2003 Convention

The 2003 Convention was held in Southington, Connecticut, on September 11-13. The pictures below show some of the highlights from the convention, including plenty of former Penn Central trackage and equipment.

For those who arrived early, the Thursday morning and afternoon before the convention officially began offered an opportunity for railfanning. Here, a northbound Amtrak train crosses the Connecticut River at Warehouse Point, CT. This was former New Haven and Penn Central trackage.

This pair of Amtrak cab control cars were at the Springfield, Massachusetts, station, awaiting their next trip. Both cars were converted from former Penn Central Metroliner cars.

A former PC baggage car (PRR class B60B) is parked on a disconnected piece of track at the Springfield station and is used by Amtrak for storage. It is in reasonably good condition considering its age.

Above are pictures of the dozens of models on display at this year's convention.

On Friday, the PCRRHS visited the Railroad Museum of New England in Waterbury, CT. RMNE has equipment from all over New England, including former New Haven and Penn Central locomotives and cars, some of which operate over the Museum's Naugatuck Railroad. Below are some pictures from the RMNE visit.

New Haven RS3 529 has been restored by RMNE to its original McGinnis colors. This locomotive previously was Penn Central 5536 and Amtrak 138 before coming to RMNE.

The obligatory group photo was taken in front of former ConnDOT FL9 2019. This locomotive was built as New Haven 2049 and later became Penn Central 5049. It was rebuilt for Connecticut DOT and repainted into New Haven colors in the mid 1980s, and is now on long-term lease to RMNE.

The afternoon included a visit to the home of Branchline Trains in East Hartford, along with a visit of the Connecticut Southern Railway yard located nearby.

Saturday featured a visit to the Danbury Railway Museum in Danbury, CT. DRM also has a fleet of former Penn Central equipment in it collection.

New Haven 41 is a Budd RDC-1, restored to its McGinnis-era paint scheme.

Grand Central No. 1 is a double-ended crane used in the confines of Grand Central Terminal and the Park Avenue tunnel in New York City. This crane operated off of third rail or batteries. It was built in 1914.

This Alco RS11 locomotive was built at New Haven 1402. After the Penn Central merger, it wore black paint as PC 7662. Conrail renumbered it to 7589, and after they retired it, the locomotive was put into lease service and eventually made its way to a quarry in Georgia, never being repainted from its PC black. The locomotive was to be scrapped when DRM found about it, and they raised the necessary funds to purchase the locomotive and transport it back home to Connecticut. DRM plans to restore the RS11 to its original appearance as NH 1402, but it the meantime, they applied some temporary "PENN CENTRAL" lettering over its black paint.

Also on the property are the two cab cars from New Haven's experimental Roger Williams high-speed train, which was built using modified Budd RDC cars.

After lunch, some members went to a hobby shop, some went back to the convention hotel, and a few hearty souls braved the pouring rain to do some railfanning on the Metro-North New Haven Line, the former NH electrified main line between New York City and Hartford. This is a train of Metro-North M-2 cars crossing the Saugatuck River at Westport, CT.