|
********************
QUAKER HILL1
********************
QUAKER HILL2
|
| C. Dunn Collection |
QUAKER HILL2. The earliest NLW&P timetables show no station
in this town. A helpful article in 1883 says that the WATERFORD station, the nearest to New London at the time, was four miles
away, which puts it here at Smith's Cove on today's Richards Grove Rd., as seen on the current day map. The 1893 topo map at upper left shows no station
at this location and calls the lower one that we know elsewhere as HARRISON [see H stations] WATERFORD. The Illustrated History of Waterford [p94] calls this depot WATERFORD. It says the earlier structure here was about 8-feet square and "hard
to find in a winter snowstorm by the trainmen." It burned in 1894 according to information the book gives from the New London Day without citation. We have yet to check that out but this open shelter may have been the simple replacement, undoubtedly
even harder to find in the snow! This looks to be standing in the northwest quadrant at the grade crossing. To keep the town
depot lineage in order, we have cross-listed this station as WATERFORD5: see W stations. [REFS: NHER/09/13/1883/01]
********************
QUINEBAUG1
![](sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/<div><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="677"><tbody><tr height="21"><td class="xl65" width="338" height="21" style="background-color: transparent; width: 254pt; height: 15.75pt; border: medium none #f0f0f0"><font face="Calibri" size="3"><strong>QUINEBAUG </strong><font size="2"></font><strong><br /></strong></font></td><td class="xl65" width="126" style="background-color: transparent; width: 95pt; border: medium none #f0f0f0"><font face="Calibri" size="3">THOMPSON</font></td><td class="xl65" width="68" style="background-color: transparent; width: 51pt; border: medium none #f0f0f0"><font face="Calibri" size="3">BHE</font></td><td class="xl70" width="77" style="background-color: transparent; width: 58pt; border: medium none #f0f0f0"><font face="Calibri" size="3">1863</font></td></tr></tbody></table> </div>)
|
| Dave Peters Collection |
QUINEBAUG. This stop first appears under the name
of NEW BOSTON on our 1871TT and becomes QUINEBAUG, sometimes spelled with 2 Ns, by our 1875TT. The Southbridge
branch line from EAST THOMPSON [see E stations] opened in February, 1867. [REFS: K111]
********************
QUINNIPIACK
QUINNIPIACK. The station is noted on the 1893
Hurd map [middle left] at the 'New' in New York and its footprint is seen on the 1915 valuation map [lower left: click
here for that full map]. 'FP' stands for frame structure, i.e. wooden, passenger station. On the present
day map [middle right], it looks to have sat at State and Foote Sts. This stop
was created
in 1871 according to a Register article, which said that the NYNH&H had just located
a new station, half way between New Haven and North Haven. The article goes on to say that most people would be very surprised to know that
the Hamden town border reached as far east as the Quinnipiac River. The article also said that the stop was to be called EAST
HAMDEN. Apparently the association with the nearby river gave this stop its name instead, with the variant spelling of QUINNIPIACK.
This station does not appear in 1858 to 1879TTs, but it is clearly mentioned in the newspaper at that exact latter time when
a church group from North Haven was stopping at this station "a few moments later" on the way to a picnic
at the NRR's HIGH ROCK GROVE [see H stations] in Beacon Falls. Interestingly, the NYNH&H cars were to be switched
to the NH&D, which was to run a "special train direct to the grove." This sharing of passenger
train business is interesting at a time when the NH&D was seeking legislative redress for being discriminated against
by the two other roads in freight traffic. See Track 2, MP2.2.2. The QUINNIPIACK structure has survived and is now CHESTER3, having been donated to Valley RR which placed it at
the site of CHESTER2 [see C stations] in that town. [REFS: NHER/09/22/1871/02;
NHER/08/05/1879/04; NHER/05/07/1896/01]
********************
RAWSON [> HAMPTON]
********************
RED BRIDGE [> HANOVER]
********************
RED TOP
Later day stop on the N&W line between GALES FERRY and SUBMARINE BASE.
********************
REDDING1
REDDING1 is seen west of the track on the 1856FC map at left. The stop
was established in 1852 when the D&N opened. The 1868 map on the right [add10/6] not only has that first 'station' shown, but it also shows a 'depot'
on the east side of the track, the structure that we have now listed as REDDING2 in the next entry. Just what the first station
looked like, we do not know. Also called WEST REDDING for the section of the town where the railroad built, this stop would
receive passengers for the camp meeting ground nearby, later transformed by the D&N into BROOKSIDE PARK.
********************
REDDING2
|
| Max Miller Collection |
|
| Dodd Center, UConn |
REDDING2. Brent Colley [click here] says this structure, which would serve for nearly a century as the depot, was built in 1864 and that
is plausible for making it too late to appear on the 1856FC map but in time to be seen on the 1868 map, both shown in our
previous entry. This building has gone through a succession of owners and remodelings and worn many hats over the years, serving as general store, post office, railroad station, private residence, and rental
apartments. The PUC photo at upper left likely dates to 1928 and the one on the right shows Emory P. Sanford as the proprietor,
after taking over ca. 1914. The floor plan at lower left [add10/7] shows the arrangement of the depot wing, the dating of which
addition is not clear. The colorful shot at lower right shows a bay window added to the south wall of the old depot space
and being operated as a liquor store after REDDING3 was built to the south in 1952. Currently, in 2011, REDDING2 houses a
cafe and a church. [REFS: R84; SL17.4.26]
********************
REDDING3
|
| Leroy Roberts Collection |
REDDING3. This may be the structure
that the NYNH&H built in 1952, probably on the expiration of the agreement for use of REDDING2. John Roy describes this
as "a no-frills concrete block passenger shelter" so either we have the wrong building or it has been dressed up
by the time this undated photo was taken. [REFS:
R84][add10/7]
********************
REDDING4
REDDING4. Now located south of Long Ridge Rd. on the west side of the track
and afforded a large parking lot, commuters have taken the train from this high-level platform since 1999. [add10/7]
********************
REEDS GAP
We are not sure whether this location
in Wallingford was ever a passenger stop on the NHM&W after it opened in 1870.
********************
REYNOLDS BRIDGE
REYNOLDS BRIDGE. The first listing we have for this station is in 1864, and though its
timetable appearance thereafter is a bit erratic as a flag stop, it is on all the RRM maps from 1876 onward. Al Weaver
colorized the photo at upper left, making the station more easily visible. We think the shot looks south
from the west side of the river. In the foreground is the trolley line from Thomaston, which crossed the river just south
of here, as seen highlighted in yellow on the map from the book Waterbury Trolleys
at middle right. The NRR itself recrossed the river to the east side where the station
is seen below its namesake highway bridge. REYNOLDS BRIDGE is still on the official list of 1923 but is gone in 1928. The
structure was moved in 1925 to serve as CAMPVILLE3, replacing the station that had just burned there. Service here was curtailed
in 1926, according to a Courant article that said REYNOLDS BRIDGE, BURRVILLE, CAMPVILLE, EAST LITCHFIELD
and FLUTEVILLE [see B,C,E,F stations] were being closed at that time, probably due to trolley competition. Service from Waterbury
to Winsted was being reduced to two round trips by steam train and four by gas rail car, with the yards at the latter place
being closed "as no trains are to lie over there" any more. The 1892 topo map shows the location quite accurately.
The red arrow shows the station location on the present day map at bottom left. The 'new'
Reynolds Bridge crossing is seen at the top of that map where it spans both the railroad track and the river. The beautiful concrete arch
structure still in use today opened on 5/18/1928. [REFS: NYH/11/27/1870/07;
HDC/05/12/1876/01; CRC34.1886.57; SR/09/10/1896/07;
HC/12/13/1906/15;
HC/06/20/1926/A12; HC/05/13/1928/03; D89]
********************
RIDGEFIELD1
|
| Dan Foley photo |
RIDGEFIELD1. The first depot in this town was known as BEERS STATION or RIDGEFIELD
STATION is the white house on the hillock above the track and the later station. Seen
on the 1856FC map, this stop was on the D&N main line at the point that
would become known as BRANCHVILLE [see B stations] when the Ridgefield branch was opened in 1870. Initially the railroad intended
to build a depot here, but then decided to rent space instead. Sherman Beers, who had already made land available for
the right of way, leased "the front two rooms in the basement in the dwelling house now occupied by me, together
with the room or office between the said front two rooms and now occupied as a bar room... for the uses and privileges
of a passenger house and ticket office for said railroad company." While we need to verify the source of the quoted material,
we thank Brent Colley [click here] who submitted it and Jack Sanders [click here], on whose research this is based in part.
********************
RIDGEFIELD2
|
| historyofredding.com |
RIDGEFIELD2 was built in the center of town in 1870 as the terminus of the new line from
the D&N main where RIDGEFIELD1 or BEERS STATION then became BRANCHVILLE1. The
1915 val map
looks looks
to the south, with the station on the west side of the track at what was then called Depot Hill St.,
now Prospect St. The track continued on to the freight house off the bottom of the map snippet. John Roy [p85] gives 8/8/1925 as the last date
of railroad use, part of the great passenger service cutbacks of that year. and Cornwall has a photo of an NE Transportation
bus [SL17.4.28] serving the station in 1926. NYNH&H real estate records show the structure was sold on 10/31/1946
and still is in use today as a lumber-company storage building. The photo in the upper right probably shows the station near the
time of opening. The tall, derby-hatted gentleman in the center is said to be John Bacon, D&N superintendent and later
a state railroad commissioner. According to the Ridgefield Historical Society, the building only later had the water-catching
cistern connections installed on the flat roof. Perhaps the changes in the doors and windows that we see came with the
retrofitting.
********************
RIVERSIDE1
RIVERSIDE1. The 1894
date on this photo is helpful. Best we can tell there was no stop on the east side of Cos Cob harbor
in the town of Greenwich before ca. 1880 and this structure reflects the style of the period, though it is rather large for
a first station. There is no listing on an 1879 timetable but there is one in our 1883 Price and Lee railway guide.
The first mention by the railroad commissioners is regarding a fatality here in their annual report reflecting the year
1881. No mention of the reason for its creation has been found, though most river crossings had stations on both shores. The
COS COB station on the western bank dates at least to an 1858 timetable we have seen. If John Roy [p85] is correct that the
present westbound station, RIVERSIDE3, replaced an 1890s saltbox type structure built at the time of the four-tracking,
RIVERSIDE2, then RIVERSIDE1 was on the eastbound side. [CRC29.1882.103; NHER/06/09/1882/01; NHER/05/13/1893/04; NHER/07/17/1894/01]
********************
RIVERSIDE2
[WB]
|
| Dave Peters Collection |
RIVERSIDE2. This is a 1930
val photo of this station that was built ca. 1895 on the westbound side of the tracks.
********************
RIVERSIDE3 [EB]
RIVERSIDE3. If we are correct in the placement of stations
on each side of the track, RIVERSIDE1 on the eastbound side was probably taken down at the time of the four-tracking and replaced
with the simple canopy seen on the right in this postcard view. RIVERSIDE2 is also seen on the westbound side.
********************
RIVERSIDE4 [WB]
RIVERSIDE4. Station built, 1945-1965(?), on the westbound side to replace RIVERSIDE2.
********************
RIVERSIDE5 [EB]
RIVERSIDE5. Shelter built in the 1990s on eastbound side of tracks to replace RIVERSIDE3.
********************
ROCKFALL
|
| C. Dunn Collection |
|
| Dave Peters Collection |
|
| Max Miller Collection |
ROCKFALL. Stop established in 1870
by the NHM&W. The approach to this station was on a high bridge over the Coginchaug River just south of the depot and
today located in Wadsworth Falls State Park.
********************
ROCKVILLE
|
| Dave Peters Collection |
ROCKVILLE. Terminus of the 1863 Rockville RR in the village of that name in the town of Vernon. [REFS: CRC43.1895.23: enlarged
grounds; HC/03/03 /1903/02: new depot may be coming]
********************
ROCKVILLE JUNCTION
[> WEST STREET]
********************
ROCKY HILL1
ROCKY
HILL1 was apparently an old house that had been in use presumably from 1871 when the CV opened and replacement was called
for in 1888. [REFS: HDC/03/07/1888/06]
********************
ROCKY HILL2
|
| Dave Peters Collection |
ROCKY HILL2. [REFS: HC/12/01/1891/06: work begun on new station;
R86]
********************
ROMFORD1
ROMFORD1. This proper little depot was built in 1872 when the Shepaug RR opened. Lord says exterior improvements, including the addition of the porch on the
end, were done in 1916 and that the station burned in the 1920s. A
real estate record card found in the Shepaug railroad collection donated to the Litchfield Historical Society [click here] by Ed Brady, says this station was destroyed by fire on 1/8/1917.
Lord says the replacement was a passenger car spotted on the siding that served as a station while service gradually diminished
on what was now the Litchfield branch of the NYNH&H. Unlabeled as such here, the val photo on the right, taken on 10/10/1916,
was probably the last picture to be taken prior to the fire. [REFS: D151]
********************
ROMFORD2
ROMFORD2 was a passenger car that was parked on the siding and used as a station after the 1917 fire that took the
first station.
********************
ROSSITERVILLE [> BURRVILLE]
********************
ROWAYTON1 [EB]
|
| C. Dunn Collection |
ROWAYTON1. This section of Norwalk was originally known as Five Mile River or South Five Mile River for the waterway that empties into Long Island Sound here. Locals approached the railroad commissioners
in 1866 to order the NY&NH to establish a station here but were told that the commissioners had no statutory
power to give such an order. The railroad, however, must have acquiesced shortly thereafter
since the Courant
mentions a depot in 1868, reporting erroneously its being named SOUTH MILE RIVER, leaving out the FIVE that
is seen on the ca. 1876 map at upper left, and [add1/20>] a newly found article from May, 1869 says that the depot
was built about a year ago.>] The map demonstrates
an ambiguity, seen here and at other stations as well, with differing names for the post office and the railroad station.
This confusion was likely part of the
reason area residents were meeting to
consider what the village should be called precisely at this time. To further add to the difficulty, the RRMs call this stop FIVE
MILE RIVER until 1883 when they start listing both names, sometimes making them look like separate stops! There at least is agreement between the 1876 map and the
1893 map [lower left] that show that the first depot was on the south, eastbound, side of the tracks. Our photograph, a rare view, thus looks toward New Haven some time between
1868 and the four-tracking of 1894. The ca. 1900 city directory map at lower right shows the larger area and nearby WILSON
POINT. [REFS: RRC5.23 (9/11/1866); HDC/03/09/1868/04; NYHT/05/22/1869/04; HDC/06/22/1871/04; 1871TT; HDC/08/22/1872/01;
CRC21.1874.59; NHJC/07/11/1879/02; RRM1882;
RRM1883; 1894TT]
********************
ROWAYTON2
[EB]
|
| Dave Peters Collection |
|
| Leroy Roberts Collection |
|
| Dana Laird Collection |
ROWAYTON2. This station was built with the four-tracking that likely necessitated
the taking down of ROWAYTON1. The bottom images are from the real estate field card where we have circled in red the 1896
date on the front and the reverse side has a sketch of the floor plan. The
val photo on the upper left shows this structure without its covershed in 1916.
The one on the upper right, taken on 2/25/1931, looks back toward Stamford. The 1915 val map [middle right] shows this station south of the track and ROWAYTON4 north of the track. The
middle left photo is an eastward-looking view of what was left of this
station in the 1950s, once again without the covershed, and probably not too long before the station was removed.
********************
ROWAYTON3 [WB]
ROWAYTON3 must have been a predecessor station on the westbound side that was replaced in 1910. We have not yet learned
why it was replaced or what it looked like.
********************
ROWAYTON4 [WB]
|
| Leroy Roberts Collection |
ROWAYTON4. With
terra cotta walls and Spanish tile roof, this was the station mentioned as being under construction in the 1909 annual report.
What is not clear is what happened to the previous one, assuming that the
four-tracking in 1896 caused an earlier station to be built here on the westbound side. We have yet to find a photo for that station which we are designating as ROWAYTON3. As captured in the image at lower right, ROWAYTON4 was one of
two, the other being NOROTON, in 1955 to get platform canopies designed by famed architect Minoru Yamasaki. [REFS: NHAR38.1909.7;
R86]
********************
ROWAYTON5 [EB]
ROWAYTON5. Built in the 1990s for Metro-North. [REFS: HC/05/23/1974/95D]
********************
ROXBURY
ROXBURY. Stop in the town of the same name established in 1872 when the Shepaug RR opened. The building
is still in commercial use today in 2010, as seen in the top right photo. [REFS: D157; R87]
********************
ROXBURY FALLS
|
| Max Miller Collection |
ROXBURY FALLS. Stop established in
the town of Roxbury in 1872 when the Shepaug RR opened. [REFS: HDC/08/08/1873/04: depot built; D157]
********************
RYE STREET
RYE STREET. This stop was in the town of South Windsor. This shelter stood
on the west side of the track as shown by the 1915 val map. This was not an
original stop on the Connecticut Central but does appear by our 1907TT and probably earlier as well.
__________________________________
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