The New Haven Railroad – A Fond Look Back
A week or two ago, my day began, as it often does, by driving a few miles to Bridgeport, Connecticut and boarding a Metro-North Railroad commuter train for the seventeen-mile ride to New Haven Union Station, whereupon I bought breakfast and walked a mile or so to the New Haven Green, at the center of town. But, on this day, rather than circling around the Green and returning to the station, I stopped at the New Haven Free Public Library, where I found the local history room open. Upon entering, I asked the librarian to direct me to the section on the New Haven Railroad, where I thumbed through several books that have been a part of my personal collection for many years. Then, I came across one which I had seen for sale at train shows but had never purchased or read.
The book to which I refer is “The New Haven Railroad – A Fond Look Back,” by Andrew J. Pavlucik, published in 1978 and reissued in that city in 1987 by Pershing Press. I sat down, began to read and quickly became engrossed in the book. It presents a perspective on the New Haven Railroad unlike any other that I have read. It was immediately apparent that the author is not only a gifted writer, but is intimately familiar with the people, operations and history of the New Haven Railroad. The book is replete with photographs that I had not seen before, but its most unique and interesting parts are the many first-person narratives by New Haven personnel relating their experiences and what it actually was like to be a railroader on the New Haven. As the author says, this book is about the Railroad of the railroaders, not the bankers, that “exists now only in dreams and in certain haunted places.” I personally have spent quite a few years searching out those places throughout Southern New England.
I now have a personal copy of this book, which I consider to be the most enlightening and enjoyable that I have read on the subject of the New Haven Railroad. I highly recommend it to “Any New Haven Fans.”
MELGAR
