THE DANBURY BRANCH REBUILD

How would you feel if your usual means of commuting went on a summer vacation? 

Riding the ancient Danbury branch of Metro-North is hard enough, but now it’s going to be shut down for two weeks, the trains replaced by buses from August 1 through the 17^th.

The 24-mile-long, mostly single-track railroad from South Norwalk to The Hat City carries about 2000 daily riders at an average speed of 27 mph.  Now those riders will get to enjoy the “bustitutes” which will make the journey faster than the train.

During the train outage crews will improve the tracks and several grade-crossings. What won’t be addressed is long-discussed re-electrification of the line.  Yes, the Danbury line used to be electrified, just like the main line along the Connecticut coast.

It was in 1959 that the last electric locomotive pulled a train on the Danbury branch, “under the wire”.  Why did that change?  Here’s a synopsis of what I wrote a couple of years ago…

An electric loco at Wilton CT

Most rail historians, like former New Haven and Metro-North veteran Jack Swanberg blame one man for the de-electrification:  Patrick B McGuiness, then-President of the New Haven.  “He was not a good railroad man,” said Swanberg, a master of understatement.  In his two years running the mighty, private and once profitable New Haven Railroad, McGuiness made terrible choices we’re still living with today.

At the NH Railroad, predecessor to Metro-North, McGuiness cut maintenance and laid off staff, trying to goose up the stock price.  But it was when General Motors came calling that he made his biggest error.

The New Haven’s real profits came from running passengers and freight on the main line from NYC to Boston.  Because steam and diesel locomotives were not allowed in Grand Central, the New Haven was one of the first railroads to electrify, starting in 1909, but only as far as New Haven.

For trains running north to Boston they needed to waste time and expense changing engines (from electric to steam and later diesel) in New Haven. McGuiness thought he could avoid that when GM introduced its hybrid FL-9 loco, railroad’s Prius of its day: running all electric in third rail territory, then running diesel.

In the 1950’s the New Haven ordered sixty FL-9s from General Motors, replacing their classic but boxy looking EP-2 electrics built by General Electric.  By 1959 that meant no more electric service on the Danbury branch.  In 1965 they finally took down the copper-wire catenary, selling it for scrap like some sort of junkie.

But the FL-9s were not performing well. 

CDOT's Last FL-9 Diesel Locos

While the original EP electrics had 4000 hp, the hybrid FL-9s were less than half that.  And that meant poor acceleration and longer travel time, especially on commuter trains making a lot of stops.  Longer trains that used to have one electric loco now required two or three FL-9s.  And on the steep Danbury line where it’s a 360-ft climb from the coast to The Hat City, keeping traction on slippery tracks is a problem even today in the fall and winter.

The FL-9s were also expensive to maintain and dirty, even before we cared about air pollution.  In cold weather the diesels had to be kept running all night, just idling in the yard (creating noise and air pollution).  Their 25 year life expectancy wasn’t impressive and overhauls were costly.

“It was a mistake to take down the wire (on the Danbury branch),” says Swanberg who has written extensively on the topic.  

Now CDOT seems to have given up on re-wiring the line as we await delivery of shiny new unpowered railcars from Alstom (costing $5.25 million apiece) to be pulled by new hybrid locomotives costing about $15 million each.

Meantime, it’s back on the bus this summer.