Product Description
On a chilly evening at dusk, this single DL-109 of the “New Haven Railroad,” (the New York, New Haven and Hartford RR) whips through the small town of North Haven, CT and past the National Box Folding Company. Sporting green, orange and silver pin striping, Engine # 0773 heads west from Springfield, MA catching the last reflections on this snowy scene of signal lights, a water tower and cold steel rails.
The DLs (Diesel Locomotives) were a cab unit creation with the trademark three-piece windshield design by noted industrial designer Otto Kuhler. These were built by ALCO during wartime (by special permission from the War Production Board) for dual use – to handle freight during the night and passengers during the day. The first ten DLs (# 0700 – 0709) were delivered starting right after the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941. With their larger freight-sized traction motors, they demonstrated an amazing ability to work dual service around the clock.
In the background you see reflections of the National Box Folding Company which settled at this location on James Street in North Haven (in the county of New Haven) in 1905. It sits adjacent to the New Haven Railway line, a convenient location for loading freight. By 1927 it was the largest and most prestigious company in the world, residing next to the largest freight rail yards east of the Mississippi River. Years later the building was sold to the up-and-coming Starter Sportswear Company.
