The Bridgeport evening farmer. [volume] (Bridgeport, Conn.) 1866-1917, 1917-08-23

Montowese, or Cedar Hill as it is
generally called, near New Haven.
The construction of this yard is con-
sidered by railroad officials as one OF
the most important undertakings of
the New Haven in it's program to en-
large the capacity of the road.
When Completed, which will be
along in the spring of 1918, the Mont
owese Yard will be the largest and
raost complete in New England, and
d comparison with the character and
volume of business handled, it will
rank with the great railroad yards
Of the country. .
The plans for the new yard have
been drawn with the idea Of increas-
ing and improving the service of the
New Haven Railroad so that it will
fully meet all the demands of the
travelling public and the commercial
interests. The road will be able to
handle the peak load at all times
without delay or congestion, for pres
emit terminals and main line tracks
will be materially relieved of much
of their present burden.
The new classification yard is to be
located 3esagy New Hayen3 heeause OF
the relative Importance of that city
to the whole New Haven system. 1T
is similar to the hub of wheel. I'm
portant lines radiate from New Ha-
ven to New York; to the west over
the Poughkeepsie Bridge route; to
Waterbury and Winsted; via the
Canal line to Holyoke, Northampton
and other points; to Hartford and
Springfie ld;-vtas the1Air Line to Mid
dietown, eWffrfhiafitfc and points in
the northeast; and over the low
grades of the Shore Line to New
London, Providence and Boston, and,
other points in Rhode Island and
eastern Massachusetts,.
The essential purpose of this huge
classification yard will be to receive
trains from all routes made up of
cars for all destinations. In the yard
the cars. will be sorted out and made
up into trains for their proper destin-
nation. All trains will lepve the
yard in station order for all the i'm
portant destinations, many Of them
being straight made up trains for
each of the more important CONNER
cial ceptres. Such classification in a
single yard equipped to handle such
a huge task will overcome the over
crowding of terminals and yards at
the gateways and other points, which
Is the main cause of restriction and
delay in the movement of freight on
the New Haven. The New Haven or
( igfnally was road with two main
arteries, one extending from New
York to Boston and the other from
New York to Springfield. or the
handling of freight for points on the
east end of the system, power and
: crews were changed at Midway. With
the gradual development of the sys-
tenn and of other lines, notably the
Central New England route via the
Poughkeepsie Bridge, the handling
of freight became more complex and
dicult. Yards and terminals were
built or enlarged as the demands of
individual sections or centres grew.
The purpose of such yards and ter
minals, however, is to handle pri-
marily the business local to their To-
cation, that is, traffic which is des-
tined to or which originates at the
point where the yard is located.
With the enormous and unprece-
dented increase In business that de-
yeloped in the latter part of 1915
there was a proportionate increase in
the burden thrown upon these local
Yards and terminals. Before this in
Crease in business developed, the New
Haven had laying idle large per-
centage of it's freight car and loco
motive equipment that had been put
In thorough repair. AT that time had
apyone predicted 10 or 20 per cent
Increase in business, both. business
men and railroad officials would have
been extremely doubtful. But the
New Haven would have been ready
and could have handled easily such
{v1 p,,% 81 -
when it came, was extraordinary. II
many places in New England, bushes.
was more than doubled.N Terminal.
and yards had to be enlarged in quicl
order. But even suchx measures die
not keep pace with the growtaT in bus
mess and the demand for railway IA
4 cilities. Z As a result yards and ter
minals became overcrowded, train
were held up at the gateways, which
IN turn became congested, and EN-
bargoes had to be resorted to.
ut soon became apparent to tn
New Haven officials that revolution
airy methods Of handling freight il
New EffElAnd hadtto be evolved. TIL
MontoweAesIam SIs2ste rFault In
stead Of crowding local terminals an,
yards, and instead of delaying car
at the gateways and enforcing EN-
bargoes. trains will be sent into Mont
owese Yard from all directions wher
the cars will be classified and sorte,
and sent out in trains to the gate
ways. IL westbound, and to the loca
tards and terminals If consigned t
New England points.
The Mpntowese Y ard Willsbe of tn
hump HypeT SThar4 VIII BE two dis
tinct sections. one for eastbound an
northbound traffic, and the other TO
south and westbound traffic. Fac
section will have three clusters O
tracks. The first cluster will be tn
receiving yard into which arrivin
trains pull in. The, tracks in the re
ceiving cluster will practically e1imi
nate the standing of freight trains i
the cuts and on the main line, bot
east and west Of the New Haven, sta
tfon. 1t will also prevent. delay t
freight trains at other points in tn
vicinity of New Haven. The mex
cluster is known as the classif1catio
yard. There will be about rs track
in the east and northbound cluste
and 10 in the west and southboun
cluster. They will be short track
into which cars will be delivered b
cutting them Off at the hump at tn
apex of this yard and letting ther
drop into the various tracks b
gravity, Each track in these tw
classification clusters will represent