Most scenic part of New Haven RR to model?

[leikec]

The New Haven is a railroad I've always liked, which is surprising as I have no personal connection to the line or to the area. I'd never even been to Connecticut until last year, when I rode Metro North from Stamford to NYC.

What would be the signature scenic area on the New Haven? The era I'm primarily interested in is post WWll to 1960.

Thanks!

Jeff C

[gevohogger]

Isn't that sort of like asking who is the tallest midget?

But seriously.... The Poughkeepsie Bridge and surrounding area is certainly a highlight.

[Paul Cutler III]

Jeff,
Welcome to the New Haven! In case you aren't already a member, the New Haven Railroad Historical & Technical Association can help you out in many different ways on modeling and researching the NH. We have over 30 years of back issues of our magazine, the Shoreliner at our web store. We can be found at NHRHTA.org, and on our Facebook page: NHRHTA Facebook Page  We have posted many NH photos on the page; feel free to look around.  We have our own free-to-use NH Forum, too: The New Haven Forum  Stop by and ask questions about the NH; the guys love to answer.

To answer your specific question, really the most iconic line of the New Haven is the Shore Line Route along the Connecticut coast.  East of New Haven, it can get very pretty along the ocean, especially back in the day when there were much fewer trees blocking the view of Long Island Sound than there are today.  Much of the NH's advertising and PR Dept. work focused on the "Scenic Shore Line".  West of New Haven is very industrial, and east of Connecticut the mainline goes inland and runs mostly through the woods, some pastures, a bunch of suburbs, and several major cities.

Other scenic areas were down on Cape Cod, especially up the line to Provincetown.  There's a nice cab ride video taken of an RDC fan trip that's available, and scenery is great with water on either side of the rail line.

The Maybrook Line is our "Mountain Division", all-freight, and features long trains on stiff grades with an enormous bridge across the Hudson.  Also useful if you like the L&HR, Erie, LNE or NYO&W as all interchanged at Maybrook.  Not too many big towns back then along the route, mostly hills, a few lakes, etc.

The Naugatuck and Housatonic lines were more scenic back then (today, they are mostly "tree tunnels" as I call them).  Both run alongside their namesake rivers and service industries along the way.  Some larger towns/cities along each line also featured interchanges with other NH lines.  That's one thing many people don't model that can be fun to operate as one local freight has to leave and pick up cars with another.  Check out what Joe Smith is doing: signalstation199.blogspot.com/

The Hartford Line was very busy with many passenger trains and a major interchange with both the NYC and B&M at Springfield.

The Connecticut River Line (today's Valley Railroad in Essex, CT) runs right along the river.  See Chris Adams' work here: The Valley Local  The Norwich & Worcester and the Providence & Worcester had traffic enough to satisfy. 

The NH also went up to Fitchburg & Lowell, and we can't forget about the Eastern Massachusetts lines that were heavy on commuters and generated a bunch of freight tonnage.

Still, the coastal part of the NH is what most people think of; certainly the NH wanted people to think of that. 

[leikec]

Thanks, Paul! That helps a lot.

Jeff C

[lvrr325]

You could probably pick out an area using a map of the New Haven in it's prime and just look at Google Maps to see what the places look like, with satellite views and street views from nearby roads. New Haven offers a large variety of choices, heavy electric passenger and freight along the coast and into urban areas, bucolic branch lines with locals, and the Maybrook line with it's grades and the large bridge over the Hudson river.