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The Month the New Haven Railroad Died

Making its last eastbound run, The Mayflower approaches the New Rochelle, N.Y., interlocking. Although this train’s Grand Central Terminal departure time will remain in the February 2, 1969, Penn Central timetable, its name will change to The Bostonian. The passing snow shower added some brightness to a gloomy morning.

The Month the New Haven Railroad Died

2023-02by Bill Anderson/photos by the author

In October 1968, I found myself at Fort Devens, Mass., holding for the next class to learn about communications intelligence. Fort Devens was well-positioned to make trips into Boston, 36 miles away on Boston & Maine (B&M) from Ayer, Mass. Ayer was the end point of a round-trip on Saturdays to Boston’s North Station. However, detraining at Cambridge and then walking through the famous Harvard Yard to MBTA’s Red Line Harvard station would produce a train ride to South Station, the Boston home to the remnants of New Haven and Penn Central (formerly New York Central) passenger trains.

Coming face to face with the 69-year-old edifice for the first time was a shock. Beyond the façade, South Station resembled the decaying corpse of a once-great railroad terminal.

Entering the still-imposing building off Dewey Square brought to mind an encounter with a semi-abandoned construction project that seemed like a slum redevelopment. The corridor to the main waiting room was lit by naked lightbulbs hanging from wire, strung to better see debris and to dodge dusty scaffolding. A chemical-like smell was not much short of repulsive.

New Haven

ABOVE: Disused, weed-grown tracks at South Station frame a departing PC train bound for New York City.

January 31 – February 2, 1969
On New Year’s Day 1969, the New Haven Railroad became a ward of Penn Central, a merger that had been formed in February of the previous year between the New York Central and Pennsylvania railroads. In what ranks as one of the most clueless edicts ever concocted by the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC), the already shaky Penn Central participants had to also include the bankrupt New Haven as part of the merger approval. Just over a month (January 31 and February 1, 1969) after the conveyance date, about half of what was left of the New Haven’s Shore Line passenger service between Boston and New York City made their last runs.

Having found out what was going to happen that weekend starting the last day of January, I made plans to spend a long weekend on the Northeast Corridor. Previous visits to South Station had by necessity been on Saturdays, when few of the Boston-region commuter trains were operating. Shore Line trains to and from New York were also fewer. Witnessing the Friday afternoon commuter rush hour along with more intercity passengers heading in and out of Boston brought a surprisingly high level of activity for a short time compared to my Saturday experiences.

New Haven

ABOVE: Making its last westbound run between Boston and New York City, The Owl leaves a cloud of steam as it stops at Stamford, Conn., on February 1, 1969, before disappearing like the ghost it was about to become.

However, even the Friday afternoon crowds of humanity failed to overcome the gloomy winter day within South Station’s shades of dirty gray. Once the last of the commuter trains had departed by early evening, South Station resumed more of the abandoned personality I had found on my Saturday visits.

While the New Haven Railroad dominated the action out on the station tracks, Penn Central still accounted for two daily intercity departures. The afternoon departure was what for many decades had been known as the New England States Limited, bound for Chicago. However with NYC’s drastic cutbacks in late 1967, the New England States out of Boston was just a Train 427. Along with the Shore Line train massacre, the once-grand New England States Limited would soon become just a baggage car and snack-bar coach…


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This article was posted on: May 1, 2023