East Hampton, NY I now live on the Alabama gulf coast and miss northeast railfanning very much. Keep up the great work!
The original Windsor Locks station is being restored and a new station built adjacent. The original Berlin station was being restored when the contractor accidentally started a fire and burned it down. A new station is being built in Enfield also. The railroad bridge at 58:52 is the former Waterbury, Meriden, and Cromwell/CT River Railroad abandoned in the early 1950s. In it's later years it was also used as a trolley line. A short segment stayed open to a quarry just north of Meriden on Westfield Road until the 1970s. It's been donated by the quarry for use as a walking trail.
One thing I like a lot about CT Rail is that I can pay on the train. A few days ago I was in Wallingford, CT rushing to get a ticket on the machine after hearing the train horn, but didn't have enough time. I was delighted when it ended up being a CT Rail Train. I hoofed it down the platform and gave the conductor cash for the hop to Meriden. About your lamentation concerning the degeneration of service under NYC, I understand your sentiment, but the government destroyed passenger rail by subsidizing its competition to the hilt. I can't really blame the railroads for wanting to get out of this money-losing operation even though I like trains and use them a lot. I am glad that Amtrak and CT Rail have revitalized rail travel in the area.
Thanks for the video. I've lived here for 72 years and never thought I'd catch the train past the Locks at Windsor and associated canal. Veryyyy interesting. I'll be sure to catch more of your videos. A railfan 2.
Ever since I discovered your videos a few weeks ago, I've not been able to keep away from them! I lived in New Haven for 2 years as a grad student and took the M8s so, so many times into GCT. I'm now in south-central PA, along the Amtrak Keystone corridor, and have taken several of the Keystone trains (and one Pennsylvanian) into NYP. Your videos are wonderfully relaxing, perfectly narrated, and the ideal background videos for mundane tasks that my ADHD-brain doesn't want to complete! THANK YOU!
Thanks for highlighting this service along with the Springfield Union Station. I take these trains all the time to New Haven, New York and DC. I wish I knew you were coming up.
Thanks for the great travellogs, I really enjoy your take on the history and your experiences riding. Your mention of GP-9s made me remember the Southern Pacific commute line to San Francisco - in the 60's there were several GP-9s, an F-7 and Fairbanks-Morse Train Masters. I too wish I had recordings of those times. Standing in the vestibules of the old coaches was a hoot, right behind whatver motive power was hauling us. The crews would even tolerate us standing on the bottom step (the "traps" were usually open between some stations) and one brakeman even taught me how to get off while the train was still moving so I could shorten my walk to the bus in SF. I wish I had seen those heydays here on the east coast.
The bowling alley in Windsor Locks you mentioned is still there but the PBA tour hasn’t stopped there for years. It was called Bradley Bowl since it was right across the street from Bradley Airport. It’s now called spare time entertainment, and they have 25 lanes now instead of the 44 they had in the days the tour stopped there, and they have escape rooms as well. My dad took me to that tournament every year when I was growing up.
At 1:20:08, you can see the abandonded trestle over the Mill River that once carried the Manufacturers Line into an industrial area of Fair Haven that was very active and yes at 1:20:14 it is the Belle Dock that is now a very active line used by Providenc & Worchester for New Haven Terminal. Thanks for all these posts.
It is sad to see the cars and trucks passing the trains. It is like that all over the country. This, I think, is way Amtrak is a failure. You can't get anywhere in a reasonable time. I like your video, it brought back many pleasant memories. Thank you!
Ride the NEC NYP to WAS or the Lincoln Service Line in Illinois. No one passes them unless they are way over the speed limit! Plus Chi - Detroit in 5 hours and 30 minutes in reasonable time, also Chi - Milwaukee in 1 hour and 29 minutes
I did some poking around on the National Maps, part of the US Geologic Society website and took a look at a 1946 topographic map. The lake is Silver Lake and looks to be one of those big tourist places populated during the 19th century when people went out to the country to escape from the big cities. The bridge belonged to a mill branch that was accessed on the right-side heading south. There was a bit of a yard there too just before the branch headed off to the right of the Connecticut River line. The branch is a bit odd. The line went south as far as Main Street and terminated there, probably at a goods store or lumber yard. The portion that crossed over the mainline continued passed Baldwins Pond and terminated at the Middleton, Ct. town line. Just before Baldwins Pond, there was a branch that served some bigger textile mills which also had a small yard. This branch line alone would make a nice little model railroad operation with the switch back operation up on the hill over the mainline. Meriden also had a good-sized freight yard. Today I-691 cuts through the middle of it and what's left is open parking lots. It's sad to see all this gone today. I can only imagine what it was like in the New Haven heyday.
Nice video. Having take the train in this area for years, some info that may help. Berlin station burned in Dec 2016 and the original station was to be a part of the plan for the new station. The opening of the southern part of the northbound station was delayed when the new service started in June 2018. Also, the line from Hartford to just past Newington Jct was four track with the line to New Britain. Eventually, they removed one track and than the other. Now that is used by the Busway. They closed Newington Jct as a station either Dec 1960 or Jan 1961 when the New Haven filed for bankruptcy (the second after the 1935 one). Until that time, they had run a commuter train still between Waterbury and Hartford.
Grew up in Wallingford. I do have fond memories of Trackside Pizza. Was a favorite of my dad's. Most of the interior was left intact from it's subway days to include a lot of the advertisements. It ended up as another casualty of the pandemic, sadly.
Share your views toward stationary horns at crossings - didn't even know of such abominations to the train-loving experience until discovering this video. P.S: You're more than just a "horn guy" - I'd call it Horn-Connoisseur! Bravo your contagious enthusiasm! Love the iron fencing and lamp posts at Windsor Station!
Having grown up in Wallingford, I spent many hours railfanning from the old station. This video brought back great memories. You sound like you grew up in the New Haven area. Thanks so much.
I go from Meriden to Wallingford and back quite a bit. In fact, I left my car at a dealer in Wallingford for repairs and took the train back to Meriden. I'll probably take the train down to Wallingford to get my car in a day or two. Thankfully, the train station in Meriden is only about a 20 minute walk for me. Can't beat it!
I rode this train in the 50's as my father worked on the New Haven. If I remember right, it took just over an hour. Now it is about an hour and a half. It's a shame they can't get the speed up.
Well my comment was based on a regionalized assessment. It is is the nearest big city to that area. After all the pro bowler‘s tour Greater Hartford open is in Windsor Locks but they still call it the Greater Hartford open. I guess calling it the Windsor Locks Open would be bad for ratings. Yes I see it’s in Bristol Connecticut my bad
At 58:00 and 109:00 on the time bar, when you got just south of Wallingford, you mentioned about that Brick Oven Pizzeria with the Philadelphia Broad Street Subway car. That's a J. G. Brill 1923 'North Broad' car. SEPTA still has five or six vintage Broad Street Subway cars, some from Brill and some from Pressed Steel Car Co., sadly rusting away, stored out in the weather at the Fern Rock subway yards. They also have a 1936 Brill 'Bridge Line' car that ran to Camden. Unlike what New York City does with their vintage subway cars and buses too, SEPTA could care less and refuses to run them for fan trips or special events. SEPTA has no interest in transit history what-so-ever. At one time, there were the last two 1922 Market-Frankford subway/elevated cars in the yards at Bridge Street that a group of fans wanted to purchase to preserve. SEPTA, stating that they were in the transportation business and not a museum, deliberately and for spite turned over and cut in half those two cars before the group could buy and remove them. The cars had survived until then because they were part of a 'painted yellow' work train. I have photos of them. Some years ago, SEPTA actually tried to scrap the vintage Broad Street subway cars at Fern Rock. But we found out about it and put a stop to that attempt by ratting them out to the City. The cars themselves and the yard they are stored at belongs to the City of Philadelphia, not SEPTA. SEPTA tried to say they were taking up valuable track space that was needed for something else. The City ordered SEPTA to keep their hands off of those cars or else !! The City reminded SEPTA that the tracks they are sitting on is City property and the cars belong to the City of Philadelphia. www.onlyinyourstate.com/connecticut/pizza-serving-subway-car-ct/
I know a former Septa VP responsible for putting Silverliner 5’s into service. He had no desire to preserve a few of the Budd Silverliner cars. They are all gone. No, septa doesnt care about preserving rail equipment
I have a copy of the last public timetable issued by the New Haven in 1968 and it took 1 hr 25 minutes from New Haven to Springfield, so pretty much the same time today?
My comment was based on regionalization. It is the nearest big city to there. I bet more people have heard of Hartford Connecticut than Bristol Connecticut. What’s funny is on the pro bowlers tour the greater Hartford open is actually in Windsor Locks but they still call it the greater Hartford open. I guess calling it the Windsor Locks open would be bad for ratings. Yes ESPN is in Bristol Ct. my bad
@@3985uprr sorry did not mean to offend I am trying to learn about rail operations in the region. Your video is GREAT I love it and have watched it many times
@@bossf51 I just checked the Amtrak app and it seems to be cancelled even beyond that date. Almost booked a ticket for that train. Guess I'll book a ticket for another train. Thanks anyway.
I fully agree with you on the whistle blowing. It is not Railroading without the whistle. That whistle, (A.K.A. horn) is the only way that the engineer has to warn the idiots on the tracks that he is coming and they need to get the heck out of the way! Only some yahoo idiot city kid would dream of taking that safety valve away from the train crew!!!
