Hartford Trolleys (Images of Rail)

Central and Northwestern Connecticut Interurbans

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Hartford Trolleys - Images of Rail Description: Profusely illustrated with beautiful historical photographs.

By Hartford had an extensive system of streetcar lines radiating from the city in all directions. The Hartford division of the Connecticut Company totaled more than one hundred twenty-five miles of track for streetcars, the dominant mode of public transportation in central Connecticut. By the s, the lighter density streetcar lines were no longer lucrative and the system was converted to a motor coach operation; by the early s, the automobile had replaced the streetcar as the favored mode of transport.

The advent of automobile transportation eventually led to the closing of all the Hartford streetcar lines in July Visit my Ebay store: When this road was being built, Waterbury people were not interested in its going north of that point. Since the opening of the Farmington Canal, Waterbury freight had been hauled to Cheshire and shipped on the canals.

However, after much talk pro and con, the line to Cheshire was never built and the Naugatuck was completed to Winsted.

The Naugatuck did a fine business for many years. In the early 's it was combined with the Berkshire Division. About , the double tracking of the Naugatuck Division was commenced at the end of double track at Wheelers Farms and was completed to Waterbury in It was a big job, in places the course of the Naugatuck River was changed.

An entire new railroad was built from Derby Jct. About , automatic train control was installed between Derby and Ansonia and engine was equipped to test out the new system. This eliminated the pushers from Sandy Hook to Towontic. On March 29, , the last train left the Bank St. The present Waterbury station was opened to the public on June 11, The tower is modeled after a building in Sienna, Italy, which was built in and is said to be still standing. If the Waterbury station stands that long it will be a great testimony to railroad men and to the thousands who have used it.

It was a big day for Waterbury when the new station was opened. Another big day was on October 30, On that date the entire equipment of the Western Division offices was moved from New Haven to their new quarters in the Waterbury station. A Waterbury newspaper stated that it was a momentous task to perform in a few hours.

The train hauling this equipment consisted of 3 baggage cars, and 2 coaches for the Brass Hats and their personnel.

HIS PASSION FOR TRAINS PRODUCED TREASURE TROVE OF PHOTOS

It arrived at 1: It was some job to tote 3 carloads of equipment up the odd stairs to the offices, but by 6: Blakeslee, and the fireman Charles Downs. Engine hauled the train.

After what is known as the high grade yard, and fill was completed, there were, besides the yard tracks, four main line tracks between Bank St. Junction and Highland Junction towers. Tracks 2 and 4 were used for passenger trains and 1 and 3 for freight trains, Soon after World War I, this four track operation was changed to double track operation and tracks 2 and 4 changed to 1 and 2. In the middle 's, track 5 was operated as the Winsted main line between Bank St. No one had any idea then, that on January 15, , at Another busy place in the old days was the terminal at Winsted There were about 12 runs tied up there at one time and some more at the Central New England engine house at West Winsted, long since gone.

There are now only 2 passenger trains and one freight each day into Winsted. This is only one example of similar conditions all over the system. The Naugy is still running for its entire length, which is more than can be said for some of her sister roads. With the many large industrial plants and large towns and cities along its route, with a fair competition, it should be able to operate for many years.

There is no doubt that the Naugatuck Railroad has done more than any other single factor in developing the busy industrial section between Derby and Winsted. It contained all the usual attractions of resorts of this kind, including a brass band. This band had to be playing whenever a passenger train passed by, and as the superintendent often rode these trains, he wanted to be sure that the members of the band were on their jobs. During the season, many of the regular trains stopped there and many special trains with picnic parties were run from Waterbury, Bridgeport, New Haven and other points.

Pensioned engineer Fred Jackson of Waterbury and retired foreman hostler Charles Downs of Northford worked at this resort when they were boys. Downs has an unlimited amount of information on the resort.

Hartford Trolleys

While it cannot compare with the many famous trains of today, the old theater train which left New Haven at In the early 's there were no movies and some of the stage presentations often had five acts. Many of the people from points outside of New Haven would begin to plan missing the last act in order to get their trains home. When the curtain fell on the fourth act, however, announcement was made from the stage that the theater trains for Meriden, Guilford and Waterbury would wait for the completion of the show.

The trains would wait to allow ample time for all to get aboard, including the few bad men who stopped for a beer. If the old combination car on this train could talk, there would be many an interesting tale told. One of the fastest runs ever made on the Naugatuck was on February 2, , when Engineer Barney Hubbel brought the Bridgeport Fire Department to Waterbury to assist in extinguishing the great fire that threatened the city.

Much of the information on the Naugatuck Railroad was furnished by Mr.

Collins, engine dispatcher at Waterbury, Conn. It reached its connection at Hopewell Jct. Today freight is routed via the Poughkeepsie Bridge, over the old route to Hawleyville and then down to the Shelton loop to Waterbury and Hartford.

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This train was succeeded by the famous "Ghost Train" in and ran until This train was also known as the "White Train", as the cars were painted white. The trains were numbered 45, 46, 55 and About , the N. The New England Terminal Co. The above schedule is copied from a public timetable of the Housatonic RR dated Sept. The train ran for only a year, did not show on the timetable, but trains are shown running over the same route leaving Boston at 12 noon, due Brooklyn 8: After running this duplicate service for a while, both roads called off their dogs.

About , the third rail, known as the power rail, was installed between Hartford and Bristol and between New Britain and Berlin. At this time, there was double track between Hartford and Bristol. One of the tracks was turned over for the use of the third rail cars and the other track for steam trains, both being operated under single track rules.

The third rail cars ran every hour from Hartford to Bristol and every half hour from Hartford to New Britain. The time card meeting points were Newington Siding and Cooks. The tracks crossed over at New Britain. The fare was divided into zones, 10 cents anywhere in the zone between New Britain and Hartford and 10 cents to stations in the zone between New Britain and Bristol. The zone tickets were called dinkey tickets by the public.

As the live, or power, rail was placed between the two running rails, there were many animals killed by coming into contact with the live rail. About , President Mellen planned to have the power rail removed and overhead trolley wire installed. He also planned to run the cars on the railroad from Bristol to Parkville and then on the streets through the business district of Hartford.

It seems that the trolleys in Hartford used the grooved instead of the T rail and wouldn't change. There were many arguments on the subject, but Hartford wouldn't change and the plan was abandoned. Steam service was reinstated and ran for a number of years on the same schedule as the former third rail cars. Later double track operation was resumed between Hartford and Bristol. For many years there was a colored conductor named Henry Verness, who worked on this road.

He first worked in the freight house in Rockville and later was employed as a brakeman and worked up to be a passenger conductor. He was well liked and highly respected by all who knew or worked with him and when he died, his body lay in state in the townhall in Rockville.

Mellen saw Henry and ordered him discharged because he was colored. Mellen that Henry would have to be put back on his job, or the people of Rockville would take back their railroad. Henry went back to work. He retired in after giving many years of faithful service to the railroad. A branch line was built and opened in from West St. Rockville, to connect with the Connecticut Central at Melrose.

This road was later extended to Groton. There were rumors at one time about building a new line from Hopewell Jct. The double track was completed to Danbury, Wildman St. At Hawleyville an entirely new route was built to a point about one mile east of what was later known as R. About the time the work was being done on the west end, the road from Waterbury to Bristol, including the building of Terryville tunnel, was being double tracked.

Much of the route between those points was changed. After this work was completed, the old New York and New England had, with the exception of the road between Columbia and Vernon, a double track line from Boston to Waterbury. It was sometimes called the Great Northern by some of the men who worked on it, because in the fall of the year, sometimes we had a great time getting over the road when the leaves were falling.

There were many carloads of stone hauled at one time from the quarries at Roxbury. It is said that the stone for the Brooklyn Bridge came from these quarries. In later years, there was a big ice house built at Bantam Lake. As many as 27 carloads of ice a day were hauled during the summer, but we shouldn't have said hauled, for 27 carloads didn't need any hauling from Bantam to the Housatonic River. They just shoved you down, but from there to Hawleyville you sure had to do some hauling. No more trains of ice from Bantam, Congamond and other points, the Frigidaire took away this business, and when cement began to be used for building, the stone quarries closed down and that business was lost.

At one time, it was intended to extend this railroad to Torrington or Winsted, but it was never built beyond Litchfield. A freight train also made a round trip from Danbury, via Bethel, to Litchfield. This train did the local work and handled quite a few cars of milk, and was sometimes called the little milk. In the summer of , a thru train from Litchfield to New York was put in service.

This train did a nice business for a few summers but by the automobile got most of the business and that was the last summer it ran. In or 9, the two passenger trains were run into Danbury instead of to Bethel and the branch from Hawleyville was abandoned June This connecting point, near the present Waterbury engine house, was known as Meriden Jct. The purchasers of the foreclosed company formed a new company which was incorporated in The railroad was again put in service from Waterbury to Westfield, Conn.

The track from Westfield to Cromwell was not restored and the rails and ties were removed in Trains now made two round trips week days between Middletown and Waterbury. Trolley service was installed between East Meriden and Middletown in and the steam train's now made two round trips week days between Meriden and Waterbury. Later this service was cut to one round trip. The last train service Meriden to Waterbury was June 24,, as shortly after the start of World War I, passengers had dropped to one a day, a man named Mr. He put up an awful kick when he heard the road was to be abandoned, even taking his case to Washington, D.

Station, Meriden to East Farms station. View More by This Author. Description By Hartford had an extensive system of streetcar lines radiating from the city in all directions. Other Books in This Series. Rails in and around Saratoga Springs Rail Depots of Eastern North Carolina San Diego Trolleys Delaware Valley Railway Building Grand Central Terminal

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