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| Copyright Spitzner Family Collection |
[7.2] The photographer took these shots of the #3016 at the Cedar Hill Yard probably
early in 1958 just prior to the filming of It Happened To Jane. He says: "I had stumbled upon #3016 some time before the movie making. At
the time it was in one of the roundhouse stalls. I remember being flabbergasted; I'd thought all the steam engines had
already gone. The fact that they'd moved it outside indicates to me that they were getting ready for her role. She
didn't have the capacity to actually propel the train in the movie; the motive power was in a box or baggage car. And
at the time I took the snapshots, she was stone cold." Richard Fleischer
clarifies the power issue by saying that the #3016 did run under her own steam but with boiler pressure reduced from
200 to 160 psi and with special effects creating the smoke in some of the scenes.
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| Copyright Spitzner Family Collection |
[7.3] The
photographer continues: "The locomotive is #3016, [it was] the last steam locomotive on the New
Haven Railroad. I remember the movie. Indeed, I just borrowed it from the library a couple of weeks ago! Since the movie
was filmed during the summer of 1958, the photos must have been taken in the spring of 1958 or possibly in 1957. I remember
going to the shops by Union Station [New Haven] to watch some of the making of the movie. They weren't filming, but
recording. I got shooed away because I was in the loco's cab playing with the steam-actuated firebox door. That was
a sound they didn't want." It is our understanding from a knowlegeable source that
these doors were pneumatic, i.e. air-activated, and we appreciate the clarification that would otherwise go unnoted. How times
have changed from the innocent days when railfans were invited into cabs and allowed to roam railyards and snap photos!
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| Copyright Spitzner Family Collection |
[7.4] Clickable image. Our photographer
relates that this "shot of the... coal tower was made from the footbridge running from the Railroad YMCA on
State Street to the Cedar Hill Yard. The view is to the southeast." We are told that the diesels often congregated under
the tower in the post-steam era due to the fact that the inspection pit and servicing facilities were nearby. Richard
Fleischer points out that the capacity here was 2,400 tons. See NHRHTA Bulletin #22, October
2006, which says this is the "Largest Coaling Plant in the World," and NHRTIA data sheet 15.4.2 that says
several other coaling facilities, e.g. Danbury and Midway, even though they were wooden structures, all had capacities
of over 2400 tons. In further discussion, Richard points out that the
photographer, who by his own admission says the view is to the southeast, must have mistaken his actual location for this
shot which was on the longer footbridge from the corner of Lyman and Welton Sts., not the one that ran from the
behind the RR YMCA, from which this shot would not have been possible. This link [click here] shows the area in question. Interestingly, the State St. trolley line turned
onto Lyman and then up Welton St. Undoubtedly it brought railroad employees to the footbridge and, farther up Welton
St., brought patrons to the famous Schuetzen Park, where shooting competitions were held largely for the German
club members. The hotel and ballroom there were destroyed in early 1900s fire that broke out in the course
of a barroom brawl that was reportedly instigated by off-duty Cedar Hill railroad workers. We will post the references
to the newspaper articles shortly.
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| Leroy Roberts Collection |
[7.5] The 1875 Meadow St. Union Station, after the addition on the west end, completed
by November 1887, and before the March 19, 1892 fire which took out the center tower. The locomotive appears to bear the number
109.
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