Noel Weaver wrote:Finally the electric switcers and electric freights, after McGinnis took over in 1954 one of his goals was to get ride of as much electric as possible and in this regard the last of the electric switchers went around 1957 or 1958. Last places used were one or two NX jobs out of New Rochelle and Stamford Yard. I am not sure that every last side track on the east end of the electrified territory had wire, it seems to me that at least some of them were always switched by either steam or later diesel. Even in the days of all of the electric switchers still being in or available for service there was not nearly enough of these engines to do all switching west of New Haven. One thing about the New Haven Railroad, you could always count on exceptions to the above.I got wildly intrigued by this matter and did some research into 1950's Engine Assignments. I confined the search ONLY to jobs from Stamford west, since that's what this thread is about (An equally interesting list can be constructed for locals in the rest of the electric zone). You have to be careful when studying these Engine Assignments because they are rife with errors and omissions. Anyway here's what I found, and quite consistent with Noel's comment above:
Noel Weaver
Oct 1950
95 Stamford-Oak Pt-New Canaan local
109 New Roch-Stamford local
204 Stamford yd
206 New Roch yd
210 Stamford yd
215 Stamford yd
218 New Roch-Woodlawn local
222 Stamford yd
0971 New Roch wire train
April 1952
95 Oak Pt- E Bport local
104 E Bport-Oak Pt local
209 Stamford yd
210 Stamford yd
215 Stamford switcher
218 New Roch yd
220 New Roch yd
221 Stamford yd
303 Stamford-Harlem Riv-New Canaan local
0972 New Roch wire train
Sept 1952
111 Pt Chester-New Roch-Stamford local
209 Stamford yd
210 Stamford yd
215 Stamford yd
218 New Roch yd
221 Stamford yd
0972 New Roch wire train
(Where's the New Canaan local frt. in Sept 1952? No mention of any power for it. This must be an example of one of the "errors and omissions" I spoke of previously)
(I have an Engine Assignment from 1955 but can't lay my hands on it right now, so there's a time gap here)
April 1957
86 NX-3 New Roch-Cos Cob
218 NX-2 New Roch-Pelham Manor
220 Stamford yd
221 Stamford relief
0943 NX-6 Stamford-New Canaan
0949 Stamford yard
0972 New Roch wire train
For those who may not know, these are the engine classes listed:
Engine numbers under 111 - EF-1 electric freight motors
200 series engine numbers - EY electric switchers
300 numbers - EP-2 electric passenger motors (not unusual to see a low number one like 303 in freight duty late in its life)
0930-0995 DEY-3 Alco Diesel switchers
Several things jump out at you, e.g.. 1)In 9/52 and earlier the only diesel in use from Stamford west was the New Rochelle wire train. I emphssize, this is ONLY from Stamford west. 2)In April 1957 diesel swlitchers have made a couple of more inroads but there are surprisingly still 4 electrics in local and switching service. As Noel pointed out, I bet that was the end