
|

|
******************** WHEATONS Station in the town of Plymouth established by the HP&F in 1855. No photo yet found.
Apparently discontinued in 1910 when the NYNH&H relocated this portion of the Highland Division.
******************** WHITING RIVER



WHITING RIVER. This name was on an 1871 pre-opening list of stations in
the newspaper but the name CANAAN VALLEY was used by the CW until about 1882 when the line was reorganized as the H&CW
and the name was changed back. The upper left shot is an eastward looking view with the small milk depot, also apparently
used by passengers, just ahead of the famed Whiting Arches, which are down at the base of the embankment. The photo on the
right is a recent shot and the one on the lower left shows the arches under construction. The val map in Nimke shows only
the milk station, which the text box says was built in 1915. A photo in Nimke
shows the milk station gone in 1938, the same year passenger service was abandoned. [REFS: HDC/12/14/1871/02;
WH/10/25/1872/02; K115; N3.62]
******************** WILLIAMS


WILLIAMS.
This stop appears on an HP&F 1872TT at a point 1.625 miles west of BUCKLAND and 1.875 miles east of BURNSIDE. Somewhere
we have seen this stop called WOODLAND on a later timetable. The val map shows a siding here with track to Woodland Mills
in 1915 and the ca. 1930 PUC notes show no stop or station, just a grade crossing,
here at that time.
******************** WILLIAMS SWITCH
[REFS:
1855tt: btw YANTIC and S WIND, 24 mi
fm N LO; LEBANON? (mp 23); WS is not on 1871tt]
********************
WILLIMANTIC1

|
| Connecticut Historical Society |

|
| Connecticut Historical Society |


WILLIMANTIC1. The reverse side of the singularly unique and rare CHS photo at top identifies the station as the first in
the Thread City. No other images of this depot have been found thus far. The photograph was once in the collection of the
late Walter Fogg who generously shared material with us back in the 1970s. The black-ink writing looks
to be the oldest and subject to later ballpoint and marker revisions. The corrected build date of 1850 and the cost of $2,225
have been independently corroborated in our newspaper research. According to the notations, the view looks east in 1878
on the side of the station, the north, used by the HP&F. By that time that road had evolved into the NY&NE, the NLW&P
had become the NLN, and the B&NYAL was also bringing trains into this station on the Air Line that opened to Willimantic
in 1873. This depot stood between the HP&F and NLW&P tracks, as seen on the 1856WC map [right]
and on the 1876 Bailey bird's-eye map on the left. [REFS: HC/01/05/1852/02; CRC12.1865.8; CRC24.1877.20: remodeled; CRC30.1883.54; W31]
******************** WILLIMANTIC2


WILLIMANTIC2.
This depot was built in 1883. Complaints about the mid-tracks location of WILLIMANTIC1 led to the movement for a new station
with safer layout. A well-known gentleman having been "run over and cut to pieces there" notwithstanding, the railroads,
as they often did, delayed the change and quarreled between themselves. The matter was brought before the legislature in 1882.
A new station was reportedly to be planned and built jointly by the NLN and the NY&NE but the the railroad commissioners
speak of it in January of 1884 as having been completed solely by the NY&NE. Blueprints at the Peters Railroad Museum
are dated 1883 [add1/6>] and the NY&NE annual report in December states
the company has erected "a commodious Union Passenger Station, at a cost to date of $8506.38. It was opened for the use
of the Public on the 19th of November.">] [REFS: HDC/04/25/1882/02; HDC/01/15/1883/02; NYNEAR8.1883.17; CRC31.1884.19]
******************** WILLIMANTIC3




|
| Dave Peters Collection |

WILLIMANTIC3. The opening of this station has been difficult to document.
A 1909 aero view map [bottom left] of Willimantic [click here] shows it in place east of the old station but the last newspaper reference
is in 1896 and only says a new station is still needed. We find no mention in the NYNH&H annual reports and no newspaper
coverage has been found yet that says WILLIMANTIC3 has been built. We did find a photo dated 6/16/1903 when a train carrying
the Liberty Bell to the 128th anniversary celebration of the Battle of Bunker Hill stopped at the new station so, thus documented,
we know that WILLIMANTIC3 was erected before that date. Pictures after the 1916 val photo [upper right] show this station
without the dormer in the center. We have been unable to further document when that change actually took place and the reason
why. [REFS: HC/01/26/1896/09; HC/08/25/1896/06; HC/02/16/1905/02; K113]
******************** WILLINGTON [> WEST WILLINGTON]
********************
WILSON POINT1


WILSON POINT1.
This facility opened in 1883 as the new southerly terminus of the D&N, with better access to Long Island Sound and less
likelihood of freezing compared to the D&N's Dock on the Norwalk River: see N stations for NORWALK4. [REFS: CRC30.1883.17;
P104b, 106a]
******************** WILSON POINT2


|
| Dave Peters Collection |
WILSON POINT2. We are not sure what passenger service was offered from here,
but we have placed the picture here in the meantime to show the massive facility that replaced WILSON POINT1, which burned
on May 23, 1889. The map is from the 1892 Norwalk city directory. [REFS: C62]
******************** WILSONS

WILSONS. Stop probably established in 1844 when H&NH built through
the town of Windsor on its way to Springfield. There well may have been an earlier station than the one pictured in this photo.
******************** WILSONVILLE

|
| Connecticut Historical Society |


|
| Max Miller Collection |
WILSONVILLE. Also called WILSONS. [REFS: Q84j]
******************** WILTON1


|
| Max Miller Collection |

|
| Dave Peters Collection |


WILTON1, location as seen on the 1868 map, on the west side of the main. This wooden, two-story, Gothic structure was similar to the other D&N
stations of the period. See BETHEL1, DANBURY1, and GEORGETOWN1. This one had its
cross gable only on the street side. In later days, this station would be moved up Rte. 7 to become an insurance agency office
and it still maintains a handsome appearance today. [REFS: NL6.1.2; NL6.3.9; R109]
******************** WILTON2

|
| Edward J. Ozog Collection |


WILTON2. The photo at top left shows the original 1939 structure built to replace WILTON1, complete with vintage
car parked along the north end where a portico can be seen. Not only was that later enclosed, as John Roy says, but an addition
seems to have been put on the south end. The other two photos show the enlarged building, and date to after early 1961 when,
according to Cornwall, electrification ended and the wires, no longer seen, were taken down. WILTON2 still stands in 2011
on the east side of the main. [REFS: C89,104; R109]
******************** WINDERMERE

WINDEREMERE. Stop in the town of Ellington on the CC which opened in 1876.
[REFS: RAM08: flag stop]
********************
WINDSOR1

WINDSOR1. The location is seen on the 1855HC map. Stop established in 1844.
******************** WINDSOR2



|
| Wikipedia |
WINDSOR2. [REFS: CRC18.1871.10; HDC/03/10 /1870/02: being put up; R110]
******************** WINDSOR LOCKS1

WINDSOR LOCKS1. The location is as seen on the 1855HC map for what was likely a combination depot handling freight
and passengers.
******************** WINDSOR LOCKS2


WINDSOR LOCKS2. The map on the left is from the 1868 Hartford County atlas
and shows the depot in a slightly different location than the listing above. Though these details are not always given accurately,
it seems to match the snippet on the left from the Bailey bird's-eye map that is billed as 1877 [click here]. The passenger station image here may be revealing, but when linked with the date, is definitely problematic. The Courant said in 1872 that "the Hartford and New Haven railroad company will begin
the erection of new passenger and freight depots at Windsor Locks May 1st" and permission for
the taking of land for expanded facilities was granted by the railroad commissioners at that time. In
1874, the same newspaper said that "Windsor Locks will have a new depot this spring modeled after the one in Wallingford."
In fact, the 1871 Mansard-roofed WALLINGFORD2 [see W stations] did not serve as the model for any station built here, neither
the one seen on the Bailey map nor the one that came in 1875. The Bailey image does shows the new brick freight house that
would last until the hurricane of 1938 and even be rebuilt to serve thereafter
and it also shows a small, separate passenger station. These structures are side by side and somewhat farther north than the
location of WINDSOR LOCKS1 on the 1855 map. We are concluding that the passenger station shown here
was built in 1872 and replaced in 1875. Why, after such a short time? Fire, perhaps, though we find no report of that. The
other open question is why this map is dated 1877 when WINDSOR LOCKS3 should be
in place. Though it is always possible that the artist misrepresented the appearance of the passenger
station, the more likely explanation is that the sketch for this map was done prior to 1875 and dated
1877 when released. Such a discrepancy was proven for NAUGATUCK4 [see N stations] and theorized for DANBURY2: see Track 10, MP 10.2.9. Even if we are wrong about which passenger station this image shows, we are fortunate that the bird's-eye
artist left any image of a station that would otherwise likely be lost. [REFS: RRC8.82
(5/13/1882); HDC/04/11/1872/04; HDC/02/19/1874/02]
******************** WINDSOR LOCKS3



|
| National Park Service |

WINDSOR LOCKS3. The Courant article that said a new
passenger station was coming in 1874 was apparently a bit premature. The structure seen in all these images is the one that
still stands today. It received an NRHP designation in 1975 [click here] and the architectural plan on file there is dated 1875. This station may
have been moved after being built where WINDSOR LOCKS2 stood. Though the citation is doing its best to elude us,
an article we think was in the Courant in 1886 said that "the old brick depot
has been moved south in front of the hotel, and an addition is to be put on to the front of it for the accommodation of the
public." The NYNH&H annual report for 1886 says simply that the station "is being reconstructed and enlarged
at an expense thus far of about eighteen hundred dollars." The move to the south is apparent in the 1913 map at top left
[click here] when
compared to the 1877 map. We are not sure otherwise how to interpret the changes that occurred in 1886. This town almost got another railroad and station in 1902 when the CNE, thwarted for a time in East Granby
from going north to Springfield, considered building the Windsor Locks RR, either as an alternative to way to Massachusetts
or a stub-end branch to drain some of the industrial traffic that the NYNH&H had a monopoly on. The area shown in the
snippet at top left, between Center, Chestnut and North Main Sts. was to be the site for the CNE facilities. Several newspaper
articles tell of land acquisitions to bring the new line into town. [REFS: HDC/02/19/1874/02; NHAR14.1886.11; SR/11/21/1902/10; R111]
******************** WINDSOR LOCKS4

|
| Wikipedia |
WINDSOR LOCKS4. Amtrak shelter erected in the 2000s.
******************** WINNIPAUK




WINNIPAUK. The location of this station is seen on
a map [upper left] from the 1867 Beers atlas of New York and vicinity. This was a D&N stop from its opening, within
the town of Norwalk but just north of the borough itself. The woolen mill and other industries powered by the waters
of the Norwalk River that the railroad crossed here were major employers in this area. Cornwall [SL17.4.24] says this ceased
to be a passenger stop by 1929. The location is seen today [lower left] behind the commercial buildings at 330 Main Avenue,
just south of the Merritt Pkwy. The val map
shows the station on the east side of the track, corresponding to the historical photograph and the map. The impressive wooden-railed
bridge in the photo probably dates the scene to the late 1800s probably even before the NYNH&H leased the D&N and
the HRR in 1892.
******************** WINSTED1




WINSTED1. Hindsight is the best teacher! If we had discovered Bob Adam's
article titled "Winsted's Quintuplets" sooner, and had not been thrown off the track by mislabeled photos as
well, the history of the stations in this town would have been understood ever more quickly. The lower left image carries
the original captioning of this photograph in the article. Without that, this shot has been misidentified as WEST WINSTED
[see W stations] and, causing even more frustration, the station building has never been clearly indicated. Al Weaver's
colorized version on the lower right has helped greatly in showing the corner of the station building at the red arrow we
have inserted. Taken together with the photo at upper right, also misidentified as West Winsted, [Connecticut Railroads, p134],
we can now see that this is actually the 1849 NRR downtown station, looking pretty typical of others like NAUGATUCK1 and TORRINGTON1.
While the depot appears adequate enough, the
Winsted Herald railed retrospectively in 1879 that it had been "cussed and discussed"
for nigh the 30 years it stood, that it wasn't "fit to put pigs in -- much less passengers" and that, since
the depot floor was a step lower than the outside platform, "many an old lady or other unwary passenger pitched headlong
into the darkness after alighting from the evening train." The paper went on to blame the avarice of the NRR management
for not replacing it sooner. The 1854 LC map at upper left shows the location at
the corner of Bridge and Depot Sts. in the center of the borough. [REFS: WH/07/25/1879/05; NMRA Bulletin 43.8
(4/1978)]
******************** WINSTED2



WINSTED2. The image on lower left is from the Bailey bird's-eye map
of 1877 [click here]. This NRR depot opened on Monday, December 4, 1876. The railroad commissioners
described this building in their 1877 annual report as "substantially built of brick, with stone trimmings," with
a nine-foot wide covered platform on the south and east sides and a 30x20-ft covered platform on the west end for baggage
and express. Inside was a 65-ft long single waiting room for men and women, "heated by steam and lighted by gas,"
with ticket office in the center, freight and baggage room on one end (east) and telegraph and express offices on the other
(west), the cost of the depot being about $10,000. The Winsted Herald, continuing its 1879 rant, said this station had come,
not out of generosity, but because the NRR was compelled by the competition. The NRR, it continued, had the entire Valley by the throat and that in 1879 Wolcottville, aka Torrington, was paying $2.00 more per ton
for coal than Winsted which had been rescued from "the rigor of a railroad monopoly" by the coming of the Connecticut Western. In 1905, when all the other
Winsted depots were abandoned, this one, which had been enlarged and refurbished,
became the sole station here until it was torn down in 1966. [REFS: CWN/01/28/1876/02;
HDC/12/07/1876/04; CRC24.1877.21; HC/06/28/1905/18; HC/09/06/1905/13; HC/09/13/1905/11]
******************** WINSTED3





|
| Robert Lord Collection |

WINSTED3. When the CW opened in 1871, it met the NRR on the east side of the borough at a point called
NAUGATUCK JUNCTION on some early travelers guides and also on the RRM maps. The CW put up a freight station here at Willow and Rowley Sts.
in 1872 and it can be seen on the 1877 Bailey
bird's-eye map [click here] and
on the 1874 Beers map at middle left. It
would not be until December, 1878 that the Connecticut Western
News said that the company was "building a new passenger depot near the East Winsted freight house." The Register said subsequently that
a passenger station was "recently built" and that the CW had also put in 1,800 feet of track to eliminate the gap
in its own rails between here and the NRR station. Motivated to save $1,000 to $2,500 per year in rental fees paid to the
NRR, as well as to avoid numerous instances of "serious inconvenience
at being compelled to await the moving of Naugatuck trains when on the track belonging to that company," the CW began using its own track and this new passenger depot for its Winsted stop. Once the NRR declined privileges at WINSTED3, neither company was stopping at the other's station. Public complaint about
what the Winsted Herald called a "dis-arrangement" soon forced the railroad commissioners to rule that, when passengers wished to make connections with the other road, northbound NRR trains had
to stop at East Winsted and eastbound CW trains had to stop at the Naugatuck depot. Some locals were
still dissatisfied and got a Superior Court ruling that all CW trains had to stop
at the NRR depot, the CW's original Winsted station. The Register
aptly remarked that there will now "therefore be three stopping places for Connecticut Western trains in Winsted."
[add12/7>] The 1880 NY&NE appraisal of CW properties said this two-story
structure, though new, was only valued at $800. In contrast, and for reasons not apparent to us, the one-story stations at
BLOOMFIELD and CANTON were said to be worth $1500.>] Sometime between 1882 [Nimke 1.86],
where it is still called WINSTED, and 1890 [Nimke 1.129] this station was renamed EAST WINSTED. The middle right image is a view of the station looking at it from the south. The bottom left photo, from Bob Adam's collection, shows the depot west of a 1902 collision of locomotives 128 and 183. At bottom right is a shot of the 1906 concrete arch that eliminated the dangerous Rowley St. grade crossing.
The bridge reportedly took longer to bring down than to put up because of its steel reinforcing rods. Adams
seems to say that EAST WINSTED was torn down with the NYNH&H takeover in 1905. A 1961
photo in Nimke [3.39] shows it not there as of that date. [REFS: WH/02/27/1872/02; HDC/08/20/1873/02; CWN/09/11/1874/02; 1875TT; 1877TT; CWN/12/11/1878/02; WH/05/23/1879/05; HDC/05/26/1879/04;
NHER/05/29/1879/01; NHER/06/02/1879/04; NHER/06/07/1879/04; WH/06/27/1879/05;
HDC/07/07/1879/02; NHER/07/24/1879/04; NHER/08/28/1879/04; CW/NYNE1880;
RRC20.396 (9/12/1905); CRC54.1906.13]
******************** WINSTED4



WINSTED4. According to Adams, the CW put a box car body here
in 1880 in the narrow space between its track and Depot St. to comply with
the order that its trains stop opposite the NRR station at Bridge St. [add12/7>] The 1880 NY&NE appraisal of CW properties said this structure, also new like WINSTED3,
was worth a mere $200, thus validating Adams claim.>] The earliest map we could find to reflect this is the one at upper left from 1893. It shows the NRR depot as 'Winsted station' and the CW's 'Naugatuck Depot' to the south.
The 1896 map at upper right reiterates this arrangement and the 1897 map at lower left shows the small footprint of the box car. In
April, 1896 a Herald article mentions repairs being made to the platform at the PR&NE station. The Courant reported late in 1897 that "the 'cheese box' depot on the Flat" that
was "squatty, unsightly and uncomfortable" was being torn
down and a new one was going to be erected immediately to the east. PR&NE tickets were, meanwhile, to be sold at the NRR
station. [REFS: WH/04/15/1896/08; HDC/12/14/1897/11; HDC/12/22/1897/12]
******************** WINSTED5


WINSTED5. Articles in the Winsted Herald reported that plans for a new station were in the works as far back
as 1895. The Lakeville Journal reported
in November, 1897 that "one of the greatest improvements that could possibly be made by the P.R. & N.E. road is now
begun. A new station is being built at Winsted, a little east of where the insignificant old thing now stands." With
the town granting the railroad five feet of additional land on Depot St., the foundation was laid late in December, 1897. Arrangements were made with the NYNH&H for all services to
be provided for passengers at the NRR station across the street until WINSTED5 opened early the next year. The railroad
commissioners described it as small but adequate and the best that could be done in the small space available. The important captioning on the photo refers to the
"severest ice storm ever known here," that began on February 20, 1898, and raged for more than three days. These words, cropped out of most copies of this photo, not only explain the frozen utility lines but clarify that the station was up in time for this historic weather
event. We were fortunate to find the 1904 map seen here that shows
the footprint of this station. Compare to the map at lower left under WINSTED4 to see how much larger than its predecessor
it was. WINSTED5 was torn down in 1905 after the NYNH&H got control
of the CNE and eliminated all three of its Winsted stations in favor of the refurbished WINSTED2. A brief article in the Courant
said that "the Central New England station at Winsted was abandoned Sunday [the 25th] and the trains now arrive
and depart from the 'Consolidated' station." [REFS: WH/04/19/1895/02; WH/09/11/1895/01; LJ/11/27/1897/08; LJ/12/18/1897/06; HDC/12/22/1897/12; HC/02/21/1898/01; HC/02/23/1898/11; HC/05/28/1898/03; CRC46.1898.23; RRC16.334 (8/3/1905);
HC/06/14/1905/17; HC/06/27/1905/07]
******************** WOLCOTTVILLE [>
TORRINGTON] ******************** WOODLAND [> WILLIAMS]
******************** WOODMONT1


|
| Leroy Roberts Collection |
WOODMONT1. According
to Ms. Prichard, this stop came about through the influence of Russell William
Ayres, the station so named by locals for a nearby wooded slope. His death in late in 1873 [click here] just preceded the opening of the depot in February, 1874. The structure measured
50x20 feet and had an 8-ft wide platform all around. It was built by citizen subscriptions which raised the $2,000 needed.
The arrow on the 1852NH map shows the location where the station would be built. This began as a flag stop but, with the lovely
Merwin's Point just 10 minutes away, this area would grow quickly as a summer resort. So promising was this place that the NRR was
said to have surveyed from Wheelers Farm for a connection here and a shortcut to New Haven. By 1883 at least, it appears to have become a
timetable stop. A short-sighted and short-lived demotion back to flag stop and a refusal to handle freight in 1887, with 19 trains per day reportedly stopping here, had local farmers threatening to go
to Tyler City and patronize the NH&D until the Consolidated came to its senses. This ill-timed move is even more ironic
since, within a month, the Derby road would be leased by the HRR and the battle for customers would commence, with the NYNH&H
threatening to build the link that its newly acquired NRR had planned earlier. This station would burn on 10/17/1890 shortly after 10:00 in the morning, with the Register
reporting that nothing
remained "but a heap of smoldering ruins." Though the loss was said to be relatively minor, "as the station
was a small one-story affair of wood and the damage will not exceed $2,000" and it was fully insured according to other
sources, the building contained a waiting room, a baggage room, the Woodmont post office, and the Western Union telegraph
office. The fire was thought to have been caused by a defective chimney flue and resisted the efforts of twenty men to save
the structure. By November, the Courant reported that a passenger car was being used
as a waiting room and a box car was in service for freight. The Mardi Gras-like figure lofting above the ill-fated station in this undated photo is
certainly a curiosity. Scarecrow? Advertising dummy? Interestingly, the newspaper said that an end-of-summer concert in 1895
at the nearby Hotel Bonsilene was to feature the "largest paper fire balloon ever made" and it was to carry a
life-sized dummy doing a parachute jump after a timed fuse went off in the sky! Whether these dummies were related in some way, we dunno. [REFS: NHDP/07/23/1873/04; WHJ/12/01/1873/02;
CRC21.1874.18; NHDP/01/27/1874/04; NHER/01/31/1874/03; WH/02/13/1874/03; NHER/06/27/1887/01; NHER/06/28/1887/04; NHER/07/27/1887/01;
NHER/08/18/1890/01;
NHER/10/17/1890/01; HC/10/18/1890/08;
HC/11/26/1890/06; RRC32.23 (12/24/1892); RRC32.30 (12/31/1892); NHER/08/28/1895/01; Sarah Johnson Prichard, The Town and
City of Waterbury, Connecticut, 3:811+][rev12/13]
******************** WOODMONT2

WOODMONT2. The Register reported on 5/6/1891
that ground for a temporary station was being broken that very day, presumably to eliminate the rail cars in
service since the fire of 10/17/1890. We figure the
location of this depot and the one that burned was at the intersection of today's Rock Lane and Depot Rd., a point formerly
known as Strong's Crossing. The size of the structure was reported to be
23x30 feet and the article also said that a new permanent station would not be built for two years until
the four-tracking and grade-crossing elimination project on the New York Division was completed in this area. Plans here also included a realignment that would take out the southerly dip that diverged as much as a quarter
of a mile from the new ROW. The time period
for finishing this extensive work actually turned out to be three years and we wonder, not only what this
small depot looked like, but also what happened to it after such a short time in service. Could it possibly have been used
as WOODMONT4? See below. The snippet shows our placement of all the stations here and the original 1848 right of way as the
dark red line. The entire CTRRMAP
is available through a link on our home page. [REFS: NHER/05/06/1891/01][add12/13]
******************** WOODMONT3



WOODMONT3. This station was positioned on the eastbound side of the track
in 1894 with the completion of the four-tracking and cut-off. The location stated by the railroad commissioners was 1000-1200
feet west of Orange Rd., today's Oxford Rd. Apparently, the depot had been built in advance, since the newspaper reported
on 5/20/1894 that, while one gang of men was taking up rail from the abandoned right of way, another gang "loaded the
Woodmont depot, chimney and all, upon flat cars. Two locomotives then drew the depot down to the junction [with the new main
line] and then pushed it back midway in the new cut where it was unloaded and the passengers received just as usual. Still
another gang loaded the signal tower on a flat car, and by noon that was in operation in the new cut. The 4:22 express thundered
over the new rails at high speed and the gliding of the cars was as smooth as over any bit of track on the line of the road."
The paper went on to say that everything had been done to perfection and that the work at this cut alone had cost $2,000,000,
a figure that seems high but may be true. How easily the station was accessed at the start in the new location is unclear
because Depot Rd. was not finished until June, 1895, and then only after several delays at Milford town meetings which may
have played a part in the formation of Woodmont as an independent borough in 1903, a status that endures to this day. The
1915 val map at upper right shows the old alignment crossing the new, straight-as-an-arrow right of way exactly where the
Woodmont tower stands today, presumably in the same place the earlier tower that was repositioned in 1894 stood. The val map
at lower left shows the layout of the station grounds, with the larger WOODMONT3 on the eastbound side. This station served
until 1929 when the Courant reported in November that it had
been razed in the spring, with service discontinued almost two years earlier on 6/11/1927. At the hearing on 11/13/1929, a formality that by law had to precede the abandonment of any station in existence
over a year, the railroad justified its actions with the claim that traffic had dwindled to two riders
per day toward the end. Though local residents protested and the decision was reserved, C.C. Elwell of the PUC said "prospects
of continuing the station did not look very promising." A 1937TT, the next
we have available, shows no stop here any more. The val photo was taken in 1916. [REFS: RRC32.23
(12/31/92); HC/12/28/1892/06; NHER/05/21/1894/01; CRC42.1894.17; NHER/06/24/1895/08; HC/10/26/1929/09;
HC/11/14/1929/12][rev12/25]
******************** WOODMONT4





|
| Connecticut State Library |

|
| Connecticut State Library |
WOODMONT4. This depot was probably built in 1894 or shortly thereafter as part
of the four-tracking project, which the railroad commissioners said in their 1894 annual report was completed, including the fact that the "freight and passenger stations in Stratford, Milford, Woodmont,
and West Haven have been re-arranged to facilitate the transaction of business in each of those places." The photo at
upper left shows catenary in place and therefore dates it to after electrification in 1914. WOODMONT4 was presumably razed
in 1929 along with its eastbound cousin. The ca. 1900 real estate map at middle left also shows that
the smaller station was on the westbound side and the map at middle right shows the property owners in the area, with the
old ROW swinging south of the 1894 realignment. It is not well known that the NYNH&H drew up plans
in 1917 to build a large freight yard here, either to supplement or supplant Cedar Hill. Much of the property that was retained
along the 1848 alignment was to be used, along with newly acquired parcels. [add12/16>] The Courant
reported late in 1916 that the railroad was seeking permission to make this "a main distribution point" to
include a freight house, a transfer building, numerous classification tracks, and even possibly housing for employees. The
Pawtucket Times stated that railroad officials had appeared before the PUC on 1/19/1917
to testify that the yard was to be four miles long, 700 feet wide, and over 600 acres in area, capable of handling 15,000
freight cars per month, in an effort to relieve congested conditions at New Haven. The paper said that opposition was expected
from Milford citizens and "summer colonists" at Woodmont. The Elm City Nursery, whose property would have been given
up for the project, was especially fearful of losing iand said to be some of the best in the state for the cultivation of
fruit trees and shrubs. PUC Map 512 [bottom images] in the Board of Railroad Commissioners
collection [RG041] at CSL shows the arrangements in great detail. Dale Martin, former NH tower operator, wrote to tell us that employees used to walk along the path that
was the old ROW in the 1970s and find "all sorts of old stuff, spikes, ancient tie plates of some kind" and that
he was told that Woodmont tower was so well made, inside and out, because it was supposed to be the gateway to the new facility,
a showplace for the NYNH&H which intended to move all the freight operations here from Cedar Hill. When studies showed
that six or eight tracks would be needed to handle all the freight traffic that would originate or terminate here, each train passing by New Haven Union Station and clogging up the main
line, the plan was abandoned. Much to the relief of residents, the Courant reported in March, 1917 that the railroad had reconsidered, among the reasons, it said, was the challenge of clearing the rocky terrain in Woodmont. The stated intent at that point was to build "closer to New Haven,"
meaning ultimately a Cedar Hill expansion, which, though spurred on by the rail congestion during World War I, would not be
completed until the end of 1921. Dale goes on to say that local potato farmers got their land released and, since they had
not stopped planting, they suffered no loss. Taxation on the land reverted to the agricultural rate from the industrial assessment
the railroad had to pay. Dale credits another NYNH&H
employee, the late Ed Russell of Orange, for this info. He says that Ed, a tower operator, load dispatcher, and later a power
dispatcher at GCT, was known as 'The Scoop' because "he seemed to know everything about everything." Ed's
recollections certainly seem to jibe with what we have discovered of this fascinating and little-known chapter in Woodmont
history. We would have to check but it seems that we recall it was a Russell descendant who recently donated NH&D abandonment
maps to the Orange Historical Society's small but impressive collection of railroad materials. The name Russell in Orange, of course, goes
back to Tyler City days and far earlier in local history.>][REFS: CRC42.1894.17; HC/12/25/1916/03; PT/01/19/1917/11;
HC/03/03/1917/15; HC/09/17/1919/09; HC/11/26/1920/02; HC/12/15/1921/22; PUCMap512]
******************** WOODROW [>SOUTH KENT]
******************** WOODS


WOODS. Station in the town of Suffield on the WL&S. Have yet to check
on when the stop was established.
******************** WOODWAY

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| Leroy Roberts Collection |


WOODWAY. Nothing shows on the 1915 val map for this Darien station, which was located about a mile
north of SPRINGDALE CEMETERY and a mile south of TALMADGE HILL [See S,T stations]. The yellow highlight on today's
map gives the approximate location. The nearby golf course, for which this stop was likely named, reportedly opened
on 7/1/1918 [Case, p28]. WOODWAY is on the 1919 station list and on our 1923 and subsequent timetables into the Penn Central
era. Service would continue until a new train schedule of 7/17/1972 'merged' this station with TALMADGE HILL. SPRINGDALE
CEMETERY was also eliminated at this time, riders using SPRINGDALE thereafter. [REFS: NYT/06/27/1919/22; ICC3, 1919 val list; 1923,
1937, 1947, 1948, 1956, 1969TTs; Case, Henry
Jay and Simon W. Cooper, Town of Darien (Darien, Connecticut: The Darien Community
Association, 1935); NYT/08/07/1971/08; HC/08/08/1971/26A; HC/07/02/1972/74D;
HC/07/18/1972/21D]
******************** YALESVILLE



YALESVILLE was not an original stop on the H&NH. It is not on the 1851
or 1858TTs, but is on the 1871TT. The first mention we find in the newspapers is in 1868. The 1893 map shows the location in the northern section of Wallingford. [REFS: HDC/01/09/1868/02]
******************** YANTIC1
Probably an original stop on the NLW&P which opened in 1849. [REFS: NLDE/04/07/1849/03; NLDE/12/29/1849/02;
DC/01/14/1873/03]
******************** YANTIC2
Built 1876. Burned 1891. [REFS: CRC24.1877.18; CRC.39.1891.16]
******************** YANTIC3


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| Max Miller Collection |
YANTIC3.
This was probably an original stop on the NLW&P and appears at least by our 1859TT. The first station here was replaced
in 1876 and the depot grounds expanded in the process, as noted by the railroad commissioners in 1877 who also said "new
and convenient passenger depots have been built at Norwich Town, Yantic, Lebanon and Orcutts." YANTIC2 was destroyed
by fire in 1891 and this new brick structure was built. [REFS: NLDE/04/07/1849/03; NLDE/12/29/1849/02; DC/01/14/1873/03; CRC24.1877.18;
CRC.39.1891.16; HC/09/04/1964/03; HC/11/03/1965/22:
CVT wants to discontinue LCL freight at six stations]
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