|
|
| TylerCityStation Collection |
[4.3]
Access to the NH&D's first terminus in New Haven was via trackage rights on the Canal road. This
was on the westerly of three tracks that sat in the old canal bed under the rear half of the the Austin depot, pictured
above. The depot stood at the corner of Chapel St. (on the right) with the main entrance facing Union St. It
was designed by Henry Austin and opened late in 1848.
|
| TylerCityStation Collection |
[4.4] Clickable photo. This second locomotive
photograph is of the same engine as above in what we now think was its appearance as delivered, named the
Morris Tyler in honor of the railroad president. It appears to be posing just below the Austin depot. The
engine is pointing south and sitting on the westernmost of three tracks where the Derby road actually begins. It then
curves to the engineer's right to go through Custom House Square.
|
| Library of Congress |
|
| Joe Taylor Collection |
[4.5] The Morris Tyler
is probably sitting in the block below Fair St. as shown on this shot from the Bailey and Hazen map. S.X. Armstead
(S.H. in some city directories) who is advertising his cooperage on the building above the locomotive, had his business
at 8 Union St., according to one directory. Many thanks to Joe Taylor, an avid collector of Elm City photographs
and ephemera, for supplying the lower item, which looks like an ad from one of the city directories. There is a word
ending in 'XON' on the fence above the cowcatcher in this picture, which has not yet been explained, but the buildings along Union St. appear to be the likely backdrop for the photograph. The large building at the foot of Union St. is
the Canal road freight office.
|
| TylerCityStation Collection |
[4.6] This is reportedly an
1870 Benham city directory map, which actually seems to reflect a slightly later date. Notice the 'new depot' already
shown for the planned NYNH&H station at the foot of Meadow St. which would not open until 1875. The NH&D is shown
as complete through to the old Austin depot at Chapel and Union Sts. over to the right, but trackage beyond Custom House Square
was not installed until just before the NH&D opened in August, 1871. The
NH&D single track heads toward the West River (off the map to the left) along Silver St.
|
| Al Lawrence Collection; Copyright NHRHTA, used with permission |
[4.7] This sketch is a front
view of the composite NH&D Commerce St. station, based on its appearance
in the or later. The newer three-story wing opened late in 1888. The two-story wing had been the
1878 NH&D passenger station that stood north of the NH&D track at the southwest corner of Meadow and West Water
Sts. It was moved across the street to become the NH&D freight office by the end of 1888. We have found an interesting
claim in John D. Fassett's UI: History of an Electric Company [p63] that it contracted in January of 1889 with
the H/NH&D to supply lighting to this depot and freight house for $500 per year. This is corroborated by a Register
article that says that the "office, freight house and platforms are lighted at night by numerous incandescent electric
lights so business can be carried on with all the conveniences as during the day" [NHER/02/20/1889/01]. If
Fassett's 'depot' means the passenger station, then the entire Commerce St. facility was using electricity and
was at least in step with the times, and possibly ahead of them, in taking advantage of the technology of the day.
|
| New Haven Register Photo |
[4.8]
Clickable photo. This picture ran in the New Haven Register in 1931 as the 107th article in a series
of pictorial reminiscences. It shows the two-story freight office, formerly the 1878 NH&D passenger station, rented
to Smith and Fowler, a purveyor of grain and feed, to whom the freight depot and probably the platform behind it, were
given as well. This was sometime after the 1892 West River branch that diverted trains into Union Station and before the
late 1909 use of the south wing for the Conn. Co. trolley express operation [NHEL/10/18/09/01], when Smith and Fowler
vacated the premises. Previously the express operation had been located on Commerce St. behind the D.M. Welch and Sons
grocery store up the street. At the new location adjacent to the RR YMCA, it was said to have had more platform and storage
space and that their cars and wagons would not "conflict" here. See the 1915 valuation map below for the layout
at that time.
|
| Dodd Research Center, UConn |
[4.9] Here is a front view
of the Derby road's Commerce St. station, seen from the corner of Silver St. This building was refitted to open as the
NYNH&H's first railroad YMCA on December 28, 1896. [HC/12/30/1896/11; NHDP/12/29/1896/01]. The Courant
article carries the texts of the speeches of Vice Pres. Hall and Pres. Clark, the latter of whom said the company's efforts
were for the "comfort, rest, amusement and instruction" of the railroad's employees. The annual report for 1912
reported that the facility had 20 bedrooms, 6 bathrooms, a bowling alley, reading and social rooms [NHAR25.1896.6]. The
cost of the refitting was $17,800. The plain appearance of the building, the lower-to-the-ground profile, and
the lack of a porch at the entrance as seen in later photos would seem to date this to the late 1890s or early
1900s.
|
| Yale University Digital Collection |
[4.10] This photo is in the
Historical New Haven Digital Collection from Yale [click here]. This is said to be a shot of RR YMCA members ca. 1925-1935, but the building looks more like the photo above this one than
the later view at MP 4.11.2 below. The lower-to-the-street profile and the lack of a porch would seem to argue for pre-1920.
The missing plaque may have read New Haven and Derby Railroad Company, perhaps in
script herald like the NYNH&H's own. That leads to the exciting possiblity that this could even be around the
opening of the new YMCA in 1896. The location seems to be at the entrance to
the 1888 wing. The more well-to-do gentlemen may be the board of management [BOM], joined by some regular
members and ladies from the women's auxiliary. The YMCA was open to all railroad men and their families, whether
the men were members or not. There is a further possibility that this is the 1889 camera club group seen on Track 5,
MP 5.20.2, though no hats or faces yet seem like obvious matches.
|
| Leroy Roberts Collection |
[4.11] Clickable photo. Many thanks to Leroy Roberts for this photo that far surpasses the copy quality of
what we had posted previously from the newspaper. This historic shot shows the RR YMCA being moved backward for
the widening of Commerce St., renamed South Orange St. to serve as the approach to the new 1920 Union Station. The move was
made in May of 1920 [NHER 05/10,11/1920/01; NHER/06/01/1920/01]. The YMCA records say that the men were going to
sleep at the Silver St. freight houses while the work was completed. As with the other construction projects in this
area of 'made' land, the discovery of water and quicksand beneath the surface necessitated pilings under the new foundation,
perhaps accounting for its higher elevation. As the exterior is seen here, there is no fire escape yet on the south end,
though it looks like the triple-paned window on that end has perhaps just been put in. The contractor's name, now readable
in the banner, is John Eichleay, Jr. of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. We wonder why someone from so far away was chosen for
this job, though perhaps special expertise was needed to move a stucture of this size, comprised no less of two buildings
that were constructed separately and joined later. The physical operation looks like it is being done with railroad tracks
and car-wheel trucks, and perhaps locomotive power in the Silver St. yard. The building was probably jacked up from the cellar
beneath with supports under the rails on which it was rolled back, an operation that sounds pretty delicate. The New
Haven Bureau of Streets appears to have already filled in the old cellar [NHCYB (1921): 116]. This photo was
published in the Register the day after the YMCA closed [NHR/05/01/1966/4-1] but we have been unable to determine
either its prior origin or the exact date in May of the historic roll-back
event.
|
| Orange Historical Society |
[4.11.1] Clickable
photo. In another amazing TCS research coincidence, Ginny Reinhard has just showed us this photo from the OHS
collection. While the perspectives between it and the new photo just above differ, this shot seems to show that the rolling
back of the Derby depot has been completed with its north end angled a bit more to the east. New Haven's peripatetic
produce market has taken up residence at Silver St. and South Orange, formerly Commerce, St. and is in full swing here.
The one-story, white warehouse building in the background sports the same Ringling Bros. circus ad as seen in the previous
photo. The street in front of the old depot is now atop the filled-in old basement of the YMCA. The new South Orange
St. does not yet appear to be paved so this view is after the May, 1920 roll-back and before the paving was done in April
of 1921 [NHER/04/10/1921/01].
|
| Dodd Research Center, UConn |
[4.11.2] The photo above is the
YMCA with a facelift and an uplift to a higher foundation now calling for more steps, newly installed porches, and
reconfigured doorways. The triple-paned window is in on the south front, as is the similar window that replaced the old
door on the south end, and roof alterations there for an emergency exit and fire escape, the need for which was noted
in 1922 [BOM: 134]. The script herald plaque at left is now seen by the south entrance. With the newer
lampposts also in use, most of this was probably done as part of the 1920 back-shifting and street changes. With the
trolley freight operation having been shuffled over to Silver St., the 1878 'Annex' went fully to the YMCA
as noted on maps later in the 1920s shoiwng them with the entire building. The upstairs space may have been converted
to 'rest rooms' for sleeping even earlier. Note the sign, right of center, on the roof of the 1888 wing,
visible in the prior photo as well. The inverted, equilateral, Red Triangle was adopted as the YMCA symbol in
1895 and signified the balance of Body, Mind, and Spirit, words that are sometimes seen on the three sides. Interestingly,
there is a note in the BOM records that says the roof sign was only put up in 1919, 23 years after the YMCA opened.
|
| UConn Libraries Valuation Map Collection |
[4.11.3]
The RR YMCA and the surrounding area is shown here on the 1915 valuation map, with the Silver St. yard behind it
and before the changes of 1920. Click here for the entire map section. The yellow arrow points to the GOB, the blue arrow
to the trolley connection, the red arrow to the Commerce St. depot, now the RR YMCA, and the green arrow to the trolley express wing. The
darker dashed lines are the Connecticut Co. tracks on Meadow St. with the old Derby main tied in, not having crossed the street
since 1892 through the site where the GOB was built and where the original NH&D facilities were located. See Track 6,
MP 6.6 for the events of 1892. The 1878 Derby passenger station, now the south wing of the Commerce St. structure, once stood
above the word 'Water' in West Water St.
|
| Google Books Online Image |
[4.12]
This photograph appeared in a 1912 city-planning pamphlet called Railroad
Station Approach and Harbor Front Improvements. Click here for full document from Google Books. The view looks out to the Silver St. yard from
the upper level of
the RR YMCA. Note the Conn. Co. trolley express cars on the left-most track, where they are lined up along the old NH&D freight platform. This crowded scene
is probably not unlike the
busy final days of the NH&D/HRR operation, twenty years earlier, when 50 passenger and freight trains were coming into the Derby terminal most weekdays.
|
| Branford Electric Railway Association |
|
| Branford Electric Railway Association |
[4.12.1] These photos
appear on p. 25 in New Haven Streetcars, another of the wonderful Images of America series books put out by Arcadia
Press. This was a Branford Electric Railway Association project. The Consolidated Railway Co., not to be confused with the
nickname for the NYNH&H itself, was created in 1904 as the steam road's streetcar conglomerate. By
1907 it emerged as the Connecticut Co. with its old Trolley Express Co. renamed as the Conn. Co. Express Dept. This system served
57 trolley freight stations around the state. Seen here are rear views of the headquarters at the 1878 NH&D
station and the Silver Street yard. The upper photo shows the GOB towering in the background, with boxcars to the
right on the old NH&D main. The lower photo shows the street side with merchandise arrayed on the platform and horse-drawn
wagons being loaded. These shots are prior to the backward relocation of the YMCA in 1920 and possibly go back to
1905 for the upper, and 1907 for the lower photo, based on the Conn. Co. logo seen on the cars.
|
| Copyright NHRHTA, Inc., used with permission. |
[4.13]
Clickable photo. This is an eastward-looking view of the rear of the NH&D's Commerce St. station with the Silver
St. yard behind it. The negative has been corrected from the reversed printing in the 1981 article. There is a glimpse
of the GOB across the street around the north end of the structure. The single story extension on the back, probably
the train-access area for passengers in the NH&D/HRR era, was turned into the bowling alley for the YMCA. The Connecticut
Co. car parallel to the rear of the building dates the shot to ca. 1920 or later, after the structure was moved backward.
See MP 4.14 below and Track 6, MP 6.8.
|
| 1934 Connecticut Aerial Photograph Collection, UConn. |
[4.14] Clickable
photo. This shot shows the new alignment of Commerce St. as the approach to the 1920 station, which is just out of view in the lower right. It also shows how the old NH&D freight wing has been moved west to make room for the backward shifting of the YMCA. The space in between was cleverly used to run a track along the back of the YMCA curving around with ladder tracks to reach Silver St. and Freight House C. The trolley express operation was relocated there possibly as early as 1914
in advance of the street
changes. The old NH&D freight house wing and platform were subsequently used for warehousing produce.
|
| Al Lawrence Collection; Copyright NHRHTA, used with permission |
[4.15]
1933 view of the east end of Freight House C, in the Silver St. yard. Notice how the yard tracks have been dead-ended
farther west and the ladder tracks come around the back of the YMCA and fan out to the freight house.
|
| Al Lawrence Collection; Copyright NHRHTA, used with permission |
[4.16]
A 1925 view of the west end of Freight House C in the Silver St. yard. Note the end-door opening on the Conn. Co. trolley
express car to facilitate freight loading.
|
| Al Lawrence Collection; Copyright NHRHTA, used with permission |
[4.16.1] This photo captured
the demolition of the RR YMCA, probably shortly after it closed on April 30, 1966. The view looks north from West Water St.
The Silver St. freight yard went at the same time. The 1966 Register article that appeared the day after the
YMCA closed was entitled "End of the Line for Railroad 'Y'", and subtitled "Doomed by Revelopment" [NHR/05/01/1966/4-1].
|
| TylerCityStation Collection |
[4.16.2]
Clickable photo. This is a street-level shot of the Howard Ave. bridge over the NH&D, looking east back toward
the Cedar St. and Liberty St. bridges and the Silver St. yard. The yard and the old NH&D station were not all
that long gone when we took this shot in the late 1970s. It looks like chain-link fence has already replaced the
older railings between the buldings across the street. A few years later, when Conrail would not clean up the trash in the
cut below these bridges, the city bought the right of way from the Boulevard to Cedar St. for $5,000, and filled
and capped most of it at a cost of $300,000. Lee H.S. and public housing were built on some of the resulting land [NHR/09/27/1980;
NHR/01/23/1981].
|
| 1934 Connecticut Aerial Photograph Collection, UConn. |
[4.17] Clickable photo. This is the aerial of view of the the NH&D 1890, four-stall roundhouse at Thorn St. (running on the north side) and West St. (running behind) the facility. The level, rectangular plots seen above the track on the left are the eastern portion of St. Bernard's Cemetery. Columbus Ave. is the main artery running across the top of the photo.
|
| TylerCityStation Collection |
|
| TylerCityStation Collection |
[4.18] Clickable photos.
NH&D four-stall roundhouse at Thorn and West Sts. in New Haven, dating to 1890. Work was reported to have begun late in 1889 when the Derby road asked the city to remove drains
on the property so they would not interfere with the construction [NHER/11/18/1889/04; 12/05/1889/04]. The concave
front facade, where tracks went into the engine stalls, has been masked by an addition to the building since this picture
was taken in the early 1980s. As seen in the newly found upper photo from that
time, the conversion for use as factory space put on the large addition on the back of the original roundhouse.
Today what is probably the only surviving NH&D building from its era still stands and houses a small manufacturing
concern. We hope to visit it sometime to see what it looks like on the inside.
|
| William N. Quinn Collection |
[4.19] Clickable photo. This is a shot of engineer
Thomas Quinn on the turntable at the roundhouse shown in the photo above, the south edge of which is seen behind the
tender. The engine appears to have just emerged from the last stall. The fireman is Harry Merwin [NHRHTA Bulletin #11
(February, 2003), p. 1]. This is HRR #33 as seen on the side of the headlamp. This photo dates to between early
1890 when this roundhouse opened [NHER/04/23/1890/02; HRR AR 1890, p.5] and 1892 when the HRR was leased by the
NYNH&H. This photo appears in Lines West, with the engine mislabeled as #39 in the caption.
|
| TylerCityStation Collection |
|
| TylerCityStation Collection |
[4.19.1] Clickable photos. The top shot is a
winter view of the right side of the roundhouse and the West St. overpass. The flimsy structure looks more like an 1871
NH&D bridge than something in 1980. The four other bridges working west from Howard Ave., at Daggett/Washington Sts.,
Hallock St., Arch St., and Columbus Ave. were, as we recall, more substantial structures by now, with steel-girder
railings. Installing and upgrading these bridges, 8 in all, were added expenses for the all the railroads, but especially
for the NH&D with the right of way it chose through the city. That r/o/w looks passable from this side, but
the lower photo in summer, which must have been taken at street level, shows the other side quite overgrown.
|
| C. Dunn Collection |
[4.20]
Clickable photo. This is most likely an eastbound
train on the NH&D's 1871 West River trestle heading into New Haven at a pretty good clip judging by the snow being
kicked up. If the direction of travel is correct, this picture predates the Consolidated's 1892 West River branch
[NHER/10/27/1892/03] that would curve to the south (engineer's right), just about where the train is, and
crossed to the river's east side and thence along it and into Union Station. Closer scrutiny of the
engine might give us a better idea, but this looks like the Housatonic era, 1888-1892, with the train headed for the
new NH&D station on Commerce St.
|
| TylerCityStation Collection |
[4.21] In the foreground are the pilings for the trestle
that the train is on in the shot above. This was abandoned on January 15, 1938, along with the line from West
Haven to Orange center. The trestle still standing was the NYNH&H's 1892 branch. Track to reach the rendering company that was located just west of the river was left in place possibly as late as
the 1970s, but was presumed gone when this picture was taken in 1978. On September 26, 2001, that trestle,
which had collapsed into the river at some point later, was removed through the activist efforts of New Haven mayoral
candidate Joel Schiavone.
|
| TylerCityStation Collection |
|
| TylerCityStation Collection |
[4.21.1]
Clickable photos. Two more views of the West River crossing from the early 1980s. The upper one looks south, with high
tide covering the pilings for the 1871 NH&D trestle. We must have been standing on the bluff to the far right to
take the lower 'aerial' shot which looks back toward downtown New Haven. The pilings are visible in the river as is
the 1892 trestle curving south to go to Union Station. In the far distance, the 1969 Knights of Columbus tower can be seen
on the left and to its right is the NYNH&H's 1947 headquarters building.
________________________________________________________________________________________________
The West River Branch
This detour will briefly take us off the NH&D
main and back to the Meadow Street Union Station via the 1.66-mile connector that the NYNH&H installed late in 1892.
|
| TylerCityStation Collection |
[4.22] The 1892 New Haven
city directory map shows the West River branch connector installed by the Consolidated late that year to bring trains
from the newly inaugurated Berkshire Division into Union Station. The Derby line track to the east was cut
back to Meadow St. at the same time. The east leg of the wye was added here soon after to give better access to the Derby
terminal yards along Silver St.
|
| Max Miller collection; Copyright NHRHTA, Inc., used with permission. |
[4.22.1] This
photo illustrates the Washington Ave. bridge in New Haven, located in the middle of the map above. This bridge was required
by the railroad commissioners in 1892 [RRC 31:493+] when the West River Branch was put in, though we think it was not built
immediately. This is one of a set of newly received photos from Charlie Dunn and NHRHTA. Max Miller deserves thanks for preserving
these pictures and keeping them for us and posterity. These come from the annual inspections that the Public Uilities Commission
performed as they took over the duties of the old Board of Railroad Commissioners in 1911. By the 1920s, these tours included
the taking of photographs looking in all four directions at each public railroad crossing and the filling out of reports
with diagrams to describe each crossing and advise the railroad company of safety concerns that needed to be addressed. Put
together with the 1915 valuation maps and employee timetables, the photos, in particular, clarify the locations of many
of the crossings that were uncertain until now and give a visual record as well.
|
| Leroy Roberts Collection |
[4.22.2] This newly received photo, though murky, shows
trains on the Derby tracks at the west end of the 1875 New Haven Union Station. This is sometime after the 1894 opening of
the 'Yellow Building,' the new General Office Building, which is visible to the far left, and appears to be prior
to the 1913 electrification that would put poles, later catenary towers, into the picture as seen in the next item.
|
| Copyright NHRHTA, used with permission |
|
| Copyright NHRHTA, used with permission |
[4.23] Clickable lower photo. The upper
photo is a close-up of the west end of the Meadow St. station where the pocket tracks on either side of
the platform were designated as the terminus for Derby locals and Berkshire line trains. The tip of the General
Office Bldg., which opened on January 1, 1894, can be seen in the clickable lower photo, all the way over to the left, beneath
the white semaphore signal blade. The wooden poles being put up in the foreground are thought to be for wiring
prior to the catenary towers that would complete the electrification of the New York Division. That would probably date
this photograph to 1913.
|
| TylerCityStation Collection |
[4.24] This is the view going
west out of Union Station toward the West River branch, which is the right-most, fifth track in this 1978 shot. An New Haven-bound
Metro-North train approaches on track 4. The bridge over the tracks was a pedestrian
footbridge connecting Grant and Morris Sts.
________________________________________________________________________________________________
Back on the NH&D Main...
|
| C. Dunn Collection |
[4.25] Clickable photo.
Resuming the Derby main at the West River going toward Ansonia, we cross into what was the town of Orange until its West Haven
borough was made an independent township in 1921. Merwin's slaughterhouse was located just west of the river and Merwin's
siding was the scene of a serious wreck in 1912.
|
| U.S. Geological Survey |
[4.26]
The arrow shows the location of the accident on this 1892 USGS topographic map. The map also reflects the
completion of the wye with the east leg installed allowing trains to back from here into Union Station or vice versa to reverse
direction. This was apparently easier than running the engines through the yard downtown and turning them there. The June
4, 1911 timetable lists 12 daily and eight Sunday trains each way, including the two daily Berkshire line trains each
way between Pittsfield and New Haven.
|
| William N. Quinn Collection |
[4.27]
Clickable photo. Engineer Thomas Quinn, whom we have already met, was in the cab when a string of boxcars
was backed out of the siding onto the main in front of him. He is credited with saving the lives of his passengers by sticking
to his brake lever in this accident on October 14, 1912. See NHRHTA Bulletin #11 (February, 2003), for a New
Haven Register story by William J. Prendergast about Thomas Quinn through the eyes of his son, William N. Quinn, who
supplied these photographs.
|
| William N. Quinn Collection |
[4.28] Clickable photo. The caption for this picture
in Lines West says that a string of boxcars was backed out onto the main in front of the morning local from Derby
to New Haven. On closer inspection, it appears that the 1731 is coming off the West River trestle, which would make this the
morning local to Derby, not to New Haven. Looking at the valuation map below, the only way the 1731 could have hit the
rear of the box-car string is if the 1731 was going toward Derby.
|
| UConn Libraries Valuation Map Collection |
[4.29] The right arrow on
the 1915 valuation map is the siding switch where the boxcars were backed out. Click here for the entire map section. The Merwin's plant, south of the Derby main, appears to have evolved into the New
Haven Rendering Co. by 1915, if that was not its official name all along. The left arrow is at the point of impact at the
river trestle as shown in the first picture. The fact that the long trestle is straight behind the Derby local must mean
that it was backed out to the West River wye to reverse direction and proceed forward across the river. The short distance
to the point of impact argues for poor visibility that morning.
|
| TylerCityStation Collection |
[4.30] This map is from the
1891 Price & Lee New Haven city directory. It shows the depot for West Haven, also known as Allingtown, at the northwest
corner of Front and Railroad Aves. The line was elevated at this point and the
station was presumably at street level. No photos of this station have been identified. The NYNH&H shows as
double track on lower part of map. By the middle of 1892, the NH&D track would also be labeled as NYNH&H and would belong
to the Consolidated with its takeover of the Housatonic RR and its leased lines.
|
| 1934 Connecticut Aerial Photograph Collection, UConn. |
[4.31] Clickable photo. This shot corresponds to the view on the map above. It shows
the crossings of both First Ave. on the right and Campbell Ave. on the left.
The filling of the old trestlework under the line was probably done prior to the 1892 lease and, if not, was
finished thereafter by the Consolidated along with the improvements of 1909 (see below). That work most likely
took out whatever remained of the station at Front Ave. where no signs are seen by this time. Passenger service on the
line ended in 1925. The northeast corner of the VA hospital property is seen on the lower left.
|
| West Haven Historical Society |
[4.32] An early NHD&A engine
crossing what was then variously called Fourth Ave, Allingtown Rd., or West Haven
Road. By 1874, the thoroughfare would be known officially as Campbell Ave. to honor the British army adjutant
who saved the life of a West Haven minister only to be shot later himself during the English invasion of 1779. Note the primitive
early construction on opening in 1871 with the rough-hewn stone abutment and spindly wooden trestle. One
can't be completely sure but this train is probably heading to New Haven having just come through the Allingtown cut and onto
trestlework that extended almost all the way to the West River. The bridge would be upgraded later and the trestlework filled
in.
|
| TylerCityStation Collection |
[4.32.1] Clickable photo. This is a later shot of the bridge over West Haven Rd., now
Campbell Ave. There are solid stone abutments on both sides of the road, a sturdy wooden truss bridge, and filled
embankments replacing the trestlework. Comparing the electrical wires in the
shot below, the buggies and the trolley are likely heading south, making this a view to the north. This bridge
may have been built in 1875-1876 when the NH&D spent nearly $24,000 for infrastructure improvements including bridges [CRC (1876) 23: 208]. New abutments, "at the Allingtown highway
bridge," likely the ones seen here, were put up in 1881 [CRC (1882) 29: 34]. The overhead trolley
wire indicates that this scene is after the New Haven and West Haven Horse RR went electric in July of 1892 [NHER/07/07/1892/01], so
this shot has to be between then and the 1909 bridge replacement by the NYNH&H. A spokesman at the Shore Line Trolley Museum [click here] says the streetcar looks like a ca. 1901 Brill, 12-bench, two-truck, open car similar
to the museum's 15-bench #614. A clearer look at the signboard on the car
and ascertaining the date of the double-tracking, elusive thus far, might narrow the 1901-1909 timeframe somewhat further.
|
| Morgan Dunnigan Collection |
[4.32.2] Clickable
image. Many thanks to Ellen and the gang at Marshall's Garage for contacting Morgan Dunnigan so we could have this
historic photo. Work is being completed on the impressive concrete bridge in September of 1909. The older truss
bridge has been removed and, if you look closely under the arch, you can see the temporary
fly-around bridge standing on wooden pilings just behind it. Note also the 'Slow' sign above what is probably
the roofline of a construction car on the new bridge and the busy workers on the flat car to the right. The view looks north
up a still-primitive Campbell Ave. that carries the double-tracked trolley line, operated since June 1, 1907 by
the Connecticut Co. These upgrades to the busy Derby line came at a time when there were a dozen or so daily passenger
trains each way, including two to Pittsfield on the Berkshire Division. Additionally, NYNH&H Symbol Book No.
4, in effect June 5, 1910, shows a single weekday, way freight leaving New Haven at 9:15 p.m., arriving
at Derby about 10.00 p.m., leaving Derby at about 10.15 p.m. and arriving back at New Haven about 10.45 p.m. Thanks to Richard
Fleischer for the freight traffic info.
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| C. Dunn Collection |
[4.33] The Art Deco pattern
in this beautiful structure is akin in design to the Merritt Parkway bridges created by George Dunkelberger [click here] and the bridge was apparently photogenic enough to make it onto a postcard. The immaculate appearance here makes it
look like this was was taken just after completion around October 1, 1909. There is nothing to indicate that this structure was
designed anywhere other than in the railroad's engineering department. This
view looks north. Interestingly, we have learned that it was the borough
of West Haven that had initiated the request for a new bridge so that the road could be widened and for sidewalks put
in. It has also just been suggested
that the reason for the "fine looking concrete span over Campbell Ave," was that perhaps a longer distance could
be covered with the arch and without the need for central support columns in the middle of the street. The borough
also may have desired that this bridge be an ornamental gateway to the downtown and was happily served by a structure
that was both utilitarian and beautiful. Thus, it was so ordered by the railroad commissioners who apportioned the cost
equally between the railroad, the Connecticut Co. for the trolley line passing beneath, and the borough. Each share
was $6,700, perhaps indicating that this cost was deemed necessary and was agreeable to all parties. An attempt spread
the borough's cost over the entire town of Orange, of which West Haven was still a part, was expected to be roundly
defeated at a town meeting [NHER/07/11/1910/02]. We have not found yet the upshot of that effort.
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| John H. Koella Photo |
[4.34] This is a view looking
south with Connecticut Co. streetcar #861 appproaching on Sunday, February
2, 1947, about a year before trolley service ended in Connecticut, with the New Haven area the last bastion. The house with
the four windows still stands in 2009 on the east side of Campbell Ave. across from Marshall's garage. This photo appears
on p. 45 in New Haven Streetcars. Our thanks to BERA and to Mr. Koella for permission to use this photograph.
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| TylerCityStation Collection |
[4.35] After the Derby
line was abandoned from West Haven to Orange in 1938, the embankments were removed leaving the bridge still standing but marooned. It was
left either to continue to carry Maybrook dispatcher circuits over Campbell Ave. or to just to avoid the cost of removal.
This poor scan is from a 1955 Chamber of Commerce booklet but reflects an earlier
date. Contradicting the previous belief that the bridge had to have been down before Marshall's Garage could
be built at 990 Campbell Ave., the Curb Reporter columns in the West Haven Town Crier clarify that the
garage was already up in April of 1953, sitting to the left of the big "white bridge" that was now a traffic
hazard for customers coming out of Marshall's driveway [WHTC/04/02/1953/16]. The garage, incidentally relocated here
from 838 Campbell Ave. because of the coming construction of the Connecticut Turnpike. The then-town of West Haven's
"big brass" decided to demolish the bridge because of "several near crashes" [WHTC/04/23/1953/13;
06/11/1953/20]. What role the railroad played in this effort is not yet known. Campbell Ave. was blocked off from First
Ave. to Spring St. for the work [WHTC/07/23/1953/04?; 7/30/1953/16] The newspaper said that a "power shovel,
equipped with a two-ton ball" battered the middle of the doomed bridge at 9:00 am on July 28, 1953, with the the
work supervised by Caesar Canestri, head of the Eastern Construction Co. [NHJC/07/27/1953/07]. Information relayed from Mr. Canestri indicates that the work was done, not with the wrecking
ball, but jackhammers and controlled blasting under the supervision of an expert from the dynamite company. A power shovel cleaned up
the debris which fell onto the sand that had been spread below to protect the street. The shovel, gas-powered in contrast
to today's diesels, looked like the one in the popular 1939 children's story, Mike Mulligan and His
Steam Shovel. The abutments came down in the following days and the work was completed in early August [WHTC/08/06/1953/16].
Though the Curb Reporter said there were many camera fans taking photographs that it said would some day become "valuable
momentos," no picture has been found in any of the newspapers and there was no coverage at all of this notable
event in the Register. The only demolition photos we have seen are in the collection of the West Haven Historical
Society and we hope to have them here soon. An interesting offshoot of the bridge demolition was the sponsoring of a race
car Mr. Canestri saw at Marshall's Garage and driver Frank Belbusti, whom we recently met in Woodbridge, CT where
he lives today. Those were the glory days of the West Haven Speedway, which was located at the east corner of Rock St. and
Savin Ave., now Captain Thomas Blvd. This was also the start of a happy association for these men born of the sad passing
of the 'great concrete bridge.' Thanks to Dan Shine, church historian for the First Congregational Church of
West Haven, for this information and the contact with Mr. Belbusti. Dan's poignant historical pieces currently appear
as the Historian's Corner in the West Haven Voice.
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| TylerCityStation Collection |
[4.35.1] Clickable photo.
This shot appears to be in the 50-ft-deep Allingtown cut, just west of Campbell Ave, the scene of landslides, fallen boulders,
and stalled NH&D engines on the westbound up-grade in the early days. After grueling lessons in photography, astronomy,
and locomotive technology, we think it is virtually certain that the train is eastbound. When we flipped the negative
horizontally, the knuckle on the coupler was, incorrectly, on the engineer's left. As seen here, the
train could still be traveling west except that the sun in our northern hemisphere can only be in the southern sky,
casting the locomotive's shadow perpendicularly to the north. Of course, in the words of the old 1930s radio show, only
"The Shadow knows..." for sure! The pole line is probaby not as good a clue as we first thought.
The photo at MP 4.47.1 shows pole lines on both sides of the NH&D track ca. 1900 and we know that SNET and
AT&T lines ran on opposite sides of the NH&D: see Track 6, MP 6.5.1. The engine number seems to read 98.
The widest date range of the shot is from 1900 to September of 1904, the former being the date when automatic
couplers began to appear on locomotives and the latter when NYNH&H engines were renumbered, the #98 becoming
the #1796. The cowcatcher on this locomotive has been replaced by a footboard, indicating it was a yard engine that
may not have routinely pulled Derby line passenger trains. That makes this shot doubly interesting, unique, and historic.
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| TylerCityStation Collection |
[4.35.2] Clickable
photo. With the embankments cut down to ground level, the land just west of the great concrete bridge on Campbell
Ave. became the site of Marshall's Garage. The scene looked like this ca. 1980 and still does pretty much today. Beyond
the parked trucks, the eastern end of the Allingtown cut is visible in the distance and the level of the ridge shows where
the track once was. The right of way enters the VA hospital property at that point.
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| Photo - C. Dunn Collection |
[4.36] Clickable photo. The Derby line track is running through the VA hospital property, just to the left (north) of the power
plant smokestack. There is a bridge in the center over the track to facilitate access to the upper part of the property.
The structures seen there are temporary wards built in 1919-1920 for soldiers returning from The Great War, WWI. This view
looks east toward Campbell Ave. In the Derby road's early years, there was a tuberculosis sanitarium here and it is said
that passengers would close the windows on the trains as they were coming through here for fear of contracting the illness.
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| 1934 Connecticut Aerial Photograph Collection, UConn. |
[4.37] This shot shows the
area just west of the VA hospital property in West Haven. The Allingtown siding is barely visible at this magnification. The
switch was just east of the big curve. The siding was the scene of a famous wreck on September 15, 1907 involving engineer
Phil Blakeslee, author of Lines West [HC/09/16/1907/01; NHER/09/16,17/1907/01].
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| C. Dunn Collection |
|
| C. Dunn Collection |
[4.38] Clickable upper photo. This is the 1411, Phil
Blakeslee's engine, which was taking the Allingtown siding when struck by the down train from Ansonia which had failed
to slow up for the meet. Engineer Johnson was killed. Blakeslee was seriously hurt but survived and continued to work, retiring
in 1947 and going on to publish Lines West in 1951. The best account of the accident [click here] is in The New York Times.
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| UConn Libraries Valuation Map Collection |
[4.39] This is the Allingtown
siding from the valuation maps. Click here for entire map section. The entrance to this T-shaped, double-dead-ended siding was from the east at the upward-pointing
arrow. Blakeslee's engine was taking the siding here when it was struck behind the boiler head. The downward-pointing arrows
show the dead ends of the siding. Apparently, meets here required the train that took the siding from the east to back out
to take the main again.
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| TylerCityStation Collection |
[4.39.1]
Clickable photo. This New Haven-era concrete culvert stood behind the housing unit on the west side of Glade St. in
1980 and is probably still there today. The infamous curve is visible here, just beyond the hospital
property and the Allingtown siding. The NH&D is turning north and heading for the Boston Post Rd, known as Milford
Tpke. when the Derby road opened.
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| Max Miller collection; Copyright NHRHTA, Inc., used with permission. |
[4.40] Clickable photo. MAJOR DISCOVERY! A perusal
of PUC Docket 3554 and PUC Map 632 at the Connecticut State Library yesterday has explained a number of things about this
mile point 3.31 bridge that carried Milford Tpke., today's Boston Post Rd., over the NH&D line. This was
built probably in 1921 as shown by the 7/9/1920 construction plans with revisions on 1/3/1921. The plans called
for "malleable iron posts" as the guard rails. Never quite sure whether this was a grade crossing previously, which
would have been unlikely on the main road from Boston to New York, we now learn that there was an earlier wood plank bridge here
that sat on "rubble masonary abutments." This earlier bridge likely dated back to 1871 or to NH&D
improvements in the 1880s. Due to increased traffic by 1920, the highway department saw the need for an upgrade. The
old abutments were strengthened with concrete walls and the planks were replaced by a concrete slab for the roadway which
was raised slightly for a 16-ft track clearance. Our previous 1926 dating of this construction was based on a road-widening
project in 1925-1926 - a temporary bridge mentioned in the Courant [HC/07/30/1926/06] may or may not have been
in use here - and also on the the fact that we saw '1926' etched into the concrete side walls of the
bridge as late as 1980. It is quite plausible that the side walls replaced the iron posts with the widening
in 1926.
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| TylerCityStation Collection |
[4.40.1] Clickable
photo. This is the same view looking north, railroad west, ca. 1980. The box culvert is seen filled on this side. The
bridge walls etched with '1926' have come down since the culvert ends have been capped and paved over.
The sign for the Topps department store, which older residents will undoubtedly remember, is visible in the
photo. The building, on the north side of the Post Rd., is still in commercial use today.
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| TylerCityStation Collection |
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| TylerCityStation Collection |
[4.40.2]
Clickable photo. Two more views of the Post Rd. culvert, but looking south, railroad east, both also taken in the late
1970s or early 1980s. It was also noticed recently that the northern portal
of this bridge the looks much wider than that of the box culvert seen in the photo of the southern portal just above.
It now seems likely that this was part of the 1925-1926 widening of the Post Rd. when freight service was still
available on the Derby line. If this were not all buried now, it would be fascinating to walk under the old tunnel, something
we regret not doing back in 1980, if it was even passable then.
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| Max Miller Collection; copyright NHRHTA, Inc., used with permission. |
[4.40.3] Clickable image. Using the 3.31
designation for the Post Rd. bridge, it would put Dunn's crossing at 3.66 above the Post Rd. Comparing this photo
with the map below, the road even appears to bend to the right where the old Model T(?) is sitting, which would be the meeting
point of Farwell St. and Fresh Meadow Rd. as seen on the map.
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| TCS Collection |
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