Electrification of the New York, New Haven, and Hartford Railroad
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The
New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad The New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad , commonly known as The Consolidated, or simply as the New Haven, was a railroad that operated in the New England region of the United States from 1872 to December 31, 1968. Founded by the merger of ...
pioneered
electrification Electrification is the process of powering by electricity and, in many contexts, the introduction of such power by changing over from an earlier power source. The broad meaning of the term, such as in the history of technology, economic histor ...
of main line railroads using high-voltage, alternating current, single-phase
overhead catenary An overhead line or overhead wire is an electrical cable that is used to transmit electrical energy to electric locomotives, trolleybuses or trams. It is known variously as: * Overhead catenary * Overhead contact system (OCS) * Overhead equipmen ...
. It electrified its mainline between
Stamford, Connecticut Stamford () is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut, outside of Manhattan. It is Connecticut's second-most populous city, behind Bridgeport. With a population of 135,470, Stamford passed Hartford and New Haven in population as of the 2020 ...
, and Woodlawn, New York, in 1907, and extended the electrification to
New Haven, Connecticut New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134,02 ...
, in 1914. While single-phase AC railroad electrification has become commonplace, the New Haven's system was unprecedented at the time of construction. The significance of this electrification was recognized in 1982 by its designation as a National Historic Engineering Landmark by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME).


Initial experiments

The New Haven tried several experiments with low-voltage DC electrification in the decade preceding their main line overhead electrification. These included: *1895 electrification of of line between Nantasket Junction and Pemberton, Massachusetts using overhead copper contact wire at 600-700 Vdc. *This line was extended an additional to East Weymouth around 1896. *Third-rail electrification between
Hartford Hartford is the capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It was the seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960. It is the core city in the Greater Hartford metropolitan area. Census estimates since the ...
,
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, and
Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...
, a total of in 1896. This third-rail system was unique; it consisted of an inverted V (
angle In Euclidean geometry, an angle is the figure formed by two Ray (geometry), rays, called the ''Side (plane geometry), sides'' of the angle, sharing a common endpoint, called the ''vertex (geometry), vertex'' of the angle. Angles formed by two ...
) cross-section rail, mounted on the cross ties between the running rails, and was totally exposed. The third rail system resulted, not surprisingly, in a number of accidents. It also resulted in a decree from the
Connecticut Supreme Court The Connecticut Supreme Court, formerly known as the Connecticut Supreme Court of Errors, is the supreme court, highest court in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It consists of a Chief Justice and six Associate Justices. The seven justices sit in ...
on June 13, 1906 forbidding the use of third rail electrification within the state. The New Haven was forced by this decision to design their main line electrification system using overhead catenary. Several different systems combinations of voltage and frequency were considered in the initial design. Due to the relatively large distances involved, transmission at high voltages using alternate current was recognized as being unavoidable. An architecture similar to commercial DC utilities and urban railroads was considered using high voltage transmission lines, rotary converters, and overhead DC catenary. The studies of the time assumed an electrical efficiency of only 75 percent for this architecture. The highest voltage for which generators could be reliably designed at this time was about 22 kV. An intermediate design was considered using 22 kV transmission lines, substations to reduce catenary voltage to between 3 and 6 kV, and transformers on the engines to the 560 V required by the traction motors. The railroad realized that it could save significant capital cost if the intermediate substitution were omitted and locomotives received line voltage at around 11 kV.


Original 1907 direct-feed architecture

The New Haven's electrification was the first of its kind; no previous railroad had practical experience operating a high voltage distribution system above a steam railroad. Many of the system's ultimate specifications were the result of educated design decisions based on the state of the electrical technology in 1907. Proposals were obtained from
General Electric General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable energ ...
(GE) and Westinghouse. Both companies submitted a variety of AC and DC schemes, though GE favoured DC electrification. But New Haven chose single-phase AC at 11 kV, 25 Hz. as proposed by Westinghouse, who had been researching AC electrification of railroads since 1895 and in association with Baldwin supplied Baldwin-Westinghouse locomotives. Later GE also supplied some locomotives.


Voltage

The designers considered several voltages for the transmission segment of the system including 3–6 kV, 11 kV, and 22 kV. Ultimately, the transmission and catenary systems were combined into a transformerless system, that utilized the same voltage from output of generator to catenary to locomotive pantograph. As 11 kV was the highest voltage that could be obtained directly from the output of the generators of 1907, 11 kV was selected as the transmission and catenary voltage of the system.


Frequency

The New Haven had considered two different operating frequencies for use in their electrification: 15 Hz, and 25 Hz. Although 15 Hz was desirable from an engineering perspective, as it would afford a reduced motor size, lower inductive losses, and a higher motor power factor, choosing that frequency was viewed by the railroad as akin to a "break in gauge", thus limiting the commercial prospects of their system. 25 Hz had by 1907 already become a commercial standard, and the railroad already operated a number of trolley power houses at 25 Hz and had equipped many of its shops with 25 Hz motors; thus, the railroad selected the 25 Hz standard.


Catenary

The New Haven had no precedent to follow when designing its catenary system. Overhead catenary had previously been the domain of trolleys, except for a few
three-phase Three-phase electric power (abbreviated 3φ) is a common type of alternating current used in electricity generation, Electric power transmission, transmission, and Electric power distribution, distribution. It is a type of polyphase system empl ...
railways in Europe. No prior experience existed with operating high-speed railways with an overhead contact system. The catenary designed by the New Haven was a unique, relatively rigid triangular cross-section. The triangular cross-section of catenary used in the original electrification was only repeated by one other railway. The
London, Brighton and South Coast Railway The London, Brighton and South Coast Railway (LB&SCR; known also as the Brighton line, the Brighton Railway or the Brighton) was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1846 to 1922. Its territory formed a rough triangle, with London at its ...
used a similar triangular catenary from 1909 until 1929. The New Haven's 1914 extensions dispensed with the triangular catenary design. Catenary support spacing was set at . This was based on keeping the straight line deviation from center of track to within with a curve radius of 3 degree, which was the tightest curve between the original system's termini at Woodlawn and Stamford.


Generators

The generators at the
Cos Cob Power Station Cos Cob Power Station was a historic power station near the Metro-North Railroad tracks, the Mianus River and Sound Shore Drive in the Cos Cob area of Greenwich, Connecticut. The Spanish Revival style station building of 1907 was significant as ...
were designed to supply single-phase power directly to the catenary. They were also required to supply three-phase power both to the New Haven itself for use along the lines,Westinghouse figure 19 shows three-phase substations at South Norwalk, Stamford, Greenwich, Port Chester, Van Nest Shops, and Oak Point Float Bridge and to the
New York Central The New York Central Railroad was a railroad primarily operating in the Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The railroad primarily connected greater New York and Boston in the east with Chicago and St. Louis in the Midw ...
's (NYC) Port Morris generating station to compensate the NYC for the power consumed by New Haven trains on the NYC's third-rail supplied line to
Grand Central Terminal Grand Central Terminal (GCT; also referred to as Grand Central Station or simply as Grand Central) is a commuter rail terminal located at 42nd Street and Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Grand Central is the southern terminus ...
. The Cos Cob generators were three-phase machines, but wired to supply both three phase and single phase power simultaneously.


Revised 1914 autotransformer architecture

Although the railroad considered the 1907 electrification highly successful, two problems required an ultimate redesign of the transmission system. The first was electromagnetic interference in adjacent, parallel telegraph and telephone wires caused by the high currents in the traction power system. The second was that the system's geographic growth and the evolving state of electrical technology created a need for higher transmission voltages. The railroad could have simply raised the operating voltage of the entire system, however this would have required all the catenary insulators to be upgraded to withstand a higher potential, and replacement of all the locomotive high voltage equipment. And while higher transmission voltages had become common in the seven years since the initial electrification, generators were still limited by economics to a maximum output voltage of around 11 kV. The solution decided upon by the railroad, after several years of study, was a balanced
autotransformer An autotransformer is an electrical transformer with only one winding. The "auto" (Greek for "self") prefix refers to the single coil acting alone, not to any kind of automatic mechanism. In an autotransformer, portions of the same winding act as ...
system. Remarkably, the railroad changed transmission system architectures within four hours, although preliminary work had taken the preceding 18 months. On Sunday, January 25, 1914, the railroad shut down the entire power system at 2 am. Gangs of workers throughout the system reconfigured the transmission lines over the next 70 minutes. System startup was commenced and by 5:30 am, electric trains were running over the new, autotransformer supplied system.


Substations


Hell Gate Line

The New Haven's system was extended across the
Hell Gate Bridge The Hell Gate Bridge, originally the New York Connecting Railroad Bridge or the East River Arch Bridge, is a steel through arch railroad bridge in New York City. Originally built for four tracks, the bridge currently carries two tracks of Amtr ...
to the
New York Connecting Railroad The New York Connecting Railroad or NYCR is a rail line in the borough of Queens in New York City. It links New York City and Long Island by rail directly to the North American mainland. Amtrak, CSX, Canadian Pacific Railway, Providence a ...
upon the line's construction. The system of electrification was an extension of the New Haven's revised 11/22 kV autotransformer architecture. The original electrification extended from the New Haven's main line, across the Hell Gate Bridge, to the Bay Ridge yard. The line south of Bowery Bay Junction was de-electrified in the 1950s. The line between New Rochelle and the
Harold Interlocking Harold Interlocking is a large railroad junction located in New York City. It is the busiest rail junction in the United States. It serves trains on Amtrak's Northeast Corridor and the Long Island Rail Road's Main Line and Port Washington Branc ...
was transferred to
Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...
in 1976 upon dissolution of
Penn Central The Penn Central Transportation Company, commonly abbreviated to Penn Central, was an American Railroad classes, class I railroad that operated from 1968 to 1976. Penn Central combined three traditional corporate rivals (the Pennsylvania Railroad ...
. The electrification system continued to be controlled as a portion of the ex-New Haven system until the 1987 conversion to 60 Hz operation. When the New Haven main line was converted by Metro-North to 60 Hz operation, the Amtrak Hell Gate line was also converted, but as an isolated system powered from the Van Nest substation. Control of the catenary system was transferred from Cos Cob to the Load Dispatcher at
New York Penn Station Pennsylvania Station, also known as New York Penn Station or simply Penn Station, is the main inter-city rail, intercity railroad station in New York City and the List of busiest railway stations in North America, busiest transportation facilit ...
. Although conversion occurred subsequent to the PRR-era electrification, Amtrak substation numbers 45–47 were assigned for consistency with the rest of the PRR numbering scheme.


See also

*
Amtrak's 25 Hz Traction Power System Amtrak's 25 Hz traction power system is a Traction power network, traction power grid operated by Amtrak along the southern portion of its Northeast Corridor (NEC): the 226.6 route miles (362 km) between Washington, D.C. and New York ...
Built by PRR about two decades after New Haven's *
Amtrak's 60 Hz Traction Power System Amtrak operates a 60 Hz traction power system along the Northeast Corridor between New Haven, Connecticut,Specifically, Amtrak's 25 kV system begins at the Mill River Interlocking about two miles north of New Haven Union Station and Boston, ...
Amtrak's system east of New Haven. *
Baldwin-Westinghouse electric locomotives Baldwin, the locomotive manufacturer, and Westinghouse, the promoter of AC (alternating current) electrification, joined forces in 1895 to develop AC railway electrification. Soon after the turn of the century, they marketed a single-phase hig ...
*
Metro-North Railroad Metro-North Railroad , trading as MTA Metro-North Railroad, is a suburban commuter rail service run by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), a New York State public benefit corporations, public authority of the U.S. state of New Yor ...
Inherited the system in 1983 from Conrail, which in turn had received it in 1976 from the bankrupt Penn Central. *
Railroad electrification in the United States Railroad electrification in the United States began at the turn of the 20th century and comprised many different systems in many different geographical areas, few of which were connected. Despite this situation, these systems shared a small number ...
*
SEPTA's 25 Hz Traction Power System Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) operates a 25 Hz traction power system in the vicinity of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, that it inherited from the Reading Railroad. This system is separate from but similar to the system d ...
Another 1930s era electrification


Footnotes


References

Ordered by date of publication.


Early Experiments with Electrical Traction

* *


1907 Electrification

* * . Discussed decisions made during design process, catenary construction.


1914 Autotransformer Upgrade

* "New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad Electrification," ''Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company Special Publication 1698'', June 1914. Two drawings are availabl
here
* * * * * * . Primarily focused on turbine generator details at Sherman Creek Generating Station. * . Includes a schematic of generator, transformer, and interconnection arrangement. * Discussion of New Haven Substation at West Farms supplied from commercial utility power stations.


Later Articles

* Discusses both original and 1930s vintage PRR electrification systems along with NY Connecting RR system. * Discusses some details of the unique New Haven catenary design and constraints upon its replacement caused by the catenary bridge spacing. * * * {{Westinghouse Amtrak Electric power distribution Rail infrastructure in Connecticut Rail infrastructure in New York (state) Electric power transmission systems in the United States Traction power networks Electric railways in Connecticut Electric railways in New York (state) New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad