• Heavy repair shops

  • Discussion relating to the NH and its subsidiaries (NYW&B, Union Freight Railroad, Connecticut Company, steamship lines, etc.). up until its 1969 inclusion into the Penn Central merger. This forum is also for the discussion of efforts to preserve former New Haven equipment, artifacts and its history. You may also wish to visit www.nhrhta.org for more information.
Discussion relating to the NH and its subsidiaries (NYW&B, Union Freight Railroad, Connecticut Company, steamship lines, etc.). up until its 1969 inclusion into the Penn Central merger. This forum is also for the discussion of efforts to preserve former New Haven equipment, artifacts and its history. You may also wish to visit www.nhrhta.org for more information.
  by atsf sp
 
Where were the heavy locomotive repair shops located on the New Haven? I am especially interested in the location of the steam shops pictured in this 1940s film http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aq_YcGK9aAU . Also what kind of facilities were located at Boston's South Hampton yards?
  by Statkowski
 
The heavy steam locomotive repair shops were in Readville, Mass., on the fringes of Boston. The electric locomotive repair shops were at Van Nest, Bronx, on the Harlem River Branch.
  by Earle Baldwin
 
Con Ed purchased the Van Nest complex from the New Haven in 1959. Much of the original facility is still in place so you can get a real feel for how extensive operations were at that location. It must have been very impressive in its heyday.
  by Noel Weaver
 
We had good shops at both Readville for diesels and especially Van Nest for electrics. They had the facilities, location and manpower to do great things. Alpert (one of the worst presidents ever in the industry in my opinion) brought in some flunkies from the Chicago and North Western and the idea was to close up both good shops and move all heavy repairs to a poor facility in New Haven which was inadequate in every respect. This was another item that dragged the New Haven further downhill to bankrupty. Alpert finally got rid of these jerks but the damage had already been done. One of them made a surprise visit to Waterbury one Sunday Afternoon and he did not know the difference between a steam generator and a water treatment unit both of which we had at the roundhouse in Waterbury at the time.
Noel Weaver