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119-592: The station was built in 1903 by the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad in response to local pressure for a new station after the three railroads that served the city were merged into the New Haven. At its peak, 125 trains stopped there each day. By 1993, that had dwindled to a few commuter trains, and the Connecticut Department of Transportation , which by then owned the neglected building, closed it in favor of

238-650: A Scottish inventor, built a small-scale prototype of a steam road locomotive in Birmingham . A full-scale rail steam locomotive was proposed by William Reynolds around 1787. An early working model of a steam rail locomotive was designed and constructed by steamboat pioneer John Fitch in the US during 1794. Some sources claim Fitch's model was operable already by the 1780s and that he demonstrated his locomotive to George Washington . His steam locomotive used interior bladed wheels guided by rails or tracks. The model still exists at

357-635: A (newly identified) Killingworth Billy in 1816. He also constructed The Duke in 1817 for the Kilmarnock and Troon Railway , which was the first steam locomotive to work in Scotland. In 1825, Stephenson built Locomotion No. 1 for the Stockton and Darlington Railway , north-east England, which was the first public steam railway in the world. In 1829, his son Robert built in Newcastle The Rocket , which

476-569: A Mikado-type engine that was typical to the New Haven. The name of the Hartford Yard Goats Minor League Baseball team reflects the old New York, New Haven and Hartford railroad history and the design of its logo is based on the original NYNHH logo. The team plays in downtown Hartford at Dunkin' Donuts Park , which is adjacent to Hartford Yard , originally built by NYNHH. NH introduced ideas for passenger rail travel, including early use of restaurant and parlor cars in

595-489: A Sperry track inspection car, are open to the visitors. The museum is an all-volunteer operation and welcomes anyone who would like to participate in any of the many facets of its operations – including operating its locomotives and self-propelled cars. By the 1880s, the three railroads that served the city — the Danbury and Norwalk , Housatonic and New York and New England — had built small, separate stations for their lines in

714-448: A balance has to be struck between obtaining sufficient draught for combustion whilst giving the exhaust gases and particles sufficient time to be consumed. In the past, a strong draught could lift the fire off the grate, or cause the ejection of unburnt particles of fuel, dirt and pollution for which steam locomotives had an unenviable reputation. Moreover, the pumping action of the exhaust has the counter-effect of exerting back pressure on

833-483: A crankpin on the driving wheel ( Main driver in the US) or to a crank on a driving axle. The movement of the valves in the steam chest is controlled through a set of rods and linkages called the valve gear , actuated from the driving axle or from the crankpin; the valve gear includes devices that allow reversing the engine, adjusting valve travel and the timing of the admission and exhaust events. The cut-off point determines

952-404: A day. Much of that passenger traffic was related to the city's large hatmaking industry, with workers migrating to and from jobs, and business travelers selling to or buying from the hatmakers. It was acknowledged with a neon sign on a nearby coal shed showing a derby hat coming down on a crown and saying "Danbury Crowns Them All". The hat-related traffic grew around the industry's two big seasons,

1071-429: A gauge mounted in the cab. Steam pressure can be released manually by the driver or fireman. If the pressure reaches the boiler's design working limit, a safety valve opens automatically to reduce the pressure and avoid a catastrophic accident. The exhaust steam from the engine cylinders shoots out of a nozzle pointing up the chimney in the smokebox. The steam entrains or drags the smokebox gases with it which maintains

1190-720: A lease of the Shore Line Railway (leased in 1870 by the New York and New Haven Railroad). The company later leased more lines and systems, eventually forming a virtual monopoly in New England south of the Boston and Albany Railroad . In 1882, the railroad leased the Boston, New York and Airline Railroad, the last railroad in New Haven not controlled by the NYNH&;H. This new acquisition gave

1309-481: A lower pressure in the smokebox than that under the firebox grate. This pressure difference causes air to flow up through the coal bed and keeps the fire burning. The search for thermal efficiency greater than that of a typical fire-tube boiler led engineers, such as Nigel Gresley , to consider the water-tube boiler . Although he tested the concept on the LNER Class W1 , the difficulties during development exceeded

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1428-433: A lower reciprocating mass than three, four, five or six coupled axles. They were thus able to turn at very high speeds due to the lower reciprocating mass. A trailing axle was able to support a huge firebox, hence most locomotives with the wheel arrangement of 4-4-2 (American Type Atlantic) were called free steamers and were able to maintain steam pressure regardless of throttle setting. The chassis, or locomotive frame ,

1547-427: A network of low-density branch lines that could not pay their own maintenance and operating costs. The freight business was short-haul, requiring switching costs that could not be recovered in short-distance rates. They operated major commuter train services in New York and Boston (as well as New Haven, Hartford and Providence), but these had always lost money; though heavily patronized, these services operated only during

1666-410: A newer station on the other side of the block. Within two years the museum was formed and restored the station to its former appearance. It is architecturally distinctive, with Colonial Revival touches on a Richardsonian Romanesque structure. Alfred Hitchcock filmed station scenes for Strangers on a Train on its distinctive curved platform. In 1986, prior to the museum's use of the building, it

1785-630: A number of Swiss steam shunting locomotives were modified to use electrically heated boilers, consuming around 480 kW of power collected from an overhead line with a pantograph . These locomotives were significantly less efficient than electric ones ; they were used because Switzerland was suffering a coal shortage because of the War, but had access to plentiful hydroelectricity . A number of tourist lines and heritage locomotives in Switzerland, Argentina and Australia have used light diesel-type oil. Water

1904-456: A number of important innovations that included using high-pressure steam which reduced the weight of the engine and increased its efficiency. Trevithick visited the Newcastle area in 1804 and had a ready audience of colliery (coal mine) owners and engineers. The visit was so successful that the colliery railways in north-east England became the leading centre for experimentation and development of

2023-442: A reorganization plan approved in federal court, without the vast majority of its previous non-railroad interests, and with a number of unprofitable passenger operations on marginal branches replaced with bus service. In 1948, the company operated 644 locomotives, 1,602 passenger cars and 8,796 freight cars on 1,581 miles of track. After 1951, both freight and passenger service lost money. The earlier expansion had left NH with

2142-459: A rigid frame with a 30% weight reduction. Generally, the largest locomotives are permanently coupled to a tender that carries the water and fuel. Often, locomotives working shorter distances do not have a tender and carry the fuel in a bunker, with the water carried in tanks placed next to the boiler. The tanks can be in various configurations, including two tanks alongside ( side tanks or pannier tanks ), one on top ( saddle tank ) or one between

2261-401: A tank in the locomotive tender or wrapped around the boiler in the case of a tank locomotive . Periodic stops are required to refill the tanks; an alternative was a scoop installed under the tender that collected water as the train passed over a track pan located between the rails. While the locomotive is producing steam, the amount of water in the boiler is constantly monitored by looking at

2380-424: Is a one-story L-shaped structure of buff and brown brick with sandstone trim, 99 by 123 feet (30 by 37 m), both wings topped with gabled roofs covered in asphalt. Hipped-roof dormer windows pierce the north and west elevations, and similar canopies run along the tracks on either side, continuing the overhanging bracketed eaves that shelter the platform on the building itself. A single chimney rises from

2499-475: Is crucial to the efficiency of any steam locomotive, and the internal profiles of the chimney (or, strictly speaking, the ejector ) require careful design and adjustment. This has been the object of intensive studies by a number of engineers (and often ignored by others, sometimes with catastrophic consequences). The fact that the draught depends on the exhaust pressure means that power delivery and power generation are automatically self-adjusting. Among other things,

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2618-419: Is directed upwards out of the locomotive through the chimney, by way of a nozzle called a blastpipe , creating the familiar "chuffing" sound of the steam locomotive. The blastpipe is placed at a strategic point inside the smokebox that is at the same time traversed by the combustion gases drawn through the boiler and grate by the action of the steam blast. The combining of the two streams, steam and exhaust gases,

2737-468: Is more impressive. Visitors can ride the "Rail Yard Local" on weekends in the summer season. The ride takes about 30–35 minutes and includes a unique ride by the passengers on the museum's operating turntable , and a tour of the recently restored Danbury fairground's pumphouse. The turntable was added to the National Register of Historic Places on September 15, 2005. The turntable, built around 1914

2856-522: Is painted in McGinnis-era livery, while the iconic "NH" logo appears on everything from rolling stock, station signage, to tourism materials for the city of New Haven itself. The Connecticut Department of Transportation has painted its diesel commuter rail locomotives used on the non-electrified Danbury and Waterbury Metro-North branches, as well as its Shore Line East operation, in the "McGinnis Scheme," composed of white, black, and orange-red stripes with

2975-415: Is the principal structure onto which the boiler is mounted and which incorporates the various elements of the running gear. The boiler is rigidly mounted on a "saddle" beneath the smokebox and in front of the boiler barrel, but the firebox at the rear is allowed to slide forward and backwards, to allow for expansion when hot. European locomotives usually use "plate frames", where two vertical flat plates form

3094-874: The Drache , was delivered in 1848. The first steam locomotives operating in Italy were the Bayard and the Vesuvio , running on the Napoli-Portici line, in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. The first railway line over Swiss territory was the Strasbourg – Basel line opened in 1844. Three years later, in 1847, the first fully Swiss railway line, the Spanisch Brötli Bahn , from Zürich to Baden

3213-562: The Hartford and New Haven Railroad , which began service between New Haven and Hartford in 1839 and reached Springfield, Massachusetts , in 1844, and the New York and New Haven Railroad , which opened in 1848 between its namesake cities. The two companies had a history of cooperation; for a time, they jointly leased the New Haven and Northampton Railroad and coordinated their steamship services with each other. An initial merger attempt between

3332-557: The MBTA , and numerous freight operators such as CSX and the Providence and Worcester Railroad . The majority of the surviving system is now owned publicly by the states of Connecticut , Rhode Island , and Massachusetts , with other surviving segments owned by freight railroads; many abandoned lines have been converted into rail trails . The New Haven system was formed by the merger of two railroads that intersected in New Haven, Connecticut :

3451-555: The Metro-North Railroad ’s New Haven Line and Shore Line East , providing commuter service from Manhattan’s Grand Central Terminal as far eastward as New London, Connecticut. The New Haven Line is coded red on Metro-North timetables and system maps, a nod to the red livery used by the New Haven for the last decade of its history. MBTA 's Providence/Stoughton Line provides commuter service between Providence and South Station in Boston. Amtrak took over passenger service on

3570-602: The New Haven , was a railroad that operated principally in the New England region of the United States from 1872 to 1968. Founded by the merger of the New York and New Haven and Hartford and New Haven railroads, the company had near-total dominance of railroad traffic in Southern New England for the first half of the 20th century. Beginning in the 1890s and accelerating in 1903, New York banker J. P. Morgan sought to monopolize New England transportation by arranging

3689-475: The New Haven–Springfield Line in 1976, and was joined by the state of Connecticut's Hartford Line in 2018. On August 28, 1980, American Financial Enterprises, Inc., acquired the remaining assets of the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad Company when the plan for reorganization was approved by the court and the company was reorganized. This brought to an end the 108-year corporate history of

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3808-574: The Ohio Historical Society Museum in Columbus, US. The authenticity and date of this locomotive is disputed by some experts and a workable steam train would have to await the invention of the high-pressure steam engine by Richard Trevithick , who pioneered the use of steam locomotives. The first full-scale working railway steam locomotive was the 3 ft ( 914 mm ) gauge Coalbrookdale Locomotive built by Trevithick in 1802. It

3927-678: The Penn Central system, formed a year earlier by the merger of the New York Central Railroad and Pennsylvania Railroad . Already a poorly conceived merger, Penn Central went bankrupt in 1970, becoming the largest U.S. bankruptcy until the Enron Corporation superseded it in 2001. The remnants of the system now comprise Metro-North Railroad 's New Haven Line , much of the northern leg of Amtrak 's Northeast Corridor , Connecticut 's Shore Line East and Hartford Line , parts of

4046-531: The Pennsylvania Railroad class S1 achieved speeds upwards of 150 mph, though this was never officially proven. In the United States, larger loading gauges allowed the development of very large, heavy locomotives such as the Union Pacific Big Boy , which weighs 540 long tons (550  t ; 600 short tons ) and has a tractive effort of 135,375 pounds-force (602,180 newtons). Beginning in

4165-447: The 74-by-40-foot (23 by 12 m) southern half of the building, its former waiting room. In the northern half, is the museum's gift shop and restrooms. The original ticket window and the varnished pine door and window architraves . Immediately east of the entry is a fireplace whose mantel is decorated in molded brick in floral patterns. The facility comprises a railroad yard full of restored and unrestored railroad equipment, and

4284-473: The Board of Estimate and Apportionment, which only became defunct in 1989. Morgan and Mellen achieved a complete monopoly of transportation in southern New England, purchasing other railroads and steamship and trolley lines. More than 100 independent railroads eventually became part of the system before and during these years, reaching 2,131 miles at its 1929 peak. Substantial improvements to the system were made during

4403-519: The Bowl. On November 21, 1922, for example, such trains carried more than 50,000 passengers. "There is nothing which can be compared with the New Haven's football movement except a record of one of the mass-movements incidental to the European war," one observer wrote in 1916. Steam locomotive A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of

4522-700: The Christmas and Easter holidays. Other passengers were commuters going to jobs in Bridgeport or New York City, summer travelers headed for country retreats and hotels in the area, or visitors to the Danbury Fair , held every October. After World War II , train ridership began to decline with the rise of passenger air travel and the Interstate Highway System . The decline of hatmaking, as many Americans started going around bareheaded, also contributed. Many of

4641-572: The Connecticut Public Utilities Commission in February 1960 if the company's survival was in imminent danger, the New Haven's comptroller replied, "Yes, even with the best of management". Continuing financial problems forced the New Haven into bankruptcy on July 7, 1961, and federal court judge Robert P. Anderson assumed trusteeship . The railroad reported it would have only $ 9,262,000 in funds to cover expenses of $ 33,480,000 at

4760-817: The Mellen years, including electrification between New York and New Haven . Morgan and Mellen went further and attempted to acquire or neutralize competition from other railroads in New England, including the New York Central 's Boston and Albany Railroad, the Rutland Railroad , the Maine Central Railroad , and the Boston and Maine Railroad . But the Morgan-Mellen expansion left the company overextended and financially weak. In 1914, 21 directors and ex-directors of

4879-520: The NH was purchased by PC, which operated the train. Other passenger trains: Beginning November 21, 1914, the railroad operated special trains to bring football fans to and from the new Yale Bowl stadium in New Haven. Passengers rode extra trains from Springfield, Boston, and especially New York to the New Haven Union Station, where they transferred to trolleys for the 2-mile (3.2 km) ride to

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4998-491: The NH's acquisition of 50 companies, including other railroads and steamship lines, and building a network of electrified trolley lines that provided interurban transportation for all of southern New England. By 1912, the New Haven operated more than 2,000 miles (3,200 km) of track, with 120,000 employees, and practically monopolized traffic in a wide swath from Boston to New York City. This quest for monopoly angered Progressive Era reformers, alienated public opinion, raised

5117-768: The New Haven Railroad a connection to Willimantic, Connecticut . Two more companies, the Naugatuck Railroad and the Connecticut Valley Railroad , were leased by the New Haven in 1887. With these two leases, the New Haven was in control of 10 of the 22 railroads in Connecticut at the time. Around the beginning of the 20th century, New York investors led by J. P. Morgan gained control, and in 1903 installed Charles S. Mellen as President. Charles Francis Murphy's New York Contracting and Trucking company

5236-523: The Providence & Worcester, Bay Colony, Boston & Maine, Connecticut Central, Pioneer Valley, Housatonic and Connecticut Southern railroads. Those lines still operated by Conrail in 1999 became part of CSX Transportation as the result of the breakup of the Conrail system. The state of Connecticut frequently alludes to the New Haven in its modern transportation projects; much of the state’s commuter equipment

5355-564: The Saar (today part of Völklingen ), but neither could be returned to working order after being dismantled, moved and reassembled. On 7 December 1835, the Adler ran for the first time between Nuremberg and Fürth on the Bavarian Ludwig Railway . It was the 118th engine from the locomotive works of Robert Stephenson and stood under patent protection. In Russia , the first steam locomotive

5474-423: The US), or screw-reverser (if so equipped), that controls the cut-off, therefore, performs a similar function to a gearshift in an automobile – maximum cut-off, providing maximum tractive effort at the expense of efficiency, is used to pull away from a standing start, whilst a cut-off as low as 10% is used when cruising, providing reduced tractive effort, and therefore lower fuel/water consumption. Exhaust steam

5593-599: The United States, including John Fitch's miniature prototype. A prominent full sized example was Col. John Steven's "steam wagon" which was demonstrated on a loop of track in Hoboken, New Jersey in 1825. Many of the earliest locomotives for commercial use on American railroads were imported from Great Britain, including first the Stourbridge Lion and later the John Bull . However, a domestic locomotive-manufacturing industry

5712-545: The adhesive weight. Equalising beams connecting the ends of leaf springs have often been deemed a complication in Britain, however, locomotives fitted with the beams have usually been less prone to loss of traction due to wheel-slip. Suspension using equalizing levers between driving axles, and between driving axles and trucks, was standard practice on North American locomotives to maintain even wheel loads when operating on uneven track. Locomotives with total adhesion, where all of

5831-415: The authentic script-lettering insignia of the original "New York, New Haven and Hartford" railroad on the tenders of its resident steam locomotives, 2-8-0 Consolidation type Number 97 and 2-8-2 Mikado type number 40. There is a third steam locomotive in restoration to running order; a Chinese SY-class Mikado, formerly known as the 1658, it is being renumbered and painted as New Haven 3025, and is to be based on

5950-402: The boiler materials to the point where it needs to be rebuilt or replaced. Start-up on a large engine may take hours of preliminary heating of the boiler water before sufficient steam is available. Although the boiler is typically placed horizontally, for locomotives designed to work in locations with steep slopes it may be more appropriate to consider a vertical boiler or one mounted such that

6069-404: The boiler remains horizontal but the wheels are inclined to suit the slope of the rails. The steam generated in the boiler fills the space above the water in the partially filled boiler. Its maximum working pressure is limited by spring-loaded safety valves. It is then collected either in a perforated tube fitted above the water level or by a dome that often houses the regulator valve, or throttle,

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6188-399: The boiler. Boiler water surrounds the firebox to stop the metal from becoming too hot. This is another area where the gas transfers heat to the water and is called the firebox heating surface. Ash and char collect in the smokebox as the gas gets drawn up the chimney ( stack or smokestack in the US) by the exhaust steam from the cylinders. The pressure in the boiler has to be monitored using

6307-433: The brash Patrick B. McGinnis led a proxy fight against incumbent president Frederic C. "Buck" Dumaine Jr. , vowing to return more of the company's profit to shareholders. McGinnis won control of the railroad and appointed Arthur V. McGowan, a longtime acquaintance, Vice President. McGinnis attempted to accomplish many of his financial goals by deferring all but the most essential maintenance. Under McGinnis, Knoll Associates

6426-539: The corporation. Penn Central was bankrupt by 1970 and the New Haven corporate entity remained in existence throughout the 1970s as the Trustee of the Estate pursued just payment from Penn Central for the New Haven's assets. Leased by the New Haven since before 1900, the Providence and Worcester Railroad (P&W) successfully exited its lease under Penn Central and resumed operating its own line in 1973. A substantial portion of

6545-523: The cost of acquiring other companies and increased the railroad's construction costs. The company's debt soared from $ 14 million in 1903 to $ 242 million in 1913, while the advent of automobiles, trucks and buses reduced its profits. Also in 1913, the federal government filed an antitrust lawsuit that forced the NH to divest its trolley systems. The line became bankrupt in 1935. It emerged from bankruptcy, albeit reduced in scope, in 1947, only to go bankrupt again in 1961. In 1969, its rail assets were merged with

6664-675: The dominant fuel worldwide in steam locomotives. Railways serving sugar cane farming operations burned bagasse , a byproduct of sugar refining. In the US, the ready availability and low price of oil made it a popular steam locomotive fuel after 1900 for the southwestern railroads, particularly the Southern Pacific. In the Australian state of Victoria, many steam locomotives were converted to heavy oil firing after World War II. German, Russian, Australian and British railways experimented with using coal dust to fire locomotives. During World War 2,

6783-440: The early 1900s, steam locomotives were gradually superseded by electric and diesel locomotives , with railways fully converting to electric and diesel power beginning in the late 1930s. The majority of steam locomotives were retired from regular service by the 1980s, although several continue to run on tourist and heritage lines. The earliest railways employed horses to draw carts along rail tracks . In 1784, William Murdoch ,

6902-431: The exhaust gas volume was vented through a cooling tower, allowing the steam exhaust to draw more air past the radiator. Running gear includes the brake gear, wheel sets , axleboxes , springing and the motion that includes connecting rods and valve gear. The transmission of the power from the pistons to the rails and the behaviour of the locomotive as a vehicle, being able to negotiate curves, points and irregularities in

7021-421: The expansion of steam . It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal , oil or, rarely, wood ) to heat water in the locomotive's boiler to the point where it becomes gaseous and its volume increases 1,700 times. Functionally, it is a steam engine on wheels. In most locomotives, the steam is admitted alternately to each end of its cylinders in which pistons are mechanically connected to

7140-448: The firebox becomes exposed. Without water on top of the sheet to transfer away the heat of combustion , it softens and fails, letting high-pressure steam into the firebox and the cab. The development of the fusible plug , a temperature-sensitive device, ensured a controlled venting of steam into the firebox to warn the fireman to add water. Scale builds up in the boiler and prevents adequate heat transfer, and corrosion eventually degrades

7259-489: The former New Haven main line between New York and Boston was transferred to Amtrak in 1976 and now forms the northern leg of the electrified Northeast Corridor , hosting high-speed Acela Express and regional rail service. The main line between New Rochelle and New Haven is jointly owned by the state of Connecticut and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority of New York, and is served by

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7378-504: The former fairgrounds, did not want to see another old building lost to urban blight . The station seemed to him and others the ideal place for a rail museum that could attract visitors, and the Danbury Railway Museum was formed the next year by a group of National Railway Historical Society and local railfans . The museum soon grew to a hundred members, and the first excursion train was run later that year. A temporary museum

7497-504: The frames ( well tank ). The fuel used depended on what was economically available to the railway. In the UK and other parts of Europe, plentiful supplies of coal made this the obvious choice from the earliest days of the steam engine. Until 1870, the majority of locomotives in the United States burned wood, but as the Eastern forests were cleared, coal gradually became more widely used until it became

7616-418: The grate into an ashpan. If oil is used as the fuel, a door is needed for adjusting the air flow, maintaining the firebox, and cleaning the oil jets. The fire-tube boiler has internal tubes connecting the firebox to the smokebox through which the combustion gases flow transferring heat to the water. All the tubes together provide a large contact area, called the tube heating surface, between the gas and water in

7735-577: The highly mineralised water was available, and locomotive boilers were lasting less than a quarter of the time normally expected. In the days of steam locomotion, about half the total train load was water for the engine. The line's operator, Commonwealth Railways , was an early adopter of the diesel-electric locomotive . The fire-tube boiler was standard practice for steam locomotive. Although other types of boiler were evaluated they were not widely used, except for some 1,000 locomotives in Hungary which used

7854-635: The iconic NH logo. Although a new livery was introduced with the opening of the Hartford Line commuter service in 2018, much of its equipment is shared with Shore Line East , of which some continue to bear the McGinnis livery and the rest have been repainted into the new " CT Rail " livery. All of these lines were formerly owned by the New Haven. The Valley Railroad , a preservation line based in Essex, Connecticut that runs both steam and diesel traction, has painted

7973-480: The interior of a never-built design for articulated commuter coaches. When McGinnis departed in 1956, he left the company financially wrecked, a situation exacerbated by severe damage from the 1955 Connecticut floods . In 1959, the New Haven discontinued passenger service on the Old Colony Railroad network in southeastern Massachusetts. That year, the company reported close to $ 11 million in losses. Asked by

8092-606: The locomotive ran on a circular track in the factory yard. It was the first locomotive to be built on the European mainland and the first steam-powered passenger service; curious onlookers could ride in the attached coaches for a fee. It is portrayed on a New Year's badge for the Royal Foundry dated 1816. Another locomotive was built using the same system in 1817. They were to be used on pit railways in Königshütte and in Luisenthal on

8211-489: The locomotive's main wheels. Fuel and water supplies are usually carried with the locomotive, either on the locomotive itself or in a tender coupled to it. Variations in this general design include electrically powered boilers, turbines in place of pistons, and using steam generated externally. Steam locomotives were first developed in the United Kingdom during the early 19th century and used for railway transport until

8330-403: The main chassis, with a variety of spacers and a buffer beam at each end to form a rigid structure. When inside cylinders are mounted between the frames, the plate frames are a single large casting that forms a major support element. The axleboxes slide up and down to give some sprung suspension, against thickened webs attached to the frame, called "hornblocks". American practice for many years

8449-509: The mainframes. Locomotives with multiple coupled-wheels on a rigid chassis would have unacceptable flange forces on tight curves giving excessive flange and rail wear, track spreading and wheel climb derailments. One solution was to remove or thin the flanges on an axle. More common was to give axles end-play and use lateral motion control with spring or inclined-plane gravity devices. Railroads generally preferred locomotives with fewer axles, to reduce maintenance costs. The number of axles required

8568-548: The middle of the 20th century. Richard Trevithick built the first steam locomotive known to have hauled a load over a distance at Pen-y-darren in 1804, although he produced an earlier locomotive for trial at Coalbrookdale in 1802. Salamanca , built in 1812 by Matthew Murray for the Middleton Railway , was the first commercially successful steam locomotive. Locomotion No. 1 , built by George Stephenson and his son Robert's company Robert Stephenson and Company ,

8687-470: The moment when the valve blocks a steam port, "cutting off" admission steam and thus determining the proportion of the stroke during which steam is admitted into the cylinder; for example a 50% cut-off admits steam for half the stroke of the piston. The remainder of the stroke is driven by the expansive force of the steam. Careful use of cut-off provides economical use of steam and in turn, reduces fuel and water consumption. The reversing lever ( Johnson bar in

8806-489: The morning and evening rush hours , and were unable to recover their infrastructure costs. The demise of the New Haven was likely hastened by the 1958 opening of the Connecticut Turnpike , largely paralleling the railroad’s mainline across the state, and the subsequent construction of other interstate highways. With decades of inadequate investment, the New Haven could not compete against automobiles or trucks. In 1954,

8925-416: The new station where the New York & New England's passenger depot had been. A. Malkin's design combined a basic Richardsonian Romanesque structure with some Colonial Revival details, like the small panes in the windows. It was said to be the largest station on the New Haven's New York Division. In its peak years, early in the 20th century, extant timetables suggest the station saw as many as 125 trains

9044-525: The next year the Penn Central's final failure put its trains in the hands of Conrail and the station itself became property of the state Department of Transportation (ConnDOT). Metro-North closed the station, the northern terminus of the New Haven Line 's Danbury Branch , in 1993. The city's mayor, Gene Eriquez, who had seen downtown wither as retail business and customers went to the mall built on

9163-826: The original John Bull was on static display in the National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C. The replica is preserved at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania . The first railway service outside the United Kingdom and North America was opened in 1829 in France between Saint-Etienne and Lyon ; it was initially limited to animal traction and converted to steam traction early 1831, using Seguin locomotives . The first steam locomotive in service in Europe outside of France

9282-468: The piston in turn. In a two-cylinder locomotive, one cylinder is located on each side of the vehicle. The cranks are set 90° out of phase. During a full rotation of the driving wheel, steam provides four power strokes; each cylinder receives two injections of steam per revolution. The first stroke is to the front of the piston and the second stroke to the rear of the piston; hence two working strokes. Consequently, two deliveries of steam onto each piston face in

9401-411: The purpose of which is to control the amount of steam leaving the boiler. The steam then either travels directly along and down a steam pipe to the engine unit or may first pass into the wet header of a superheater , the role of the latter being to improve thermal efficiency and eliminate water droplets suspended in the "saturated steam", the state in which it leaves the boiler. On leaving the superheater,

9520-608: The railroad were indicted for "conspiracy to monopolize interstate commerce by acquiring the control of practically all the transportation facilities of New England." In 1925, the railroad created the New England Transportation Company as a subsidiary to operate buses and trucks on routes where rail service was no longer profitable. Under the stress of the Great Depression the company became bankrupt in 1935, remaining in trusteeship until 1947. Common stock

9639-455: The restored station house containing exhibits of photographs and railroad paraphernalia, model train layouts, an extensive reference library, and a gift shop. The station is "significant in the history of Danbury" and also as a "good example" of a turn-of-the-twentieth-century railway station building. Its architectural style of the hip-roofed station is eclectic, with exterior Richardsonian and Colonial Revival elements. Its interior workmanship

9758-418: The side of the piston receiving steam, thus slightly reducing cylinder power. Designing the exhaust ejector became a specific science, with engineers such as Chapelon , Giesl and Porta making large improvements in thermal efficiency and a significant reduction in maintenance time and pollution. A similar system was used by some early gasoline/kerosene tractor manufacturers ( Advance-Rumely / Hart-Parr ) –

9877-461: The south end of the station, near where the sets of tracks meet. Windows vary in size and shape. Those on the east are high and small, whereas tall windows that give the impression of sidelights are along the southwest, next to the tracks. These are hints of the Colonial Revival style that was emerging at the time of the station's construction. Inside, the museum's exhibits and displays occupy

9996-506: The south, are the railroad tracks and a 6-acre (2.4 ha) rail yard. The current Danbury station is a short distance away, and sometimes Metro-North stores its trains on the tracks behind the station between runs. The museum's collection of older cars is on the tracks in the yard's interior. A grade crossing on White marks the eastern terminus of the Beacon Line kept in reserve by Metro-North for possible future use. The station building

10115-632: The station's original decorative features were removed. The New Haven's passenger train services to northwestern Connecticut, the Berkshires and to Pittsfield, Massachusetts were cut to weekend-only service by 1961. The last named train on the route, the Berkshire , was discontinued in 1968. In the late 1960s the Consolidated was itself absorbed into the short-lived Penn Central conglomerate. The last intercity passenger train left for Pittsfield in 1972, and

10234-548: The steam era, and more during the transition to diesel. NH was a pioneer in many ways; in streamliners with the Comet , in the use of diesel multiple units (DMUs) in the U.S. with both Budd's regular Budd Rail Diesel Cars (RDCs) and the all-RDC Roger Williams trainset, in the use of rail-adapted buses, in lightweight trains such as the Train X -equipped Dan'l Webster , and in experimentation with Talgo -type (passive tilt) equipment on

10353-504: The steam exits the dry header of the superheater and passes down a steam pipe, entering the steam chests adjacent to the cylinders of a reciprocating engine. Inside each steam chest is a sliding valve that distributes the steam via ports that connect the steam chest to the ends of the cylinder space. The role of the valves is twofold: admission of each fresh dose of steam, and exhaust of the used steam once it has done its work. The cylinders are double-acting, with steam admitted to each side of

10472-469: The steam locomotive. Trevithick continued his own steam propulsion experiments through another trio of locomotives, concluding with the Catch Me Who Can in 1808, first in the world to haul fare-paying passengers. In 1812, Matthew Murray 's successful twin-cylinder rack locomotive Salamanca first ran on the edge-railed rack-and-pinion Middleton Railway . Another well-known early locomotive

10591-518: The storied railroad, and the end to the 19-year saga of its second bankruptcy reorganization. American Financial Enterprises would become the largest single stockholder of Penn Central Company shares by the mid-1990s, controlling 32% of the stock of the company. Freight operations on former New Haven lines passed to Conrail with its government-overseen creation on April 1, 1976. During the subsequent 23 years, Conrail withdrew from much of that territory, abandoning some track and handing other lines over to

10710-434: The track, is of paramount importance. Because reciprocating power has to be directly applied to the rail from 0 rpm upwards, this creates the problem of adhesion of the driving wheels to the smooth rail surface. Adhesive weight is the portion of the locomotive's weight bearing on the driving wheels. This is made more effective if a pair of driving wheels is able to make the most of its axle load, i.e. its individual share of

10829-625: The train John Quincy Adams . An audacious experiment was the UAC TurboTrain , which with passive tilt , turbine engines and light weight attempted to revolutionize medium—distance railway travel in the U.S. Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Transportation , the Turbo Train holds the U.S. railway speed record of 170 mph, set in 1968. The NH never operated the Turbo in revenue service, as

10948-433: The two cylinders generates a full revolution of the driving wheel. Each piston is attached to the driving axle on each side by a connecting rod, and the driving wheels are connected together by coupling rods to transmit power from the main driver to the other wheels. Note that at the two " dead centres ", when the connecting rod is on the same axis as the crankpin on the driving wheel, the connecting rod applies no torque to

11067-511: The two in 1870 was rejected by the Connecticut General Assembly , largely over fears that the merged railroad would form a monopoly. But the legislature approved a second attempt just two years later, and the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad was formed on July 24, 1872. The newly-combined railroad owned a main line from New York City to Springfield via New Haven and Hartford, and also reached New London, Connecticut via

11186-460: The vicinity of the current building. Later in that decade, economic difficulties led to them all becoming part of the New York, New Haven and Hartford , leading it to be known locally as the Consolidated Road. Citizens began asking the new owner to consolidate its three stations into one as early as 1894, two years after the last merger. In 1901, the Consolidated realigned the tracks and built

11305-419: The water level in a transparent tube, or sight glass. Efficient and safe operation of the boiler requires keeping the level in between lines marked on the sight glass. If the water level is too high, steam production falls, efficiency is lost and water is carried out with the steam into the cylinders, possibly causing mechanical damage. More seriously, if the water level gets too low, the crown sheet (top sheet) of

11424-401: The water-tube Brotan boiler . A boiler consists of a firebox where the fuel is burned, a barrel where water is turned into steam, and a smokebox which is kept at a slightly lower pressure than outside the firebox. Solid fuel, such as wood, coal or coke, is thrown into the firebox through a door by a fireman , onto a set of grates which hold the fuel in a bed as it burns. Ash falls through

11543-408: The wheel. Therefore, if both cranksets could be at "dead centre" at the same time, and the wheels should happen to stop in this position, the locomotive could not start moving. Therefore, the crankpins are attached to the wheels at a 90° angle to each other, so only one side can be at dead centre at a time. Each piston transmits power through a crosshead , connecting rod ( Main rod in the US) and

11662-411: The wheels are coupled together, generally lack stability at speed. To counter this, locomotives often fit unpowered carrying wheels mounted on two-wheeled trucks or four-wheeled bogies centred by springs/inverted rockers/geared rollers that help to guide the locomotive through curves. These usually take on weight – of the cylinders at the front or the firebox at the rear – when the width exceeds that of

11781-406: The will to increase efficiency by that route. The steam generated in the boiler not only moves the locomotive, but is also used to operate other devices such as the whistle, the air compressor for the brakes, the pump for replenishing the water in the boiler and the passenger car heating system. The constant demand for steam requires a periodic replacement of water in the boiler. The water is kept in

11900-844: The world also runs in Austria: the GKB 671 built in 1860, has never been taken out of service, and is still used for special excursions. In 1838, the third steam locomotive to be built in Germany, the Saxonia , was manufactured by the Maschinenbaufirma Übigau near Dresden , built by Prof. Johann Andreas Schubert . The first independently designed locomotive in Germany was the Beuth , built by August Borsig in 1841. The first locomotive produced by Henschel-Werke in Kassel ,

12019-472: The year's end. Company president George Alpert blamed "government subsidies direct and indirect to our competitors, and inequitable taxes" for the railroad's deficits, pointing to billions of dollars in federal funding for highways and airports. At the insistence of the Interstate Commerce Commission, the New Haven was merged into Penn Central on December 31, 1968, ending rail operations by

12138-548: Was Puffing Billy , built 1813–14 by engineer William Hedley . It was intended to work on the Wylam Colliery near Newcastle upon Tyne. This locomotive is the oldest preserved, and is on static display at the Science Museum, London . George Stephenson , a former miner working as an engine-wright at Killingworth Colliery , developed up to sixteen Killingworth locomotives , including Blücher in 1814, another in 1815, and

12257-544: Was awarded a $ 6 million contract in 1904 to build rail lines in the Bronx for the New York, New Haven, and Hartford Railroad. An executive at the railroad said the contract was awarded to avoid friction with New York City’s Tammany Hall political machine. In response to this contract, the New York State Legislature amended the city's charter so that franchise-awarding power was removed from the city council and given to

12376-625: Was built in 1834 by Cherepanovs , however, it suffered from the lack of coal in the area and was replaced with horse traction after all the woods nearby had been cut down. The first Russian Tsarskoye Selo steam railway started in 1837 with locomotives purchased from Robert Stephenson and Company . In 1837, the first steam railway started in Austria on the Emperor Ferdinand Northern Railway between Vienna-Floridsdorf and Deutsch-Wagram . The oldest continually working steam engine in

12495-735: Was constructed for the Coalbrookdale ironworks in Shropshire in the United Kingdom though no record of it working there has survived. On 21 February 1804, the first recorded steam-hauled railway journey took place as another of Trevithick's locomotives hauled a train along the 4 ft 4 in ( 1,321 mm )-wide tramway from the Pen-y-darren ironworks, near Merthyr Tydfil , to Abercynon in South Wales. Accompanied by Andrew Vivian , it ran with mixed success. The design incorporated

12614-411: Was dictated by the maximum axle loading of the railroad in question. A builder would typically add axles until the maximum weight on any one axle was acceptable to the railroad's maximum axle loading. A locomotive with a wheel arrangement of two lead axles, two drive axles, and one trailing axle was a high-speed machine. Two lead axles were necessary to have good tracking at high speeds. Two drive axles had

12733-480: Was entered in and won the Rainhill Trials . This success led to the company emerging as the pre-eminent builder of steam locomotives used on railways in the UK, US and much of Europe. The Liverpool and Manchester Railway opened a year later making exclusive use of steam power for passenger and goods trains . Before the arrival of British imports, some domestic steam locomotive prototypes were built and tested in

12852-690: Was established in an Ives Street storefront while the old station itself was restored with a $ 1.5 million grant. In late 1995 the restored station was rededicated at a ceremony attended by the mayor and a thousand people. The museum interior was opened in the middle of the following year. The turntable was restored in 1998. Since 2005 it has been a regular stop on the Railyard Local. Today the museum has 550 members and 60 pieces of equipment. New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad The New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad ( reporting mark NH ), commonly known as The Consolidated , or simply as

12971-536: Was listed on the National Register of Historic Places . It was joined on the Register in 2005 by the former turntable , the only intact one in the state. The museum itself is located on a 1.3-acre (0.53 ha) lot at the southeast corner of White Street and Patriot Drive, just across from Meeker's Hardware , which is also on the Register. To its west is a parking lot with room for 25 cars. Immediately behind it, to

13090-679: Was named The Elephant , which on 5 May 1835 hauled a train on the first line in Belgium, linking Mechelen and Brussels. In Germany, the first working steam locomotive was a rack-and-pinion engine, similar to the Salamanca , designed by the British locomotive pioneer John Blenkinsop . Built in June 1816 by Johann Friedrich Krigar in the Royal Berlin Iron Foundry ( Königliche Eisengießerei zu Berlin),

13209-524: Was opened. The arid nature of south Australia posed distinctive challenges to their early steam locomotion network. The high concentration of magnesium chloride in the well water ( bore water ) used in locomotive boilers on the Trans-Australian Railway caused serious and expensive maintenance problems. At no point along its route does the line cross a permanent freshwater watercourse, so bore water had to be relied on. No inexpensive treatment for

13328-452: Was originally part of a roundhouse and machine shop complex. A fire destroyed the buildings in the 1980s, leaving "the only intact surviving [railroad] turntable in Connecticut". It is essentially a swing bridge, and is located several hundred yards east of the station. Some of the rolling stock in the yard, including its 1907-built 2-6-0 steam locomotive ( B&M #1455 ), two cabooses, a Budd Company self-propelled rail diesel car , and

13447-559: Was retained to design a new visual identity for the company. Green and gold trim on rolling stock was replaced by black, red-orange and white, accompanied by a stylized "NH" emblem. Knoll employed architect Marcel Breuer to design the interiors and exterior styling of the three experimental trainsets – the Dan'l Webster , John Quincy Adams , and Roger Williams – that were ordered in 1955. Breuer also designed new station buildings for Rye and New London , neither of which were built, as well as

13566-563: Was soon established. In 1830, the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad 's Tom Thumb , designed by Peter Cooper , was the first commercial US-built locomotive to run in America; it was intended as a demonstration of the potential of steam traction rather than as a revenue-earning locomotive. The DeWitt Clinton , built in 1831 for the Mohawk and Hudson Railroad , was a notable early locomotive. As of 2021 ,

13685-403: Was supplied at stopping places and locomotive depots from a dedicated water tower connected to water cranes or gantries. In the UK, the US and France, water troughs ( track pans in the US) were provided on some main lines to allow locomotives to replenish their water supply without stopping, from rainwater or snowmelt that filled the trough due to inclement weather. This was achieved by using

13804-456: Was the first steam locomotive to haul passengers on a public railway, the Stockton and Darlington Railway , in 1825. Rapid development ensued; in 1830 George Stephenson opened the first public inter-city railway, the Liverpool and Manchester Railway , after the success of Rocket at the 1829 Rainhill Trials had proved that steam locomotives could perform such duties. Robert Stephenson and Company

13923-399: Was the pre-eminent builder of steam locomotives in the first decades of steam for railways in the United Kingdom, the United States, and much of Europe. Towards the end of the steam era, a longstanding British emphasis on speed culminated in a record, still unbroken, of 126 miles per hour (203 kilometres per hour) by LNER Class A4 4468 Mallard , however there are long-standing claims that

14042-404: Was to use built-up bar frames, with the smokebox saddle/cylinder structure and drag beam integrated therein. In the 1920s, with the introduction of "superpower", the cast-steel locomotive bed became the norm, incorporating frames, spring hangers, motion brackets, smokebox saddle and cylinder blocks into a single complex, sturdy but heavy casting. A SNCF design study using welded tubular frames gave

14161-744: Was voided and creditors assumed control. During the 88 stations case , the railroad closed 88 stations in Massachusetts and 5 in Rhode Island in 1938, and unsuccessfully attempted to abandon the Boston-area portion of the Old Colony Division. The twelve-year reorganization resulted in "eight Supreme Court decisions, fourteen circuit court decisions, five district court decisions, and eleven ICC reports." The railroad emerged in September 1947 under

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