I attended the Hartford, CT 2009 NMRA convention. One of the fellows on the tour had a lot of New Haven memorabilia. As best that I can recall, he worked for the NH and rescued many of these items from the dumpster. NH Joe
This is the Merchants Limited tailgate sign and the front of EP-5 379. The Merchants Limited was the NH's premier passenger train between New York and Boston. The owner said that he got the EP-5 front from the scrap pile as best that I can recall.
This is a closer view of the the Merchants Limited tailgate sign.
This is a table setting of NH china and silverware. The china pattern is called New Haven, Platinum Blue. According to one of my books, this pattern was first used starting in the 1940s. I think that the table is from either a NH dinner or grill car.
Another view of the place setting. The corn is fake but it does show the fine style in which it was served on the Merchants, Yankee Clipper and other fine NH trains. Note the Boston baked bean pot on the right next to the corn.
I am not sure if the ticket office is from the NH or not but the owner had it with his other NH memorabilia. Note the standing ash trays. Nearly everyone smoked back in the day.
Here is a NH office desk. Note all the super modern internet equipment and phones for its day.
This is another item rescued from the scrap heap. Westport, CT is west of New Haven and Bridgeport. It is one of the most desirable and wealthiest towns in the nation because it is an easy commute to NY over the old NH four track mainline. I think that Martha Stewart either lives there or did live there. (Correct me if I am wrong.) The four track mainline can be clearly seen on the track diagram.
For those of you have never seen the NH's four track mainline, here are two photos that I took during the 2018 TCA convention in Warwick, RI. The photos were taken at the Fairfield, CT station. Fairfield is just east of Westport.
This is looking East towards Bridgeport (the next station) and Boston. The NH runs East and West along Long Island Sound at this point. Trains from New York to Boston are eastbound and trains from Boston to New York are westbound. The Merchants Limited and the other NY great passenger trains used to speed down the center tracks. The outside tracks were for commuter trains.
This is the view looking westbound toward New York. Note that the original NH catenary supports are still serving Amtrak and Metro North. The overhead wire has been replaced as has most of the track. This infrastructure was built around 1910 and is still serving people over 100 year later. The NH was a magnificent railroad.
