|
|
********************
WALDO
[>SCOTLAND]
********************
WALKLEY HILL
WALKLEY HILL was established as a flag stop in 1871 between HADDAM and HIGGANUM at the home of the first president of the Connecticut Valley RR, James C. Walkley. Thought by some to be his private station,
it was used by the public also, at times heavily. The station agent also handled the arrangements for the steamboats docking
at Rock Landing, which was on the east side of the Connecticut River and almost directly across from the railroad station
and sold tickets there to passengers wishing to board at WALKLEY HILL. On October 23, 1872 it was reported that station agent
George E. Russell had sold 407 tickets since June 8. Reportedly, these riders had to provide their own passage across the
river! This depot reportedly also had the only locomotive water column between Middletown and Old Saybrook. The WALKLEY HILL station burned in 1887 and no photos have been found yet. [REFS:; HDC/10/26/1872/04; DC/10/23/1872;
RRC8.438 (1874)]
********************
WALLINGFORD1
WALLINGFORD1. According to Dave Peters, the residence seen on the left
served as the first station in town along the still single-tracked H&NH. This is an 1852 inset added to the Bailey bird's-eye map of 1905 [click here]. The scene looks east, with the churches on Main St. in the distance.
********************
WALLINGFORD2 [> EAST WALLINGFORD1]
********************
WALLINGFORD3
|
| Leroy Roberts Collection |
|
| Leroy Roberts Collection |
WALLINGFORD3. The image at lower left is from the Bailey bird's-eye map of 1881 and highlights the striking image of this station that opened on 11/4/1871 and the matching freight house
across the tracks. Saved through the valiant and persistent efforts of Dave Peters, it was renovated and restored to its original
grandeur and still serves the community today. It received an NRHP designation in 1993. [REFS: HDC/11/07/1871/04; R101]
********************
WALLINGFORD4 [> EAST WALLINGFORD2]
********************
WAPPING [> SOUTH WINDSOR]
********************
WAREHOUSE POINT1
WAREHOUSE POINT1, just east of the river crossing, at the location seen
on the 1855HC map. We have designated this as the first station here, for which we yet have no photo, based in the fact that
the station in the next photo is too large to have been built in 1844 when the railroad to Springfield was opened.
********************
WAREHOUSE POINT2
|
| Richard A. Fleischer Collection |
|
| Dave Peters Collection |
WAREHOUSE POINT2. John Roy [p102] gives 1872 as
the build date for this trim, brick structure, which he says was heavily damaged in the 1938 hurricane and taken down the
next year. Trains crossing the Connecticut River, as in the photo, arrived here quickly at this, the first station on the
east side of the river on the way to Springfield. The differences in the windows on each end are considerable so that seeing
separate, unlabeled photos we hesitated to think the ends belonged to the same station.
********************
WASHINGTON1
|
| New York Public Library |
WASHINGTON1. Al Weaver recently noticed the stereopticon card [top images]
in the New York Public Library's online digital collections, which include hundreds of Connecticut items. When we conferred,
it seemed likely that this photo taken by the nearby Bennett firm of New Milford was properly labeled as Washington and had
to be the first station here. The lower photo [add1/23], though grainy, also
shows this elaborate first station. This depot, described as one and a half stories, burned on 4/9/1895, fire having spread
from the Watts Bros. general store that was struck by lightning. Both buildings were totally destroyed but valuables were
rescued from the depot before the flames consumed it. [REFS: NHER/04/10/1895/01; D154; R102]
********************
WASHINGTON2
|
| Jack Swanberg Collection |
WASHINGTON2
********************
WASHINING
WASHINING. This was the first CW stop west of CANAAN, about
a mile east of the TWIN LAKES station. This may have begun as a flag stop named FOLEYS, first seen on a 4/2/1872ETT, and then
it is not seen on 1882, 1890, 1900, 1903 or 1907TTs, though we find it in the GHDs throughout all these years. The Courant said in 1909 that a BLAKE SUMMIT flag stop has been established here and a side track put in for the
convenience of Twin Lakes campers on the south and east shores of the upper lake. Even then it does not show up on a CNE 6/5/1910TT
but it does appear as BLAKE'S SUMMIT on a 1914TT and later as WASHINING, the
name of the upper lake, on a CNE 9/24/1916TT. In 1915, the ICC's
order to eliminate multiple-word and redundant station listings for safety reasons would rename this one for the nearby lake.
Interestingly, the 'twin lakes' are not physical twins at
all, but were named in Native American lore for the Mahican twin maidens, Washinee and Washining. The
photo of WASHINING [right] presumably shows the structure that the Courant reported
was built in 1909. Though we can't read the signboard, we trust
that it is so-labeled and, with the photo on the left,
we have a rare occurrence of images showing the same structure with two different station names. [REFS: HC/06/26/09/15; HC/09/09/1909/11;
D42+]
********************
WATERBURY1
WATERBURY1 was "a
meager affair" that was built after the station had been in a hotel by the tracks for a period of time. The 1852NH map [right] does not identify the depot at the foot of Bank St. yet. The 1856NH map [OHS] at left shows it, with Bank St. now extended westward
beyond the track. That would agree with Pape's History
of Waterbury and the Naugatuck Valley [1:95] which puts the date for the building of this first station at 1857. More
research needs to be done to clarify this. The HP&F opened in 1855 to a junction with
the NRR just above the Bank St. station. With no other depot seen, the two roads probably shared Bank St. until the HP&F
built WATERBURY2. [REFS: WA/01/03/1908/03]
********************
WATERBURY2
WATERBURY2, the HP&F station, is shown at the red arrow in this shot from the 1876 Bailey bird's-eye map. We do not know exactly when it was built,
but it may have come too late to be on the 1856 NH map shown in the previous listing. This depot was usually said to
have been on West Main St. but it actually sat at the intersection of Meadow St. and the lower end of Willow
St. The important photo at left shows WATERBURY2 standing alone at this location, verifying the fact that it was the earlier
part of the composite structure seen below as WATERBURY4. The train in the map shot is on the NRR track and has
just departed the WATERBURY3 station on Bank St. [blue arrow] and is headed for points north.
********************
WATERBURY3
|
| Leroy Roberts Collection |
WATERBURY3. The newspaper reported in mid-1867
that the NRR had purchased the Adams Hotel with the intention of building a depot there on the land. [rev2/14>] Ground was broken on 6/8/1867 and the station was occupied for the first time on 1/23/1868.
The Courant reported that the "handsome and substantial-looking structure" was built of Croton brick with granite
trimmings, was 118 feet long, two stories tall and surmounted by a tower in the front. It had sitting rooms "fitted up
in an elegant manner, being wainscotted with solid oak, trimmed with black walnut, and furnished with neat and comfortable
chairs arranged around the sides, the seats composed of slats of oak and black walnut." The paper went on to say that, though owned by the NRR, the depot would be used "conjointly" by the HP&F.
How this sharing worked or why it was necessary is not clear, since the HP&F had its own station, unless some shuttle
service ran between the two depots.>] Forty-odd years
later, that 'ancient and honorable' among Waterbury buildings, the old passenger station on Bank Street" would
have outlived its usefulness and demolition would begin on 7/18/1910 after WATERBURY7 opened. The land here was purchased
by the Waterbury Farrel Foundry and Machine Co. for expansion of its manufacturing facilities, some of which buildings
remain even today at Liberty and Bank Sts. [REFS: CH/05/04/1867/02; CH/06/08/1867/03; HDC/01/07/1868/02; HDC/01/24/1868/02; WA/01/03/1908/03; HC/02/21/1908/07; CRC56.1908.36;
WA/07/22/1910/03]
********************
WATERBURY4
|
| Copyright Howard's Hobby |
WATERBURY4.
The
photo at upper right shows a tripartite structure. We think the wing to the left was the station that the NY&NE
built in 1880 and joined by means of the center portion with WATERBURY2, to combine to make what we are calling WATERBURY4.
The connecting structure, as seen in another photo, has the word 'Restaurant' over the entrance. The additions likely
enabled the railroad to separate the passenger operations from the baggage and freight and to serve increasing numbers of
hungry travelers. The NY&NE was on the verge of success in the completion of the road westward to
the Hudson River in 1881, after 25 years of attempts by the HP&F and BH&E had fallen short. MW&CR trains would
also use this station from April 5, 1889 until August of 1890, when they resumed terminating at Dublin St. In the photo at
lower left, a train is about to cross the NRR diamond to head toward Danbury and, in the shot at upper left, the consist is going to Hartford past the station whose distinctive
turret is seen in all the photos. This Meadow St. depot would close on 3/29/1908, along with WATERBURY3 and all operations
would move to WATERBURY6. [REFS: NHER/10/04/1880/04; B16; S15]
********************
WATERBURY5
|
| Phil Wooding Collection |
|
| Dave Peters Collection |
WATERBURY5. Opened
by the M&W in 1888, the Dublin St. station was the original terminus of the line in the Brass City. In 1889, track was
extended to Meadow St. so that the then-MW&CR could reach the NY&NE's WATERBURY4 station after a lease agreement
was inked. The connection was made by means of an
expansive, circular trestle loop over Waterbury city streets and the NRR. The bottom photo from the 1980s looks northward from the Washington Ave. overpass, the loop having been completely rebuilt
after the 1955 floods to continue to serve the Scovill Mfg. Co. whose factory complex was adjacent to the station property. The top two photos [add12/6] are rare views from Phil Wooding's collection, drawn in part from materials assembled by the
noted railroad historian, Col. C.B. McCoid. The photo at top left is the only view we have seen of the passenger end of this station, with dormers on the hip-roofed
head house presumably
facing Dublin St. The one at top right is from a Scovill
newsletter and, not surprisingly, implies that ca. 1920 the depot was serving as their 'grocery store.' The photos at upper middle date to the 1920s and 1930s and no longer show the head
house, which may have been removed when passenger service ended under the NYNH&H in 1917. This station survived a 4/17/1929 fire and, according to Snow, continued to receive LCL freight until July, 1950. The two aerial shots at lower middle are [left] a snippet from the Landis and Hughes 1899
panoramic map showing a pastoral, pre-industrial setting and [right] an aerial shot from the 1950 with the station at the
red arrow surrounded by the massive factory complex. Dublin St. would become Hamilton Ave. ca. 1909, possibly through the
efforts of the Hamilton Avenue Improvement Association to upgrade that part of the city and broaden the ethnic identity of
the area. Though Scovill is still in business today [click here], the factory complex
was abandoned and buildings on the 90-acre site were demolished in 1996 after being vacant for 20 years. From the ashes rose
the Brass Mill Center Mall in 1997 with the Sears front parking lot marking where WATERBURY5 once stood. [REFS: HC/08/06/1910/13; NL20.6.3; S27][rev12/8]
********************
WATERBURY6
|
| Edward J. Ozog Collection |
WATERBURY6.
Its location shown at the yellow arrow, this was a wooden structure, apparently first authorized by the railroad commissioners in 1893 in anticipation of the new
union station. It was, in fact, only built in 1908 and used while the other two downtown stations were closed until the new Union Station finally opened on
July 11,
1909, after 15 years in the planning. This map from the 1891 Waterbury city directory shows the location of all Waterbury's railroad
stations. Starting from the lower right, there is WATERBURY5 [green arrow], the 1888 MW&CR station on Dublin St.,
later renamed Hamilton Ave. WATERBURY3, the NRR Bank St. station [red arrow] is shown opposite the
site of WATERBURY1, "the meager affair" built
by the NRR in 1849 [click here]. WATERBURY2/4,
the HPF/NY&NE composite station [blue arrow] is seen on Meadow St., standing exactly where WATERBURY7,
the 1909 Union Station, would be built.
********************
WATERBURY7
|
| Dave Peters Collection |
|
| Dave Peters Collection |
WATERBURY7. This station, the associated track improvements, grade crossing
eliminations, and yard and signal towers were in the works from 1894 until the station finally opened on July 11, 1909. The
new Union Station was built just south of the site of the old NY&NE station, our WATERBURY4. Designed by the distinguished
McKim, Meade and White architectural firm, the station was later purchased by the Republican-American
newspaper and is still owned by them. The station was honored with an NRHP designation in 1978. Its 240-ft clock tower is
modeled after the Torre del Mangia at city hall in Sienna, Italy. [REFS: HC/11/14/1894/05; NHAR37.1908.8; WA/07/13/1909/07;
R103+]
********************
WATERBURY8
Small Metro-North shelter south of WATERBURY7
********************
WATERFORD1
NH&NL, 1852, on Great Neck Rd: IHW95
********************
WATERFORD2
NYNH&H,
1873 [REFS: CRC21.1874.19]
********************
WATERFORD3 [> QUAKER HILL1]
********************
WATERFORD4 [> HARRISON]
********************
WATERFORD5 [> QUAKER HILL2]
********************
WATERFORD6
|
| Edward J. Ozog Collection |
WATERFORD6. This station was built in 1895 by the NYNH&H. Is there anything better than a good depot shot
with some great locomotives as a bonus? Such is the case with the lower right photo. Someone better versed than we are perhaps
can describe what is going on but it looks like the train on the eastbound main line track has priority over the one "in
the hole." Tower 110, just ahead, is undoubtedly monitoring these movements. The two crew members standing on the front
of the latter engine look eerily like figureheads on the sailing ships of old.
********************
WATERTOWN
"
|
| Dave Peters Collection |
WATERTOWN. The original station is shown in the
photo at upper left. The addition that more than doubled it in size is marked by different roof shingles and the second chimney
in the photo at lower left. The bird's-eye image at upper right is from
the Bailey map of 1918 and shows the station at the center of the bustling activity on Depot St., always one of our favorite
places in any town! [REFS: CRC56.1908.49;
D102+]
********************
WATERVILLE1
|
| Dave Peters Collection |
WATERVILLE1. The 1893 map [right] illustrates the close proximity of the two stations here, with the 1849 NRR station west of the HP&F's 1855 depot. As seen on the other map, the depot sat at the foot of Chapel St. on the east side of the track. The view in the photo, thus, looks south toward Waterbury.
********************
WATERVILLE2
WATERVILLE2. The photo on the right was reportedly taken in the 1950s and the structure looks like it has seen better days, presumably as it looked in the photo on the right,
though some structural changes have obviously taken place with the removal of the chimney and the double-door. The red arrow on the present day map at lower right
shows the location of the NRR depot and
the blue arrow points to the location of WATERVILLE2, renamed EAST WATERVILLE with the NYNH&H's completed takeover of the NY&NE by 1898.
********************
WAUREGAN1
WAUREGAN1. The first station here was not established until 1859. The Wauregan Manufacturing Co. was chartered
in 1853 and its owner, James S. Atwood, [click here] "took great pride in the village
which he saw, under the fostering care and ownership of the company, develop into one of the model hamlets
of the vicinity." Residences for employees, a dairy farm, light company, general store, post office were constructed over time, as well as a building that contained a firehouse and jail, with a reading room
and library on the upper floor. An article we chanced upon says that WAUREGAN1, on
the "Newport(!) and Worcester road" burned in July, 1882 and "all the books, papers, tickets, etc., were destroyed."
[REFS: HDC/06/24/1853/02; 1851TT: no; 1858TT: no; 1871TT: yes; CWN/07/12/1882/02]
********************
WAUREGAN2
|
| Dave Peters Collection |
|
| Dave Peters Collection |
WAUREGAN2. [REFS: CRC31.1884.21]
********************
WEATOGUE1
WEATOGUE1,
as seen on the 1855HC map. [REFS:
CRC34.1886.57: new shed ala REYNOLDS BRIDGE]
********************
WEATOGUE2
WEATOGUE2. [REFS: CRC42.1894.20: "small but neat;" D111]
********************
WELTONS
WELTONS. According to Henry
P. Stearns in a Shoreliner article on the Watertown
and Waterbury RR, this flag stop was established in May, 1887 and was about opposite where the the Ray Garnsey
garage stood on Main St. in 1950. The station does not, however, appear on timetables we consulted
until 1894, thereby dating it to the NYNH&H era after the 1887 NRR/W&W lease in April of that year. The real estate map is dated 12/30/1912
at lower left shows the platform and shelter on the north side of the track
where today the intersecting Welton St. on the GE map at upper right seems to pin down the location. While the name Welton
was prominent historically all over the area, we do not know whether there was any local connection here with that family
that caused the street to be so named and the station to be created. The W&W was built with the backing of the NRR and later purchased by it to tap the industrial traffic of Oakville and
Watertown. The shelter is typical NRR style, found also at BALDWINS and as CAMPVILLE3 [see B,C stations]. According to Karr, passenger service ended on the Watertown branch ca.
1925. [REFS: 1890,1892,1893TT: no; 1894TT: yes; 1923TT: yes; K63; SL11.2.24]
********************
WEST CHESHIRE
|
| Cheshire Historical Society, Cheshire, CT |
|
| Dave Peters Collection |
|
| Cheshire Historical Society, Cheshire, CT |
|
| Cheshire Historical Society, Cheshire CT |
|
| Cheshire Historical Society, Cheshire, CT |
WEST CHESHIRE. Later called TUCKER. This station stood high
above today's Rte. 70, Cheshire's West Main St., where it becomes Waterbury Rd. at the junction of Rte. 68. The station was perched on the east cliff at The Notch, so-called for the break in the north-south trap rock
ledge that allowed passage. The ca. 1900 photo at upper left shows the station and platform at the top of the stairs that came up from
the road. Also apparent is the huge amount of fill that the railroad
dumped into The Notch to elevate the road bed. The val photo at upper right, probably taken in 1916, is a close-up of the structure that seems identical to CHESHIRE STREET, SOUTHINGTON ROAD,
and other depots on the line. The street view at middle left [add2/6] likely dates to between 1900
and 1904, since the tracks of the Cheshire Street Rwy, approved
by the railroad commissioners on 8/7/1905, are not seen yet. It does show the bottom of the staircase and the same
train-signal pole in the photo above it. Reflecting the 1917 discontinuance of rail passenger
service, the photo at middle right shows no stairs any more but does picture the trolley heading Waterbury, as it would do
until 1934. Snow dates the train photo at lower left to ca. 1889, shortly after the M&W opened,
with a consist rolling west out of the station. Looking through the underpass,
you can see the bottom of the stairs. The snippet from the 1915 val map [click
here] at lower right shows the passenger station [green arrow], the freight depot and siding [red arrow], the
dashed lines [blue arrow] marking the roads abandoned when the railroad filled in The Notch leaving only the narrow underpass
where at least one trolley-automobile accident occurred in 1931. [add1/25>]
According to notes left by the late Nelson Tucker, whose family homestead at 1142 Tucker Rd. lay between the trolley and railroad
ROWs, the renaming as TUCKER was due to mix-ups in freight and mail that came to the WEST CHESHIRE station on the MW&CR
instead of to the CHESHIRE station on the Canal line. His family had no objection to the freight and passenger stations, as
well as a trolley stop, named after them! Among his other reminiscences, which are found at the Cheshire Historical Sociey,
was the fact that heavy trains of summer beach-goers returning from New Haven to the Brass City had to be broken by his house
and hauled in sections over Waterbury Mountain to get home. Once the trolley line opened, this traffic shifted to the interurbans
which, in turn, doomed the MW&CR. A 1918 highway map in our collection
shows WEST CHESHIRE as TUCKER, a change we find in timetables occurring between 1914 and 1915. Rail
passenger service ceased on 6/24/1917 and the station structure was reportedly sold after the ICC granted permission to
abandon the line on 2/25/1924. [REFS: CRC53.1905.35; HC/03/19/1931/22; S26,27,30]
********************
WEST CORNWALL1
WEST CORNWALL1. Contrary to what has been
believed traditionally, there was a first station here that burned mid-year in 1871. The location is seen on the 1854LC map.
[REFS: CWN/11/03/1871/02]
********************
WEST CORNWALL2
WEST CORNWALL2. The newspaper said late in 1871 that the "depot at West
Cornwall which this company have recently erected on the site of the one destroyed by fire a few months since, is certainly
not only a neatly and substantially built depot, but the general arrangement of all its parts for convenience in doing the
work of the station is commendable. The plans for the new structure were credited to long-time Depot Agent Crandall. [REFS:
CWN/11/03/1871/02]
********************
WEST CROMWELL
WEST CROMWELL was a flag station
on the M&C between WESTFIELD and CROMWELL. [HC/01/18/1899/11]
********************
WEST HANOVER
WEST HANOVER. If there ever was an obscure location - and that has never stopped us before! - this is it. Though
we have yet to see it on any timetable, Snow has it on his map at upper right
and the 1914 Connecticut Co. state trolley map in the center has it as well, though EAST HANOVER and WEST HANOVER seem to
be reversed. The 1893 topo map at upper left shows a highway overpass at the blue arrow that seems to correspond to
the distant bridge over the track seen in the photo at lower left. The val map at lower right does show a siding here but
nothing more at that time and no indication of anything abandoned. There was manufacturing in this area, both at EAST HANOVER
and CHESHIRE STREET, powered by small canals that ran alongside the Quinnipiac River. Most likely, WEST
HANOVER was a lightly patronized, factory stop handled by conductor's order, as was the case with TORRINGFORD STREET.
[add1/1]
********************
WEST HAVEN1
WEST HAVEN1 was located
at the southeast corner of Wood St. and Washington Ave. The West Haven Buckle Co., incorporated in 1853, is across the street
along the south side of the tracks. The station is shown at the red arrow on the 1852NH map.
The north-south street to the left is today's Campbell Ave. and the one to the right is First Ave. Washington Ave. has
not been built yet.
********************
WEST HAVEN2
This was the NH&D's 1871 station on Front St. in the Allingtown section of West Haven. It was nearly destroyed
by vandals in 1874. [REFS: WHJ/04/01/1874/02]
********************
WEST HAVEN3
|
| Leroy Roberts Collection |
|
| Dave Peters Collection |
|
| C. Dunn Collection |
WEST HAVEN3 replaced
WEST HAVEN1 on the eastbound side of the New York main line in the 1890s.
********************
WEST HAVEN4
|
| Dave Peters Collection |
WEST HAVEN4 is shown in the val photo with a 1916
date. It is on the left in the other photo and WEST HAVEN3 is on the opposite side of the tracks in a view looking toward
New Haven. [CRC42.1894.17; RHA 1928; NHAR44.1915.10???]
********************
WEST MYSTIC
|
| Dave Peters Collection |
|
| TCS Collection |
|
| TCS Collection |
WEST MYSTIC still wears
the NYP&B compass ornament that dates it to 1858. This station was for sale and looked to be in good condition
for its age when we visited in May, 2010. It has been turned 90 degrees from its original position along the tracks that still
see plenty of Northeast Corridor action every day.
********************
WEST NORFOLK1
WEST NORFOLK1. This station has long been a source of mystery
and no pictures have been found thus far. It was a flag stop at the opening of the CW, and though we have found no actual
mention of a depot being built, several newspaper articles show that this was soon an agency station that handled passengers,
freight and mail. The 1874 map does not specifically show the exact location, but we have put the red X at where it likely was. An
especially revealing 1875 article tells of the passing of an older gentleman, James
C. Swift, while sitting in a chair in the waiting room. Upon hearing a noise, Agent Murphy returned from "the small apartment
in which is his office" to find the man about to fall the floor and dead a few minutes later of an apoplectic fit. So
thus we get some idea of a full-service station, which may also have been quite a bit busier than we thought since granite
quarries, probably encouraged by the coming of the railroad, were reported as "recently opened" in 1874. A block
that was dressed to say 'Hoosac tunnel, 1874' and destined to grace the western portal of that great project was taken
from here. It weighed 14 tons and required eight yoke of oxen, one pair in front of the block and the others on the rear,
to get it down the "uninterrupted descent" of the steep mountainside. The railroad also took rock from a quarry
at nearby Stony Lonesome for its own construction purposes. [rev12/7>] The
NY&NE 1880 appraisal of CW properties said the structure here was in fair condition and valued it at $500, comparable
to some 30x40-ft freight depots elsewhere. By the time it burned on 11/7/1896, the depot was said to be an "old and dilapidated structure
and unoccupied." The water tank, "one of the largest and best on the line" was destroyed as well in a fire
thought to have been started by tramps. It too had been valued at $500 in 1880.>] The scene in the photo
at left is somewhat controversial. While Connecticut
Railroads [p133] simply labels it as the Norfolk Hills and Nimke says it is at COLEBROOK [see C stations], Lee Beaujon
and Al Weaver concur that the location was here looking east in the vicinity of Ashpohtag Rd. Al says that Haystack Mt. is
seen in the right distance and Lee explains that the tank housing, unique on the CW, had a furnace on the lower level to keep
the water from freezing in the winter at this high altitude. The consensus is that the train is heading west and the no. 5,
according to Fisher, the Norfolk, an 1871
Rogers 4-4-0 with 16x24" cylinders
and 60" drivers, gives from that year to the 1896 fire as a date range for this photo. We also note the name 'E.T. Butler'
in the upper right corner of the map. It was likely the residence of the Egbert T. Butler who was the foremost promoter of
the CW in the 1860s and the recipient of appropriate accolades when the railroad opened Norfolk to the outside world in 1871. [REFS: HDC/12/21/1871/02;
HDC/07/24/1874/02; CWN/08/21/1874/02; HDC/08/26/1874/02; CWN/08/28/1874/02; WH/10/02/1874/02; CWN/11/20/1874/02; CWN/10/08/1875/02;
WH/11/11/1896/08; C133; Fisher, SL, p124]
********************
WEST NORFOLK2
WEST NORFOLK2. After the first station burned, it was apparently replaced and still manned. A newspaper article
said that the 127 persons comprising the total population of West Norfolk would slumber on June 5, 1915 "only to wake
up the next morning in Haystack," the CNE's new name for the stop, probably spurred by the ICC safety order of that
year to replace easts and wests with unique depot names and prevent train order confusion. The article goes on to say that
the station agent, "who dispenses shoes and heavy hardware between trains and who is the recognized horseshoe pitching
champ of that region between East Canaan and Doolittle pond, will know all about it. The rusty old sign on the depot will
be missing, and a new one reading 'Haystack' will be there in gaudy gold letters. By that sign Haystackers will know
their community has metamorphosed." What happened to this second depot is not known. The upper left photo may well be
the railroad commissioners looking over the grade crossing that would be eliminated by the bridge [upper right] in 1906 after
several bad accidents here at Butler's crossing. The 1938 abandonment map [bottom left] looks southeast and shows this place as
'formerly HAYSTACK' with no station footprint any longer. The center left photo looks east from the bridge over Ashpohtag Rd. and shows the siding
on the left that handled the quarry shipments. The photo at center right looks west toward the bridge in the middle distance.
The removal of Butler's bridge and the regrading of the road has obliterated much of the evidence of the station, which
was probably at the end of the siding. We plan a return trip in the fall to examine the terrain more closely when the foliage
is off the trees. [REFS: RRC16.347 (6/12/1906); N3.60]
********************
WEST REDDING [>
REDDING]
********************
WEST SIMSBURY [>
STRATTON BROOK]
********************
WEST STREET
WEST STREET. Also called VERNON JUNCTION, WESTWAY.
This station was on the Rockville RR, which opened from VERNON to ROCKVILLE in 1863.
[add1/23>]
Inasmuch
as this line was built for through connections to Hartford, we do not know exactly when this stop was established, but it
shows up on an NY&NE timetable by 1873 and it later became the
end point for the Connecticut Central's 1876 line from MELROSE. As
early as 1865, a survey that anticipated the CC for a line connecting Rockville directly with Springfield via Ellington and
Somers was made to a point called GIFFORDS, which may have been here.>] The small structure at locator number '2'
on the 1877 Bailey map [click here] at upper left seems to be the most precise indicator of what the depot looked
like and where it was.
The undated photo at upper right shows a covered platform that appears
to straddle the two tracks with the station down at the far end. Perhaps the canopied platform was added, our guess is on the east end,
to the building on the 1877 map. That would make the view looking south, the track in front of the platform the one to VERNON
and the track in back of the platform the one that went to MELROSE, at what became a heavily used transfer point.
The image on the lower left is from the 1895 Bailey map of
Rockville [click here] and the map on the lower right is ca. 1900. On both of these,
it is difficult to determine exactly which building is the depot. This station would host electric cars on both tracks from
1906 to 1914, with it lasting another 10 years on the Rockville line. Karr says all passenger service ended ca. 1929. [REFS:
HDC/05/15/1865/02: Giffords; K84; SL13.2.28]
********************
WEST SUFFIELD
|
| Tom Hassenmayer Collection |
WEST SUFFIELD. Nimke says this station, still standing in 1930, was built in 1901 and a newspaper report
of a pre-opening excursion on the "Tariffville Road" in August, 1902 reads that "the little stations at Feeding
Hills and West Suffield were passed without a stop," so it was up by then. The railroad commissioners have it in their
report covering the year 1903 as "Suffield on the Springfield branch" but may be talking about cumulative improvements
from the year before as well. [REFS: SR/08/03/1902/05; HC/10/20/1902/12;
CRC51.1903.22; HC/11/14/1903/05; D53; N3.15][topleft add12/31]
********************
WEST THOMPSON
|
| Max Miller Collection |
WEST THOMPSON
********************
WEST WILLINGTON1
|
| Leroy Roberts Collection |
WEST WILLINGTON1. This stop, which is
in the town of Willington, was first called TOLLAND AND WILLINGTON and,
as such, is found on an 12/3/1866 NLN timetable. We have another copy of this photo that says it is from the 1890s, indicating
that the changing of the station name to just TOLLAND and still later to WEST WILLINGTON came afterward, perhaps
in the early 1900s. when it is seen as such on a 6/24/1900 CVT timetable. Woodward [p37] says the brick combination station
seen here was authorized by the NLW&P directors in 1850 at a cost of $1,700. This depot burned and was replaced in 1894
by the one in the next listing. [REFS: CRC42.1894.24; R106]
********************
WEST WILLINGTON2
|
| Max Miller Collection |
WEST WILLINGTON2. Built 1894.
********************
WEST WINSTED
|
| Leroy Roberts Collection |
|
| NHRHTA Collection |
|
| Dave Peters Collection |
The WEST WINSTED CW
station was just about three quarters of mile west of downtown. On the map shot, note that the eagle-eyed artist
even captured the unique, trapezoidal water tower that was just east of the depot that was located south of the
track. Click here and
pan to the left on the full map. According to Bob Adams, a donation of land by George Dudley in June, 1872 and the
underwriting of costs by by him and others brought this station about. An article
in the Winsted Herald said it was to be fully occupied in early July. The 80x22-ft
building is described as "very elegant and commodious," with an 8-ft wide platform running around it,
"covered with a roof supported by braces very neatly formed and trimmed." Inside, the ticket office occupied the
center, with gents and ladies rooms on either side and baggage rooms and freight office on the ends of the building. Above
the central portion, there was a 22x25 second story intended for the residence of the agent. The building was said to be painted
with a handsome shade of light brown and trimmed with a darker shade. [add12/7>] The 1880 NY&NE appraisal of CW properties said this two-story structure was worth a whopping
$2150, the most of any of its buildings.>] The depot served its
purpose until 1905 when the NYNH&H abandoned all the town's CNE stations and thereafter just used the NRR's
downtown WINSTED3 depot. WEST WINSTED remained in railroad service thereafter. A photo in Nimke shows it still standing in
1927 and Lord, probably following Adams, says it was torn down in 1929. [REFS: WH/06/21/1872/04; HDC08/16/1872/02; RRC16.334
(8/3/1905); D31; N3.49]
********************
WESTBROOK1
|
| J.J. Harness Collection, Copyright NHRHTA, Inc. |
|
| Dave Peters Collection |
WESTBROOK1 in a 3/19/1930 valuation photo and a 1916 val photo on the right.
Its location, north of the track, is shown on the 1859MC map. This wooden, combination station was built in 1852 by the
NH&NL and kept the distinctive compass emblem that the NYP&B affixed when it leased the line from 1858 to 1862.
Used for freight after WESTBROOK2 was built, it still stands in 2011, moved away from the tracks and turned 45 degrees from
its original position. The recent photo at lower right shows it as it
appears today with the rail line in the distance. [REFS: R107]
********************
WESTBROOK2
WESTBROOK2. The photo at lower left is a Benton and Drake from the 1930s.
It looks west and shows the new station on the south side of the track and WESTBROOK1 on the north side. The Courant crowed enthusiastically in 1906 that "the new station is a beauty!" and gave a detailed description.
It remarked about the low slanting roof, long coversheds and dark green exterior over a foundation of pressed brick. The old
"barnlike" building, it said, was
now being used for freight. Ironically, as John Roy points out, [p107] the old station has outlived the newer one. We do not
yet know the fate of WESTBROOK2. Service was discontinued in April, 1936, according to a letter from the NYNH&H, then in bankruptcy proceedings, asking approval from the PUC on 12/13/1936. The building itself may have succumbed
to the hurricane of 1938 that doomed BRANFORD3: see B stations. [REFS: CRC53.1905.5; HC/07/07/1906/02]
********************
WESTBROOK3
WESTBROOK3. Small plexiglass shelter that has served here since 1990 for Shore
Line East. Construction activity is for WESTBROOK4 in the works. In the upper right corner of this shot, you can see the south
end of WESTBROOK1 on the north side of the tracks. [add2/17]
********************
WESTCHESTER1
This station stop was established
by the NHM&W when it opened in 1873. We have no photos yet of the first station.
********************
WESTCHESTER2
|
| Dave Peters Collection |
|
| Copyright NHRHTA, Inc. |
WESTCHESTER2. We just found this NHRHTA data sheet that shows what appear
to be the plans for the second station here, with a construction date of 1894. This station may
have been moved about 40 feet north of the old location, probably as part of the realignment of the Air Line in 1911. This
project stretched from Portland to Columbia and involved the elimination of 23 grade crossings and the re-channeling of Ten
Mile River and of Dickinson Creek under the Lyman Viaduct. The railroad commissioners reviewed 75 blueprint maps filed with
them and gave their permission on 7/7/1911, with the NYNH&H to pay all the costs involved in the project. This was in
contrast to many other situations in which municipalities shared the costs, either by law or because of their initiation of
the changes to be made. The val map [click here] snippet shows the layout in 1915. [REFS: CRC59.1911.15; RRC12.246]
********************
WESTFIELD
WESTFIELD.
Stop established in 1850 by the Middletown and Berlin RR. In 1885, became the site of the crossing of the Meriden & Cromwell.
********************
WESTOVER [>
HOSKINS]
********************
WESTPORT1
WESTPORT1. The 1868 map of the Saugatuck
area of town shows the railroad station on the east side of the river, not the west side as at present, the change probably
having been made with the four-tracking of 1893. We have no photo yet of this station, which if it followed the pattern of
most all the other early NY&NY depots, was the cross-gabled Gothic type, like STRATFORD1, NORWALK1 and others.
********************
WESTPORT2
|
| Dave Peters Collection |
WESTPORT2. Station also called WESTPORT AND SAUGATUCK in later days. [left RHA 8/2/55]
********************
WESTPORT3
|
| Dave Peters Collection |
WESTPORT3
********************
WESTWAY [> WEST STREET]
********************
WETHERSFIELD1
********************
WETHERSFIELD2
|
| Dave Peters Collection |
|
| Robert Lingane Collection |
WETHERSFIELD2
______________________________________
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