Just wondering: Why was the NH's Danbury & Norwalk branch de-electrified in 1961? I'm curious about this, especially given that the catenaries still span the New Canaan branch.
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Why was overhead wire cut from Danbury Branch?
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The NH felt that volume of traffic on the branch didn't justify the cost of maintaining the catenary for just a half-dozen or so trains each way. FL9s took over from electrics on the through trains, and an RDC replaced an MU car on the midday shuttle. Then and now, the New Canaan branch had much more frequent service.
During the period that the changes were made on the Danbury Branch the
New Haven Railroad was being managed by a bunch of "crooks". In
addition they did not know what they were doing and did not know how to
run a railroad.
I will leave it at that, I was there and I remember them.
Noel Weaver
New Haven Railroad was being managed by a bunch of "crooks". In
addition they did not know what they were doing and did not know how to
run a railroad.
I will leave it at that, I was there and I remember them.
Noel Weaver
The arrival of the dual-mode FL9's was supposed to allow the New Haven to slowly phase out its AC-electric operations. The FL9's could use 600v third rail to Penn Station or Grand Central, so the need for the overhead wire was negated. The New Haven was so strapped financially, they de-energized the overhead in 1961 and scrapped the wire for cash a couple years later. By the mid-1960s, management realized that the electric operations were more efficient and cost-effective than diesel operations- which, I understand, led to the reactivation of electric services to Bay Ridge and the purchase of the second-hand Virginian rectifiers... but the Danbury Branch would remain a diesel operation.
-otto-
-otto-
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NYW&B Fan Site :: A Magazine I Read Often :: A Museum I Volunteer At
Otto Vondrak wrote:The arrival of the dual-mode FL9's was supposed to allow the New Haven to slowly phase out its AC-electric operations. The FL9's could use 600v third rail to Penn Station or Grand Central, so the need for the overhead wire was negated. The New Haven was so strapped financially, they de-energized the overhead in 1961 and scrapped the wire for cash a couple years later. By the mid-1960s, management realized that the electric operations were more efficient and cost-effective than diesel operations- which, I understand, led to the reactivation of electric services to Bay Ridge and the purchase of the second-hand Virginian rectifiers... but the Danbury Branch would remain a diesel operation.There was a total management change at the top when the railroad went
-otto-
bankrupt in 1961. Had this management been in place in 1954 or 1955,
I do not think the NHRR would ever had replaced good electric locomotives
with diesels in the first place. Electric operation on the Danbury Branch
worked very well and we rarely had problems with it. The wire was in
good shape and the voltage held well all the way to Danbury.
Noel Weaver