Former New Haven coal tower still standing at Cedar Hill Yard, New Haven, CT, long, long after the demise of New Haven steam power.

http://photos.nerail.org/showpic/?2003031020141721514.jpg:bydate::bydate%3A16
ryarger@rypn.org

> Former New Haven coal tower still standing
> at Cedar Hill Yard, New Haven, CT, long,
> long after the demise of New Haven steam
> power.

I remember reading somewhere that Ceder Hill was turned into a junkyard afer the demise of the New Haven. Judging by the junked equipment around that tower it seems that's the case. Is this true?

> I remember reading somewhere that Ceder Hill
> was turned into a junkyard afer the demise
> of the New Haven. Judging by the junked
> equipment around that tower it seems that's
> the case. Is this true?

The Cedar Hill complex was and is a big site. When I lived in New Haven 12 years ago part of it was used as a junkyard, part of it had tracks still and was used as a staging area for Amtrak MOW trains, a little bit on the far north end was in service as a freight yard for local Conrail crews who ran up the Springfield line (freight ops on this line have since been spun off, I think to Connecticut Southern but I'm not sure...)... More of it was scaped clean of tracks but otherwise unused. Like I say, it was a big place and the junkyard is only on part of it.

One thing to keep an eye out for it you're ever poking around there--on the hillside above the coaling tower, fronting on State Street, is a still-standing nice modern brick Railroad Y building--long since adapted to other uses.


eledbetter@rypn.org

> The Cedar Hill complex was and is a big
> site. When I lived in New Haven 12 years ago
> part of it was used as a junkyard, part of
> it had tracks still and was used as a
> staging area for Amtrak MOW trains, a little
> bit on the far north end was in service as a
> freight yard for local Conrail crews who ran
> up the Springfield line (freight ops on this
> line have since been spun off, I think to
> Connecticut Southern but I'm not sure...)...
> More of it was scaped clean of tracks but
> otherwise unused. Like I say, it was a big
> place and the junkyard is only on part of
> it.

> One thing to keep an eye out for it you're
> ever poking around there--on the hillside
> above the coaling tower, fronting on State
> Street, is a still-standing nice modern
> brick Railroad Y building--long since
> adapted to other uses.
I have stayed in that Railroad Y several times in the sixties while volunteering at Branford Trolley Museum (now Shoreline). You had to make a choice of either the highway side and listen to the trucks all night climbing the hill and shifting gears or the railroad side and pull up a chair at the window and watch the electrics do their thing. On a hot summers night it was great to sit there with a cool drink and the smells of electric big time railroading mixing with the smell of a good cigar! Rick.


enginman@gis.net

> The Cedar Hill complex was and is a big
> site. When I lived in New Haven 12 years ago
> part of it was used as a junkyard, part of
> it had tracks still and was used as a
> staging area for Amtrak MOW trains, a little
> bit on the far north end was in service as a
> freight yard for local Conrail crews who ran
> up the Springfield line (freight ops on this
> line have since been spun off, I think to
> Connecticut Southern but I'm not sure...)...
> More of it was scaped clean of tracks but
> otherwise unused. Like I say, it was a big
> place and the junkyard is only on part of
> it.

> One thing to keep an eye out for it you're
> ever poking around there--on the hillside
> above the coaling tower, fronting on State
> Street, is a still-standing nice modern
> brick Railroad Y building--long since
> adapted to other uses.

Thanks for the info, Erik.