New Haven Stillwell coaches

After the collapse of the New York Westchester and Boston many of the Stillwell MU coaches were converted into non powered commuter coaches for the Boston area. Did the NH ever consider using the Stillwell coaches for the main electrified lines? I ‘m assuming the that retrofitting of these cars for GCT third rail was an obstacle. How long did the Boston retrofit coaches last in service and have any survived? I have seen in person an Erie Stillwell coach at Susquehanna Depot in Pennsylvania which would have looked similar.

These cars had a different control system than the New Haven's Green Muts had so they could not have operated together. In addition the railroad probably did not really need them for the existing service in the late 30's, maybe during WW-II but they got good use out of them in Boston during the war years. In addition the leaf springs on the trucks would have posed problems when the time came to mount third rail gear on them. Finally the railroad was poor and probably would not have had the funds to make these cars over to a point where they could have operated on third rail into Grand Central Terminal.
Noel Weaver

Another problem was that these were straight AC cars and would have had to be rebuilt electrically for the DC operation into GCT.

Thanks Noel and BaltOhio for your insight. I found out from the excellent website devoted to the railway, NWBRY.com, that the only remaining car is located in Peru. How it got there is beyond me.

As a non sequitur, why was the NYW&B called a railway and not a railroad, which is more common in the United Sates? In other words what is the technical difference in the US between the two terms?

chnhrr wrote:Thanks Noel and BaltOhio for your insight. I found out from the excellent website devoted to the railway, NWBRY.com, that the only remaining car is located in Peru. How it got there is beyond me.

As a non sequitur, why was the NYW&B called a railway and not a railroad, which is more common in the United Sates? In other words what is the technical difference in the US between the two terms?

The difference between a railroad and a railway, one runs on track that is 4 feet 8 and 1/2 inches and the other runs on track that is 56 and 1/2 inches, you do the math. In other words there is no difference. Some companies used the word railroad during one era and railway during another era; examples of this include Erie Lackawanna, Rutland and the Delaware and Hudson among others. Some railroads always used the term railway; examples of this include Canadian National, Canadian Pacific, Florida East Coast and Southern. Many others always used the term railroad and in fact the term railway would not have been a good fit, can you imagine Pennsylvania Railway? Often times a railroad was labeled as a railway or a railway labeled as a railroad especially in the press.
Noel Weaver

As Noel says, there's no difference in meaning. Historically, though, the word "railway" originated in Great Britain, and all lines in the UK and Ireland are called "railways." This practice was generally adopted in other countries in the old British empire -- thus, for instance, everything in Canada was and is a "railway." "Railroad" was an American term dating back to the earliest companies such as the B&O and Camden & Amboy, and the bulk of U.S. lines followed suit -- but with numerous exceptions.

One reason that the same company changed from "railroad" to "railway," or vice versa, was because after a reorganization or sale, the name of the new company had to be different from the old. But at the same time, it was desirable to retain the old name for several important reasons. Thus the change from "railroad" to "railway" in a corporate title conformed to the legal necessities while retaining the company's basic trade name -- as was the case with the D&H and Rutland.

And, just to muddy up the railway/railroad discussion, one mustn't forget the Long Island Rail Road (two words, not one).

Statkowski wrote:And, just to muddy up the railway/railroad discussion, one mustn't forget the Long Island Rail Road (two words, not one).

I think Rail Road is just an archaicism. If you look at a pre-Civil War map of, say, New England, all the routes are labeled "Rail Road" -- or even Rail-Road. The Long Island just happens to be the only one that survived as a corporate entity from the 1830's to the present day.