The New Haven RR Image Page -- Odds and Ends #2

THE IMAGE PAGE

The 'image page' is where we put a changing variety of New Haven Railroad photographs and advertising material for you to enjoy. Be sure to check back here often because we plan to refresh these images on a regular basis.

Odds and Ends #2

May 1st, 2002

Here are a group of New Haven Railroad artifacts that have nothing in common other than the fact that each is unusual and rarely encountered. All items from the collection of Marc Frattasio.

Electric cow bells such as this example were installed on station platforms all over the railroad to warn passengers that a train was approaching. Such bells were also sometimes installed at grade crossings on secondary lines. Up through the late 1980s there was one of these cow bells still in place at a grade crossing on Cape Cod. Note the New Haven's N.Y.N.H.&H.R.R. initials cast into the iron box that holds the bell's solenoid and other 'guts'.

Centrex Handbook

Cast iron trust plates, such as the example shown above that came off a Pullman Standard PS-2 boxcar, were affixed to leased locomotives, freight cars, and passenger cars so that the lessor of the equipment (in this case the Irving Trust Company) could reclaim their property in the event the New Haven defaulted on the lease. The plates were removed from equipment only after it was paid for in full.

This cardboard timetable holder was issued to stations in the Boston area during the mid to late 1960s. The NH unfolds to form a container for pocket sized commuter or condensed system timetables and there is an easel on the back to allow the timetable holder to sit on a table or shelf. The 'Train Yourself to Relax' cartoon was a common feature of public timetables and advertising material during the New Haven's final years.

The New Haven's 'Washboard' electric MU commuter coaches and club cars of 1954 were fitted with stainless steel exterior signage that was decorated using pre-printed 3M 'Scotchlite' adhesive sheeting. The 'Scotchlite' material, which had reflective qualities for high visibility at night, was originally silver in color but tended to oxidize to a yellowish color over time as seen on this example. More commonly seen are the bare stainless steel logo plates applied to the Pullman Standard stainless steel sheathed passenger cars.

FL-9 Artwork

This is the original color designer's artwork for the New Haven's EMD EDER-5 (FL-9) diesel-electric-electrics. It represents one of several different color schemes proposed for the FL-9 and happens to be the one that was ultimately selected. The New Haven's designers, and outsiders who did design work for the railroad, often used standard NH or manufacturer's diagrams as their canvases. This piece of artwork was painted on a General Motors blue line diagram of the early exterior arrangement of the FL-9.