Track 12 - CT Passenger Stations Home Page
Track 12 is a work in progress, a serious attempt to produce a complete, all-time list of passenger stations in Connecticut, to include the name(s) of each depot, notation of the town in which it was built, the railroad that built it, the dates of opening and, if possible, of closing and/or demise. By rough count there were approximately 850 identifiable structures or presumed facilities that succeeded each other over time and served railroad stations at roughly 450 locations in this state. Annotations will attempt to give historical background and include maps, photos, images, and citations to sources of the information we offer. We alternate the use of the terms depot and station with no difference in meaning intended, though strict usage of the former meant a structure and the latter technically was a surveyor's point on a railroad often identified with the place where trains stopped.
We are all indebted to Leroy Roberts who was the impetus for this project and whose knowledge of this subject is encyclopedic. He compiled the initial station list and has donated most of his photographs to Archives and Special Collections Department at UConn. All photos not otherwise credited are from the Leroy Roberts Collection and are used with his express and exclusive permission. In the shots chosen for TCS, we look for ones that best display the physical attributes of the structure, the signboard being one of the most important criteria. In some cases there are several images of the same station which you can see when you search sites like Connecticut History Online [CHO].
To assemble the station data, we comb through documents, railroad commissioners' records, and historical newspapers and other periodicals for mentions of depots being built and, conversely, stations that burned, were torn down or moved and replaced. We examine maps, where available over a period of years, for depot locations and changes therein. Oakley Hoopes Bailey's bird's-eye maps are especially helpful and sometimes show images of depots seen nowhere else. Timetables are another way to track the existence of a stop, although these publications, official and commercial, often omit flag stations, seasonal and local stops that we know from other sources were in existence. Local histories and secondary research materials are also examined for clues. Perhaps most importantly, we scrutinize photographs in an attempt to distinguish one station from another and to find images of the many depots for which we lack visual evidence. Hopefully, even as this evolves, Track 12 will be a reference resource that will be of service to rail enthusiasts, local historians, and serious researchers in all disciplines. [rev012314]
As with all TCS material, we encourage the personal and scholarly use of the data but we cannot allow wholesale reproduction of this website in whole or in part for any reason. Please contact us on the further use of the material found at TCS.
Email all inquiries and all other correspondence to [email protected], c/o Bob, WebStationmaster.
************
- Click on the Track 12 drop-down menus in the navigation bar for CT Stations A-L and M-Y to find stations alphabetically.
- The [>] symbol and capitalized names throughout the list and in the annotations are 'See' references to other station entries on Track 12.
- Number suffixes, e.g. NEW HAVEN1, arrange depots of that name in chronological order, with further delineation ('/N', etc.) for the same station name at multiple locations.
- Use the CTTRAXMAP on Track 11 to locate stations, rail and trolley lines, and POIs.
Track 12 is a work in progress, a serious attempt to produce a complete, all-time list of passenger stations in Connecticut, to include the name(s) of each depot, notation of the town in which it was built, the railroad that built it, the dates of opening and, if possible, of closing and/or demise. By rough count there were approximately 850 identifiable structures or presumed facilities that succeeded each other over time and served railroad stations at roughly 450 locations in this state. Annotations will attempt to give historical background and include maps, photos, images, and citations to sources of the information we offer. We alternate the use of the terms depot and station with no difference in meaning intended, though strict usage of the former meant a structure and the latter technically was a surveyor's point on a railroad often identified with the place where trains stopped.
We are all indebted to Leroy Roberts who was the impetus for this project and whose knowledge of this subject is encyclopedic. He compiled the initial station list and has donated most of his photographs to Archives and Special Collections Department at UConn. All photos not otherwise credited are from the Leroy Roberts Collection and are used with his express and exclusive permission. In the shots chosen for TCS, we look for ones that best display the physical attributes of the structure, the signboard being one of the most important criteria. In some cases there are several images of the same station which you can see when you search sites like Connecticut History Online [CHO].
To assemble the station data, we comb through documents, railroad commissioners' records, and historical newspapers and other periodicals for mentions of depots being built and, conversely, stations that burned, were torn down or moved and replaced. We examine maps, where available over a period of years, for depot locations and changes therein. Oakley Hoopes Bailey's bird's-eye maps are especially helpful and sometimes show images of depots seen nowhere else. Timetables are another way to track the existence of a stop, although these publications, official and commercial, often omit flag stations, seasonal and local stops that we know from other sources were in existence. Local histories and secondary research materials are also examined for clues. Perhaps most importantly, we scrutinize photographs in an attempt to distinguish one station from another and to find images of the many depots for which we lack visual evidence. Hopefully, even as this evolves, Track 12 will be a reference resource that will be of service to rail enthusiasts, local historians, and serious researchers in all disciplines. [rev012314]
As with all TCS material, we encourage the personal and scholarly use of the data but we cannot allow wholesale reproduction of this website in whole or in part for any reason. Please contact us on the further use of the material found at TCS.
Email all inquiries and all other correspondence to [email protected], c/o Bob, WebStationmaster.
************