When there are more D&H listings on this forum than NH, you know that the New Haven is a really fallen flag, even in model railroading. However, maybe somebody has drawings or pictures of the roofs of the late-model DL109s the NH had, or the modified roofs they got as time went by. Halloooooooooo ... anybody NH out there?
There's an "nhguy" on http://www.railroad-line.com/ that models NH. He grew up in CT but now lives in CO.
nhguy isn't on this forum but here is his reply via regular email: The New Haven roof on the Dl109's, of which there were 60, had no less than five roof configurations. To go along with the roof configurations there are at least three side panel configurations. All were built and delivered by ALCO during the WWII via the war production board from Dec 10th 1941 to Feb 4th 1945. This meant that the side panels were built with plywood/steel sheeting side panels. This is the model LifeLike/Walthers P1K models are. And they are only the first ten built and in the paint scheme portrayed. New Haven also had 7 different paint schemes on this locomotive. The last roof configuration was basically a cleaner roof with only the exhaust stacks, the radiator fan covers which were changed from manual to automatic air operated, and the vapor steam boiler vents on the rear of the unit. The fan housings had small boxes on each side of the housing added to cover the air louver controls. A good starting point would be the book "New Haven Diesel Locomotives Vol 2. DL109s, FAs and Demonstrators" by Liljiestrand & Sweetland It's black and white photography but has a lot of information and photos. The New Haven Historical and Technical Association can give him more information. NHRHTA.org. Bill Shanaman Sugar City, CO
Thanks for the help. I'm beginning to think there are no comprehensive drawings or photos of every roof configuration, or that they were piecemeal on a loco by loco basis. I've seen them with the rectangular vents gone and square roof vents but still with the other original roof attachments, ones with most vents gone but four short stacks over the engines, etc. But it would be nice to see the 5 official configurations.
Here's nhguy's reply: There are all kinds of photos and I have drawings that show a side and end views. You just have to buy or copy the photos you want. I have about 20 books on the NH. So you would need to do a little research photo wise. Drawing wise I have the NHRHTA drawings for all 3 models of the DL109 or DER 1, 1a, 1b & 1c. These are not blue prints but accurate drawings done by W.A Cuisinier fo the NHRHTA. These are known as Data Sheets. They are not available anymore as I understand it from the NHRHTA but I can copy them and sent them if you would like. Let me clear up a few points. There are only two engine exhaust stacks on all the units. There were two 1000 hp Alco 539T V-12 diesel engines in the units. These stack were located on the the engineers side of the car body. The cluttered roofs were on the first 10 DER-1 units 0700-0709. These had round roof fan housings and a host of vents, four over each pair of engine maintenance hatches (two each), for car body, oil breather and other vents (the Walthers models) and glass windows in the car body sides. These had composite side panels and rivet strips. These units had four car body louvers on each side which are now available as decals from Archer. The second group of DER1b's 0710-0749 showed up with the square fan housings (still mechanical and no small fan control boxes on the sides) and four small taller round 'derby' looking body vents on the center line of the roof, two over the front engine and two over the rear (one per maintenance hatch), still had glass in the car body windows and the composite sides with rivet strips. The two box type fan covers were ordered for the winterization as these tended to freeze in cold weather. The boxes helped keep the manual controls from freezing by keeping more of the engine compartment heat in protecting the controls. They look more like the standard RS1 radiator shuttered plopped on top of the existing round fan housings. So you can get those as an after market item I know in brass or cut them out of the Atlas RS1 car body. There were six louvers on each side of the car body. They added four off set because of the frame member to each side. 0750-0759 showed up later in 1945 looking about the same as above. The third group were re-designated DER1 a,b& c as they were extensively rebuilt with solid steel side panels immediately after WWII as steel was released as a war material. This is where the variations take place as some kept roof venting and others didn't. MOST did not. The side windows on the car bodies were removed, the window vent location moved up about a foot and cut rectangular and uses as the car body vents. The side panel vents disappeared except for the two small louvers on the nose on all units. The vents were covered with mesh grills to keep debris out and had filters inside the car body. You cannot see these filters like you can on later hood units like the RS11's and the century series units. The top car body roof vents were no longer needed and removed from most units. This is where you need a photo of a specific unit. There was one "B unit #0727 built with a bulbous nose housing so it could be used as a B unit in the middle of two other DL109s. They all pretty much stayed in the last configuration until scrapped with various paint schemes. Left you a PM.
