Good Evening, all!

On behalf of the Board of Trustees, I just wanted to update you all on the various happenings at the Railroad Museum of New England for the upcoming year. Howard will certainly fill in a gaps which I missed.

This winter our dedicated volunteers will focus on three major projects.

Canadian National 5805 (coach)
This car represents the most thorough restoration of a coach the RMNE has ever undertaken. Metal work continues and thanks to the help of volunteer boomer Marty Bernard, the roof is essentially ready for a rubber membrane to be applied. Work will continue throughout this year and include the restoration of the first and second class partition as well as original seats, which need to be sandblasted and reupholstered. Expect to see this car completed by the spring of 2015.

New Haven 529 (RS-3)
The perennial favorite of volunteers and ALCO fans alike, the locomotive will be receiving a new set of wheels as well as some minor mechanical work. The board has resolved to have all work completed by May 1 so as to free up the 2019 to head Spencer. It'll certainly be nice to hear the sounds of a 244 ALCO rumbling throughout the beautiful Naugatuck Valley again!

New Haven 2019 (FL-9)
As was posted on our Facebook page, the 2019 will indeed be headed to the North Carolina Transportation Museum to take part in their "Streamliners at Spencer" http://nctrans.org/Events/Streamliners- ... 81%29.aspx Prior to her departure, the locomotive is slated for a full exterior restoration as well as a thorough cleaning of interior spaces, including a full cab repaint. Members of the curatorial committee will also be hard at work designing interpretative displays to accompany the locomotive, including a brief history of graphic designer Herbert Matter's famous "N over H" design, as specified by Lucille McGinnis. Again, the RMNE sees this as an excellent opportunity to tell the story of the "Metropolitan Corridor" (a term coined by Harvard historian/sociologist John Stilgoe) with a one-of-a-kind artifact. Through an online donation campaign we were able to raise just under $6,000 and have received incredibly kind matching grants, giving us a current total of $18,000 to be put towards this project. Another $2000 would be ideal, especially in helping us with the interpretive displays. You can follow the progress of the restoration on Twitter! (@newhaven2019)

Stabilization of various pieces
We are ever battling mother nature and while undercover storage is part of our five-year plan, we need to make sure the artifacts, especially those of wood construction, are not fully exposed to the elements. This includes shrink-wrapping, quick scuff and paints, window sealing, etc. While full restorations are the goal, these smaller steps are crucial, if not incredibly necessary, for the sustainability of our collection. Without it, we will be left with no artifacts to restore/interpret. It costs anywhere between $1000-2000 to stabilize a piece.

The above projects represents work for the first quarter (with the exception of the 5805) of 2014. We will also be reviewing a master-plan as well as developing new interpretive displays for our station.

Please stay tuned for a number of exciting announcements about upcoming projects. Also, please stop by and see us at the Amherst Railway Society show at the Big E January 25-26. We will be in our usual spot in the Better Living Center and this year, right across the aisle, be joined by our friends at the Berkshire Scenic Railway Museum! Again, thank you for your continued support and remember, if you take the "story" out of "history", you are left with nothing.

This past weekend saw a beehive of activity at the RMNE's Volunteer Shop, particularly around New Haven 2019. Members could be found both inside and out, partaking in a variety of tasks, from cutting out rotten nose metal to carefully disassembling various pieces of the cab interior in preparation for stripping and painting. Here are some shots of the day's progress. The final shot is of the units being rebuilt at Chrome Crankshaft in Silvis, Illinois, circa 1984. The unit to the far right is one of the first 30 ordered by the New Haven (EDER-5 built 1956-57), possibly one of the museum's other FL-9, NH2002. The first units were outfitted with MU receptacles in the noses while the second group, built in 1960 (units 2030-2059), were not. There was also some discussion relative to the marker lights being applied. Ultimately, (and thankfully) Chrome, in consultation with Connecticut Department of Transportation, decided to recess the lights (much like the ditch lights on the NS' executive F-units). A special thanks to Dick Hovey for not only documenting this unit moment in the unit's history, but for giving the museum permission to use it in various publications as well.

Chrome Crankshaft, Silvis, IL, circa 1984

In addition to the physical work of the locomotive, we are also working on reproducing "Honorary Engineer" cards which were given out by the New Haven as a type of marketing. Not only were they produced for the FL-9 but for the rebuilt RS-3s as well as the EF-4 (original Virginia EL-Cs). As far as we can tell, this were mostly given out at the Eastern States Exposition (widely known as the Big-E, located in West Springfield, MA) as the New Haven would traditionally showcase equipment on a purpose-built siding.

In addition to the "Honorary Engineer Cards", the New Haven also had stickers created featuring the nose of a FL-9 (2040). Our graphic designer is currently devising strategies to have them reproduced and our hope is they will be available at NCTM during the event.

Brent,

Is 2019 the number the unit recieved during its heavy rebuild? What is her New Haven number? What number will she be restored to?

Of note, I believe RMNE also owns the 2059, which is relatively unmodified from her New Haven days.

Will it receive the original Nathan Air Chime horn?

I thought all the FL9s originally carried Hancock Air Whistles?

Oops! Force of habit. I think you're correct.

Well, will it carry that horn?

Not while in regular service. FRA requires horns (or equivalent "warning devices") to meet certain minimum decibel specs. There is a detailed procedure for such testing: 49 Part 229.129; http://www.aslrra.org/images/news_file/ ... _08_08.pdf .

As RMNE's equipment is operated on our Naugatuck Railroad (full FRA common carrier), 2019 (and other operating locomotives) must comply with this rule.

As for NH 2059 (aka MNCR 2033, CR 5059, PC 5059), it is the most completely original FL9 that still exists.

2019 was one of the 1985 Chrome Crankshaft rebuilds for CDOT Rail Operations, to be used in pairs, handling the new Bombardier push-pull coaches on the Danbury Branch. The rebuild was extensive enough that back-dating 2019 to "NH 2049" would be extremely difficult. The four Chrome FL9s brought back the New Haven's iconic 1955 Herbert Matter paint and logo styling, a landmark in American corporate design at that time. We feel that 2019, as a 1985 locomotive, has a story to tell that reaches back to 1955/1960 New Haven days, as well as representing the 1980s renaissance of commuter railroading in the Northeast. NH 2059's time will come.

Howard P.

Long, has lots of details:

The Long Road Home for New Haven 2059


It was November, 1960. John F. Kennedy had just defeated Richard Nixon in a close Presidential race, becoming the 35th President of the United States. And, in LaGrange, Illinois, the Electro-Motive Division of General Motors had finished building a locomotive for the New Haven Railroad, number 2059, an EMD model FL9 passenger unit.

NH 2059 closed out the production of the most famous, most recognizable series of diesel locomotives on North American railroads—the 7,690 “F-units” built by EMD. Twenty-one years earlier, demonstrator locomotive GM-103, the first of the Fs, rolled out of EMD’s plant near Chicago, and changed American railroading forever. The 103 and its descendants took on the biggest and the best steam freight and passenger locomotives, and swept them from the rails within fifteen short years.

NH 2059 was a specialized F-unit. The New Haven Railroad needed a diesel locomotive that could also run on electric third-rail power into the Park Avenue Tunnels of Grand Central Terminal in New York. EMD came up with a nine-foot-longer F9 model (originally designed for extra boiler water capacity for Western passenger trains, but never sold to any of those roads), with the extra length providing space for the electric traction equipment. The unique 5-axle wheel arrangement, designed to spread the weight of the extra water load, also worked well to keep the axle loads within then-low limits on the Park Avenue Viaduct in Manhattan. The first FL9 (“Long F9”) hit the New Haven’s rails in 1957, and NH 2059 was the sixtieth (and last) of the type.

Operating in passenger service over the New Haven’s compact southern New England system, the FL9s covered routes out of New York’s Grand Central to Boston, Springfield, Pittsfield, and Cape Cod. They headed up express runs like the ”Yankee Clipper” and “Merchants Limited”, as well as New Haven-New York and Boston-area commuter runs, and branchline locals to Pittsfield, Mass.

After the 1969 takeover of the New Haven by Penn Central, the FL9s were shifted into New York-area commuter service, eventually becoming Conrail (in 1976) and Metro-North (in 1983) property. Some FL9s were retired due to fires and lack of proper maintenance during the Penn Central and Conrail years. Six were transferred to Amtrak for Albany-GCT service. Numerous renumberings resulted in NH 2059 becoming PC-CR 5059, and finally Metro-North Commuter Railroad (MNCR) 2033.

By the mid-1980s, Metro-North was planning for the replacement of these twenty-five year old diesel locomotives, even as Metro-North was overhauling and repairing the FL9 fleet. The need for a dual-mode locomotive was still there, and it was not until 1994 that the first General Electric P-42ACDM “Genesis” locomotives were placed in service by Metro-North. The FL9 fleet slowly dwindled as the “Genesis” units arrived, with the last few (four to six) FL9s being used in passenger service on Metro-North in late 2009.

In the summer of 1984, knowing that Metro-North was planning to replace the aging FL9 fleet, two members of the Railroad Museum of New England decided that NH 2059 should be preserved. Not only the last FL9, they knew that it was the last F-unit, and therefore a rather historic locomotive. Museum President Bill Sample and Acquisition Manager Howard Pincus met with an acquaintance of Howard’s, MTA board member Jane Butcher of White Plains, NY. They presented the Museum’s proposal for preserving not only NH 2059, but another New Haven diesel, 1947-built 0401, which was on the Long Island Rail Road. Ms. Butcher was favorably impressed with the proposal, and on November 2, 1984, a letter from Metro-North to the Museum indicated that, “..we will make the FL9 locomotive available to the Museum when possible and this probably will be sometime in 1986.”

The replacement dual-mode locomotives would not be ready for a while--- MNCR 2033 went on to provide eleven more years of service to Metro-North, finally being retired as a running unit in November 1995. At one earlier point, 2033 narrowly escaped a “rebuilding” into one of the ten ill-fated and highly-modified “starships”—the FL9AC units from Republic Locomotive. The late Richard Gladulich, a Metro-North motive power department employee (as well as a noted railroad historian) was able to have 2033 quietly removed from the list of locomotives slated to become “starships”, and he substituted another FL9 for 2033.

As 1996 dawned, 2033 sat outside the Harmon (NY) Shops of Metro-North. The Railroad Museum of New England prepared to start operating excursion trains for the public at its new home in Waterbury, Connecticut, on the Naugatuck Railroad.

Follow-up letters and occasional phone calls to get 2033 out of Harmon and to the Museum continued through 1997, 1998 and 1999. Metro-North started using 2033 as a parts source to keep the rest of the FL9 fleet running, although no critical items were removed. The wheels of MNCR's bureaucracy turned slowly and had to be continually nudged, but finally, on January 23, 2002, the official documents were signed and Metro-North 2033 belonged to Railroad Museum of New England. Moved to Metro-North’s New Haven Shop in August 2002, 2033 was delivered to RMNE at Waterbury on April 25, 2003. New Haven 2059, Metro-North 2033, was finally home, after almost nineteen years of persistence by the Museum.

NH 2059 is one of the least-modified former MNCR FL9s, retaining the 24-RL brake system, Vapor OK-4625 steam generator, 16-cylinder 567-D diesel engine, and lacking head-end power connectors and ditch lights. Plans are to restore the unit as NH 2059, keeping as much of the original equipment as possible. It is likely that the locomotive may wear some appropriate “intermediate” paint schemes before the final, full-scale restoration to the 1960 appearance.

The locomotive is currently stored at Volunteer Shop, Thomaston, CT.

The New Haven FL-9s were delivered with a Hancock 4700 whistle (which included the "dish") on the front and a H4700 (without the "dish") on the rear. In fact, the railroad was the largest purchaser of the 4700 series whistles produced in the mid-late 1950s. While Hancock marketed the whistles as a way for railroads to return the by-gone era of steam, the New Haven was more interested in their softer tone tone ideal for high-urbanized areas. They also were applied to SW1500s, Budd RCDs, RS-11 (or as the New Haven called them, DL-701s), GP9s, FMs, and 4400 MUs. Both the Seaboard and NYC had a number of E-units equipped with them as well. While producing a rather sweet sound, they were not suitable at high-speeds. However, they lasted on the FL-9s till the late 1980s when Metro-North and Connecticut DOT began replacing them with three and five-chime horns. However, they did retain their rear whistle.

Howard and Brent,

Thanks for the information. I'm glad to see the 2014 get the attention she deserves.

Question: When rebuilt by Chrome int he 1980s, did it loose the ability to run on third rail?

It's also neat that RMNE has 2059, not only as the last F unit, but a good bookend to the story of these unique locomotives.

When rebuilt by Chrome the units retained the ability to run on third rail.

2019, and her sister unit we have, 2002, were changed to strictly diesel power by the time of their retirement. Wiring was changed, jumpered out and bypassed so neither unit would be capable of third rail operating. Additionally both 2019 and 2002 had their third rail beams and shoes removed.

2059 (MNCR 2033) retained third rail operation until being retired in Nov 1995. In fact the third rail beams were taken off last week so they could be copied for 'static' replacements for 2019.

I too own one of these Decals however I was told that they were the designed as MOW decals for the equipment and where the last the New Haven Designed,

can anyone corroborate?


understandably people easily can get there facts mixed up, being it was purchased outside the memorabilia collectors market,