New Haven's Fall from Grace | Corruption, Overspending, and Greed | History in the Dark

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You forgot that in addition to the competition from the trucking industry and people driving cars post-WWII, not to mention the aircraft industry was the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887. It regulated the railroads at a time they needed it, but by the 1950s, it was killing them and did kill many of them. The Staggers Act of 1980 deregulated the railroads making Conrail's success a lot easier.

Such an underrated railroad that yet again, faded away because of business shenanigans.

As a New England railfan myself, I approve of this.

Morgan Mellon had a son named Thornton Mellon. He went on to pioneer the clothing industry, having opened his Big & Tall stores which catered to the “rotund” shape. In 1986 he became the oldest freshman at Grand Lakes University. Attending at the same time as his son, Jason Mellon. He won the Gold medal at the 1986 NCAA diving competition by performing the hardest dive in sport. The Triple Lindy.

My local rail museum, the Connecticut Eastern Railroad Museum has a New Haven EMD FL9 as well as one of the "worst trains ever" Budd SPV2000s.

Thanks for covering the infamous New Haven! I also heard McGinnis was also involved in a coercion scheme by gaining a few million bucks for his own gain when selling a few railcars before becoming the CEO of the Boston and Maine.

I grew up by a New Haven spur outside of Boston where they ran Budd RDC cars into South Station until the late 70's. One of the end cars to the Roger Williams was parked near my house for years. I loved the railroad but by the 60's much of the equipment was rusty and worn. In its day the New Haven carried more passengers than any other railroad in the US.

I read in an old trains magazine a quote from a government official in New Hampshire saying the biggest reason for industry leaving the state was the New Haven railroad. It did not elaborate beyond that quote.

The Cape Cod Central tourist railway currently owns two of New Haven's FL9s in their original livery so there are some New Haven engines still in operation

I have a few New Haven streamlined passenger cars on my model railroad. I modified them to fit my railroad’s strict codes of operation for use on a train called the Redliner.

I have heard that more than a few airline execs have spent a fortune on new paint schemes and changing airline names, none of this seems to have generated any significant revenue improvement, but it generally resulted in big pay increases for the airlines execs.

McGinnis ran the B&M and the New Haven into the ground.

I have pictures of NH RR ran commuter service from Boston South Station in 1959 NH RR started cutting back commuter service out of South Station in 1967 the Boston MBTA started construction of the South Shore line to Quincy Massachusetts opening in 1971 then from Quincy to Braintree opening in 1981 the MBTA took over all the commuter rail lines from South Station too it was cool seeing the X - NH RR GP 9’s and the RDC cars of NH RR running in 1978 all of the equipment was replaced with the F 40’s and new Pullman passenger cars the GP - 9 ‘s were traded for FP - 10’s and the passenger cars were scrap some ended up in railroad museums

Great video! I live in the middle of the old grounds of the New Haven railroad. 25 -30 minutes away from the city. Nice job Darkness!

@3:22 for a moment before the photo appeared, I zoned out and thought you were referring to Jaye P. Morgan, Pop songstress and legendary Gong Show showstopper... 😆

You know I’m starting to notice a pattern here with these videos Example like: 1. Railroads merge to form a new company 2. Things lead from one to another like poor treatment of the railroad 3. Other stuff involving business 4. Gets closed or absorbed into a bigger company Probably not as accurate but it’s something I’ve noticed throughout the videos, it’s also very sad to seeing railroads like these go out from the ways that they did to keep a float

I sure do miss the big freight trains that used to run to and from Maybrook NY .

The image at 14:47 is literally in a school presentation I’m making on the collapse of railroads

What a shame on how the mighty have fallen