New Haven in New York City

Did the New Haven operate out of Penn Station or Grand Central Terminal or both?

All the present-day NH lines operate out of Grand Central, so I am guessing then did prior to 1968 as well. But I've also read about NH trains from Boston going to Penn Station, where were handed over to the PRR.

Could you ride the same train from Boston to Washington back then, like you can today?

Thanks.

The New Haven operated out of both Grand Central and Penn. GCT was the primary New York station, hosting all commuter trains and most of the intercity service to Boston and Springfield. Penn was mostly through trains operated in conjunction with the Pennsylvania RR. Following the Penn Central takeover, PC consolidated the NH's intercity services at Penn although commuter trains continued to use GCT.

And yes, there were through trains between Boston and Washington via the NH and PRR, although most corridor trains out of Boston went only as far as New York and terminated in GCT.

One thing that the New Haven Railroad handled more of in Penn Station
than in Grand Central Terminal was mail and express. We carried a huge
amount of mail out of Penn Station, trains 180 and 179 had three RPO's
nightly between New York, Penn Station and Boston. We also carried
Railway Express out of both Sunnyside Yard and Harlem River, both yards
had large Railway Express facilities.
Noel Weaver

I did a search for "New Haven Railroad Map" and found this link:

http://www.trainweb.org/railpix/miscpix ... 1-1956.jpg

It shows the New Haven running to Grand Central, Penn Station, and of course, the freight-only branch to Harlem River Terminal. Local passenger service between New Rochelle and the HRT was abandoned in 1931, but subsidiary NYW&B continued to use the terminal until 1937.

-otto-

Otto Vondrak wrote:I did a search for "New Haven Railroad Map" and found this link:

http://www.trainweb.org/railpix/miscpix ... 1-1956.jpg

It shows the New Haven running to Grand Central, Penn Station, and of course, the freight-only branch to Harlem River Terminal. Local passenger service between New Rochelle and the HRT was abandoned in 1931, but subsidiary NYW&B continued to use the terminal until 1937.

-otto-

Another very important point on the New Haven Railroad in New York City
was Bay Ridge which was reached from Fremont (Queens) via the Long
Island Rail Road which the New Haven operated over under a trackage
rights agreement.
In the last years of the NHRR all of the car floats were operated out of
Bay Ridge as the float bridges at Oak Point were not in good shape and
they did not have the need for two separate terminals in New York for the
purpose of car float operations.
Noel Weaver

Thank you for reminding me about Bay Ridge! If I recall, that was an LIRR branch that the New Haven had rights to operate from Harold interlocking south (connection via New York Connecting Railroad). I think operations to Bay Ridge ended with Penn Central?

When did the Oak Point floats close?

-otto-

Otto Vondrak wrote:Thank you for reminding me about Bay Ridge! If I recall, that was an LIRR branch that the New Haven had rights to operate from Harold interlocking south (connection via New York Connecting Railroad). I think operations to Bay Ridge ended with Penn Central?

When did the Oak Point floats close?

-otto-

Trains to Bay Ridge did not go through or even really near Harold. At a
location in Queens called by us "Bowery Bay" there was a sub station.
This was at the bottom, more or less, of the grade off the bridge and is
the location where the two tracks to Harold and Penn Station swing away
to the west and eventually come in next to the LIRR main line tracks
leading to Harold. Meanwhile the other two tracks (NHRR days, only one
track remains now) continued more or less straight on to Fremont. The
one remaining track is still operated by CSX for interchange to the New
York & Atlantic which took over LIRR freight operations some years ago.
Incidentally, there was no connection between the two tracks to Harold
and the two tracks to Fremont and Bay Ridge in Queens, the nearest
connection between the two sets of double tracks was at SS-4, later
called Market by Penn Central and Conrail and still later closed by
Amtrak. Today the only connection between the two passenger tracks
and the one remaining freight track is at Pelham Bay.
Not nearly as much left in this area as there was in the last days of the
New Haven Railroad in 1968.
Noel Weaver

Whoops- I transposed Sunnyside Junction and Harold.

Hi All,

That sort of explains how come the Bay Ridge tracks were torn up. I visited Brooklyn some years ago, in the area of the Bay Ridge line as it came out of the tunnel from Queens, at Atlantic Ave. And surprise, no tracks. Continued south to my cousin's old home, Belmont Ave at Sutter Ave. and still no tracks. That was our "playground" as kids. Big electric engines and long freights. Saw my first GG-1 coming out of the tunnel at Atlantic Ave. Big surprise, couldn't believe how big, and how quiet, it was. All great memories now.

pennsy wrote:Hi All,

That sort of explains how come the Bay Ridge tracks were torn up. I visited Brooklyn some years ago, in the area of the Bay Ridge line as it came out of the tunnel from Queens, at Atlantic Ave. And surprise, no tracks. Continued south to my cousin's old home, Belmont Ave at Sutter Ave. and still no tracks. That was our "playground" as kids. Big electric engines and long freights. Saw my first GG-1 coming out of the tunnel at Atlantic Ave. Big surprise, couldn't believe how big, and how quiet, it was. All great memories now.

.

The tracks are still in use on the Bay Ridge Branch even if only for local
freight operations. Maybe you were looking at the old Long Island Rail
Road's Rockaway Beach Branch which was abandoned in the 1960's.
To the best of my knowledge GG-1's never operated on the Bay Ridge
Branch, just New Haven Railroad AC electrics and the LIRR six wheel
electric switchers at Bay Ridge.
Noel Weaver