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Cos Cob Power Plant Collection Edit

Summary

Identifier
A.1990.119
Finding Aid Author
Leslie Albamonte
Finding Aid Date
December 20, 2021
Description Rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Edition Statement
Edited October 11, 2023 by Ashley Aberg
Finding Aid Note
Part of the Manuscript Collections, Greenwich Historical Society www.greenwichhistory.org Contact: Christopher Shields, Curator of Library and Archives 47 Strickland Road Cos Cob, CT 06807 United Stated cshields@greenwichhistory.org

Dates

  • 1903-2003 (Creation)

Extents

  • 7 Linear Feet (Whole)
    10 Manuscript Boxes, one half box, one flat box, 4 document tubes

Subjects

Notes

  • Preferred Citation

    [Identification of Item], Cos Cob Power Plant Collection, Greenwich Historical Society

  • Conditions Governing Access

    Access to this collection is unrestricted.

  • Physical Characteristics

    This collection consists entirely of paper documents and photographs, which do not require any additional technology for access.

  • Abstract

    The Cos Cob Power Plant, an electrical power plant located in Greenwich, Connecticut, was part of a pioneering venture in mainline railroad electrification. With the Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Company, the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad designed an efficient system using alternating-current (ac) electrification that facilitated railroad traffic into urban areas after the New York legislature passed laws prohibiting the use of steam locomotives in New York City south of the Harlem River. Construction of the Cos Cob Power Plant was completed in 1907 and served as the generating station for power to the trains. (Source https://archivessearch.lib.uconn.edu/repositories/2/resources/320) This collection consists of blueprints and wiring diagrams for the electrical systems of the Woodlawn, New York, to New Haven, Connecticut, line, with architectural drawings, Instructional records, photographs, and administrative correspondences.

  • History

    The Cos Cob Power Plant was conceived in 1903 as a result of the New York State legislature’s law that prohibited all steam locomotives from entering New York City after 1908 due to train wrecks in the Park Avenue Tunnel caused by low visibility from locomotive smoke and steam. The New York Central Railroad, which operated all railroad traffic between Woodlawn, New York, into New York City, decided to install a low-voltage direct current third-rail electrical system; thus after 1908 all locomotives coming into New York City's Grand Central Terminal (then under construction), would be forced to operate off third- rail.

    Although the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad, better known as the New Haven Railroad, operated considerable low- voltage direct current trackage at this time, this system was considered inadequate for the operation of heavy trains over long distances at high speeds. The New Haven Railroad’s engineers, working with Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Company of Pennsylvania, decided to install high-voltage 11,000 volt overhead wires on the tracks from Woodlawn, New York, into Connecticut. These wires would be powered from the railroad's own power station, using single-phase alternating current (ac) electricity. This was done at a time when low-voltage direct current electrification was the rail standard of the day.

    Construction of the power plant began in 1905 in Cos Cob, Connecticut, located in the town of Greenwich on the Mianus River. On 24 July 1907, the first New Haven Railroad electrified passenger train traveled from Grand Central Terminal to New Rochelle, New York. The initial electrification covered all four tracks to Stamford, Connecticut, and in 1913-1914 was extended to New Haven, Connecticut.

    The New York Central Railroad's third-rail system from Woodlawn, New York, into Grand Central Terminal required the New Haven Railroad's locomotives to operate both off this system and on their own high-voltage overhead wire. This meant that these locomotives and multiple unit cars had to change over between these two systems while moving at track speed. With so much traffic it was considered unworkable to stop every train for the changeover.

    The initial overhead catenary construction from Woodlawn to Stamford utilized two parallel messenger wires supporting a single trolley wire by vertical hangers, resulting in a triangular construction. The rigidity of this arrangement was found to be undesireable, so the 1913-1914 electrification extension to New Haven utilized a single messenger wire, as did other extensions. The system reached 673 track miles at its maximum.

    The Cos Cob Power Plant was the first power plant built exclusively for a railroad and is considered an engineering achievement for its use of high-voltage alternating current (ac) for railroad electrification. The plant served the New Haven Railroad until the railroad's demise in 1969, and then served Penn Central, Conrail and Metro-North until it was closed in 1986. The Cos Cob Power Plant received landmark status from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers/Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers in 1982.

    Source: https://archivessearch.lib.uconn.edu/repositories/2/resources/320

  • Arrangement

    Arranged into 4 Series: Administrative, Blueprints, Parts Information/Instructions, Photographs

  • Scope and Contents

    This collection of the Cos Cob Power Plant contains records ranging from 1903 to 2002. Arranged into 4 series, the bulk of the collection consists of blueprints and wiring diagrams for the electrical systems that provided power to the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad.

    Administrative Records are arranged by sub-series General Administrative, Operational Records, Power Problems, Publications, Substation Information,and Site Plans dated as recently as 1995.

    Parts Information and Instructions booklets are included and represent mostly Westinghouse parts and components, along with a few GE parts, and general instructions for the plant.

    A small amount of photographs and a photo album belonging to Roger Nichols (album dated 1904-1920) represent the Photograph series.

  • General

    Associated accession numbers: A.1990.119, A.1991.072, A.1992.015, A.1993.020, A.1993,020A1, A.1993.020A2, A.1993.046, A. 2001. 005, A.2001.031, A.2001.037, A.2002.042, A.2003.001, A.2003.007, A.2003.008, A.2006.003, A.2006.024, A.2013.010, A.2016.010, A.2019.017, A.2019.022

Components