No. 10438 Alco/General Electric DL-109/110 AB Diesel Locomotive, heading up the "Colonial" Heavyweight Passenger Train

 New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad

The New Haven line was unusual on the American railroad scene in that it relied on passenger revenues heavily, with less emphasis than other railroads on freight service.  In 1946, for instance, New Haven's tracks were handling 545 passenger trains daily, an extraordinary volume of traffic. Forty-four (44%) percent of New Haven's gross revenues was derived from the passenger trade at the time.

The New Haven railroad was an essential link between Boston, New York, and Washington in Northeast Corridor service, with its 4-track main line from the north into New York's Grand Central Terminal and Pennsylvania Station. For speed and efficiency, the New Haven had the foresight to electrify its tracks between 1907 and 1914 from New Haven to New York, which meant no locomotive change would be necessary approaching New York, as the New York Central Railroad had to do with its New York City-bound trains. Also, the New Haven with partner Pennsylvania Railroad constructed the Hell Gate Bridge over New York's East River in 1917, permitting New Haven service south of New York to cities like Philadelphia and Washington through Pennsylvania Station in New York City.

In May, 1876, two steam-powered long-distance "Centennial Trains" were inaugurated by the New Haven and Pennsylvania railroads to link the northern and southern segments of the Northeast Corridor - Boston to the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia to Washington.  The night train became the "Federal" and the day train the"Colonial."  This involved a transfer steamer from the Harlem River in the Bronx 2-hours down the East River and across the Hudson River to Jersey City, New Jersey (before tunnels under the rivers and the Hell Gate Bridge over the East River in the early 20th century made this trip possible entirely by rail via the Pennsylvania Station in midtown Manhattan, opened in November, 1910).

The transfer steamer was the link between the two railroads.  Trip time Boston-Philadelphia was 12 hours.  The Pennsylvania Railroad completed its New York terminal electrification in 1910; catenary wires and GG-1 headed trains such as New Haven's "Colonial" reached Washington in 1935, electrically powered all the way from New Haven to Washington.  The "Colonial" would be steam-powered Boston-New Haven (New Haven railroad), under electric power New Haven-New York (New Haven locomotive), and Pennsylvania's electric GG-1 (see No. 10078) would take over the train in New York through Philadelphia to Washington (after 1935).  Trip time was about 5 hours Boston-New York (231 miles) and 3 1/2 hours New York-Washington (226 miles) at this time - 8 1/2 hours total. 

In 1948 the New Haven railroad announced a precocious dieselization program, at a time when most other railroads were still dependent on steam power. Alco/General Electric had supplied the New Haven with a diesel switcher fleet and ten dual service road locomotives dating from 1931, all of which performed well in the 1930s and through the war years 1941-1945. Also, New Haven's steam fleet was aged, obsolete, and expensive to maintain; so conversion from steam to diesel made sense in 1948, on non-electrified sections of New Haven's tracks.

Production of Alco/General Electric streamlined diesel-electric road engines started during the war years with the slope-nosed 2000 horsepower DL-109, subject of this history.  Then came the flat-fronted PA-1s, FA-1s, FB-1s, FA-2s, and FB-2s, designed by General Electric's Ray Patten, the latter two models delivered in 1951, generating 1600 horsepower from their twelve cylinder engines (see No. 10410). In 1953 they were regeared for 90 mph operation from 80 mph originally. Some units had third rail dual-power capability for operation on New Haven's electrified tracks.

Diesel-electric locomotives were important on the New Haven, and one of the most outstanding was the DL-109, designed by Otto Kuhler and built by Alco/GE in 1941-45, 2000 horsepower per unit, complemented by its matching "B" unit, designated the DL-110.  These handsome locomotives could attain speeds of up to 120 mph with their trains, delivered to the New Haven during World War II for both passenger and freight work.  Painted in New Haven's traditional Hunter green, the DL-109s proved to be invaluable during the war effort and immediately postwar in that they could operate on any part of the extensive New Haven rail system, electrified or non-electrified. Seventy-four (74) DL "A" units were built by Alco/GE 1941-45 for nine American railroads, but only 4 "B" units were ever manufactured. The New Haven purchased 60 DL-109s, far more than any other railroad. Because the DL-109/110 was marketed as a Dual-service Locomotive (DL), suitable for freight as well as passenger service, the War Production Board allowed the production of the DLs during the war years, whereas the manufacture of passenger-only diesels (such as Electro-Motive's E-series) was suspended. Alco/GE replaced the DL series postwar with the flat-fronted PAs and FAs described earlier.

Nos. 10438 and 10439 represent an accurate scale model of New Haven's Alco/General Electric DL-109/110AB diesel-electric locomotive, heading up the heavyweight 7-car "Colonial" (Nos. 10440 and 10441) as it would have been seen 1940s to 1950 on its run between Boston and Washington. The train is in "0"gauge by MTH. To be historically correct, this model train should be shown with the DL-109 only, as the New Haven did not order any DL-110s.

Other famous New Haven trains were the prewar "Bar Harbor Express" (Washington-Maine, summer only), the "Quaker" (Boston-Philadelphia) (see No. 10421), and postwar the upgraded "Patriot" (Boston-Washington) (see No. 10593), the "Merchants Limited" (see No. 10271) and "Yankee Clipper" (Boston-New York)(see No. 10408), the"Senator" (Boston-Washington)(see No. 10494), the "Gilt Edge" (Boston-New York), the "Puritan" (Boston-New York), and the "Connecticut Yankee" (New York-Springfield).

As a footnote, the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad was created in 1872 by the merger of two New Haven-centered railroads, and the system added other lines through the first decade of the 20th century. The railroad's main lines served the region's major cities and numerous towns, including service to eleven cities with a population in excess of 100,000. Approximately two-thirds of the New Haven's total train miles were in its passenger service, which included a vast commuter operation out of New York City's Grand Central Terminal. The commuters, in fact, represented half of the passengers carried on the New Haven in the 1940s.  The New Haven Railroad declared bankruptcy in the late 1960s and was merged into the newly formed and ill-fated Penn Central Railroad in 1969. When Penn Central failed, passenger operations were assumed by Amtrak in 1971.

While Amtrak took over the operation of longer distance trains in 1971, the financial assumption of commuter service was jointly shared by the states of New York and Connecticut - today's Metro-North Railroad, established in 1983.

The "Merchants Limited," "Yankee Clipper," "Patriot," and "Senator" trains survived into the Amtrak era of the 1970s-1990s.

See No. 10311 for a description of a post-1983 Metro-North commuter train.