Friday Fun: A Glimpse into My Era

I'm of course modeling the New Haven Railroad's Connecticut River Valley lines (The Valley Line, The Air Line, and the Shore Line) during the Autumn of 1947 (or 1948, or - um - '49). Given model railroad scenery constraints, it always has to be "Autumn" - but what year it is during a particular operating session will be most obvious by the motive power used (steam, diesel, or a combination). 

No matter which of these three years I'm modeling though, it's hard to get good reference photos in color and it's almost next to impossible to get a great video of my era in color(!) But BillS recently forwarded a link to a video that I'd forgotten I'd seen years ago (and may actually have on VHS somewhere). I can't post a link to an old video tape, but I can share the link that he sent to me.

So here's a little window into the past. It's (likely) the summer or fall of 1948 (note the foliage) and the American Locomotive Company has just issued a new promotional film for the New Haven Railroad's new FA model engines that dieselized the Maybrook Line. But before we get to that main part of the story, there' s a lot of great footage of the beloved New Haven along the Shore Line, complete with an impressive fleet of steamers and DL-109s.

Enjoy this little time machine - if I do my job right, this is how I hope my layout will look. Eventually...