Track 12: CT Passenger Stations, BR-BU
See TCS Home Page links for notes, abbreviations, and sources.
Use link for CTTRAXMAP on Track 11 to locate stations, rail and trolley lines, and POIs.
Use link for CTTRAXMAP on Track 11 to locate stations, rail and trolley lines, and POIs.
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BRADLEYS/HAMDEN [NH&N, 1848]
This Hamden stop appears on early Canal line timetables. The probable location is seen on 1852NH map where our red arrow points to 'R.R.' and the Bradley surname is so much inevidence. According to the Hamden Historical Society, Amasa Bradley's house became a tavern with a basement taproom that served travelers on the canal as well as the railroad. The handsome structure seen at middle still stands on Whitney Ave. at River Rd., as seen on our CTTRAXMAP snippet at right, and the bar room is reportedly still intact as well. [rev101912]
This Hamden stop appears on early Canal line timetables. The probable location is seen on 1852NH map where our red arrow points to 'R.R.' and the Bradley surname is so much inevidence. According to the Hamden Historical Society, Amasa Bradley's house became a tavern with a basement taproom that served travelers on the canal as well as the railroad. The handsome structure seen at middle still stands on Whitney Ave. at River Rd., as seen on our CTTRAXMAP snippet at right, and the bar room is reportedly still intact as well. [rev101912]
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BRADLEYS/MIDDLEBURY [NY&NE, c1881]
According to Rockey, this flag stop was established when the NY&NE opened through the town of Middlebury in 1881. It was not officially mentioned at that time, but it was in use long enough by 1884 and was sufficiently popular with locals that public protest convinced the railroad commissioners to deny the NY&NE's request to eliminate it. Although we have never seen this stop on a timetable and we have no photo of the structure that stood here, the 1886 real estate map at left shows a rectangular depot, perhaps measuring 10x20 feet with a platform. The newspaper reported a head-on collision of two freight trains at BRADLEYS in 1899, the location of which mishap was actually at the passing siding that lay just to the east. This station was in existence until a legislative order allowed the NYNH&H to eliminate it along with UNION CITY2 in favor of a new station at OSBORNTOWN, renamed shortly thereafter as ALLERTON FARMS. Researching stations such as this one reminds us once again that flag stops were often not on timetables and that they were nonetheless protected by law if in use more than 12 months, requiring a hearing and permission by the commissioners for abandonment. The shadowy existence of these stops, of course, makes one wonder how they were established in the first place and remind us of the delicious challenge of getting information about them. [REFS: RRC26.468 (5/15/1884); CRC32.1885.21; CWN/03/16/1899/03; R2.760]
According to Rockey, this flag stop was established when the NY&NE opened through the town of Middlebury in 1881. It was not officially mentioned at that time, but it was in use long enough by 1884 and was sufficiently popular with locals that public protest convinced the railroad commissioners to deny the NY&NE's request to eliminate it. Although we have never seen this stop on a timetable and we have no photo of the structure that stood here, the 1886 real estate map at left shows a rectangular depot, perhaps measuring 10x20 feet with a platform. The newspaper reported a head-on collision of two freight trains at BRADLEYS in 1899, the location of which mishap was actually at the passing siding that lay just to the east. This station was in existence until a legislative order allowed the NYNH&H to eliminate it along with UNION CITY2 in favor of a new station at OSBORNTOWN, renamed shortly thereafter as ALLERTON FARMS. Researching stations such as this one reminds us once again that flag stops were often not on timetables and that they were nonetheless protected by law if in use more than 12 months, requiring a hearing and permission by the commissioners for abandonment. The shadowy existence of these stops, of course, makes one wonder how they were established in the first place and remind us of the delicious challenge of getting information about them. [REFS: RRC26.468 (5/15/1884); CRC32.1885.21; CWN/03/16/1899/03; R2.760]
BRADLEYS/ORANGE [NH&D, 1871]
According to a Palladium article, this Orange stop, along with ALLINGS CROSSING, was discontinued when the TYLER CITY station debuted at a point midway between them on 6/1/1872. Created less than a year earlier when the NH&D opened, it is doubtful that any structure stood here on today's Racebrook Rd., just south of New Haven Ave. As shown on the 1912 NYNH&H real estate map, this thoroughfare was known earlier as Bradley Ave. for the family that owned the sprawling farm, much of which was sold for the creation of Tyler City itself. See Track 4B, MP 4.45.1 for more on this section of the NH&D right of way. [REFS: NHJC/11/20/1871/02; NHDP/06/06/872/04]
According to a Palladium article, this Orange stop, along with ALLINGS CROSSING, was discontinued when the TYLER CITY station debuted at a point midway between them on 6/1/1872. Created less than a year earlier when the NH&D opened, it is doubtful that any structure stood here on today's Racebrook Rd., just south of New Haven Ave. As shown on the 1912 NYNH&H real estate map, this thoroughfare was known earlier as Bradley Ave. for the family that owned the sprawling farm, much of which was sold for the creation of Tyler City itself. See Track 4B, MP 4.45.1 for more on this section of the NH&D right of way. [REFS: NHJC/11/20/1871/02; NHDP/06/06/872/04]
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Dan Foely photo
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BRANCHVILLE1 [D&N, 1852, opened as RIDGEFIELD STATION]
The white house in the shot at lower left and seen in the background of the other photos was the first depot here. This stop was originally known as RIDGEFIELD STATION or BEERS STATION. As shown on the 1856FC map, it was on the D&N main line at the point that was to become known in 1870 as Branchville when the spur track to the center of Ridgefield opened. Initially, the railroad intended to build a station here, but then decided to rent space instead. In the words of Sherman Beers, who had already made land available for the right of way, the lease was for "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." The postcard at upper left shows the Beers house on the rise in the background, as well as the 1905 station, BRANCHVILLE3. Our thanks to Brent Colley [click here], who submitted this Beers material and other information as well. The Beers residence served as the first railroad station here until ca. 1890 when BRANCHVILLE2 was built. [REFS: HDC/06/20/1870/04]
The white house in the shot at lower left and seen in the background of the other photos was the first depot here. This stop was originally known as RIDGEFIELD STATION or BEERS STATION. As shown on the 1856FC map, it was on the D&N main line at the point that was to become known in 1870 as Branchville when the spur track to the center of Ridgefield opened. Initially, the railroad intended to build a station here, but then decided to rent space instead. In the words of Sherman Beers, who had already made land available for the right of way, the lease was for "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." The postcard at upper left shows the Beers house on the rise in the background, as well as the 1905 station, BRANCHVILLE3. Our thanks to Brent Colley [click here], who submitted this Beers material and other information as well. The Beers residence served as the first railroad station here until ca. 1890 when BRANCHVILLE2 was built. [REFS: HDC/06/20/1870/04]
Ridgefield Historical Society
Dave Peters Collection
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BRANCHVILLE2 [HRR, c1890]
This station was built by the HRR sometime between 1887 and 1890. The latter date is supplied by an article in the Connecticut Western News that says "... the Houstaonic railroad company are erecting a water tank of 90,000 gallons capacity near the Branchville depot on the Danbury & Norwalk division." While a this is a bit of a leap, we speculate that upgrades were in progress here at the time and may have included a new depot, which, in any case, was most likely built after the late 1886 lease of the D&N by the HRR. While we have found no newspaper announcement of the the debut of BRANCHVILLE2, when BRANCHVILLE3 was under construction in 1905, the Danbury News said that "... the frame work for the new passenger station at Branchville is now up and the the building will soon be erected. The old depot will be used for a freight station." All the photos, except the upper right Blizzard of 1888 southeastward shot, look at the building, a combination station, from the southwest, with the passenger portion out of sight on the north end of the depot. Note the turntable in the foreground in the shot at upper left. The view at lower left shows NYNH&H No. 500 relettered from HRR No. 50 sometime after the Consolidated lease in 1892. The val photo at lower left is dated 10/16/1916 and shows BRANCHVILLE2 as the freight house and BRANCHVILLE1, the old Beers residence, across the track. The coversheds extend down from BRANCHVILLE3, which is out of sight, just to the north. [REFS: CWN/10/29/1890/04; DN/02/22/1905/11]
This station was built by the HRR sometime between 1887 and 1890. The latter date is supplied by an article in the Connecticut Western News that says "... the Houstaonic railroad company are erecting a water tank of 90,000 gallons capacity near the Branchville depot on the Danbury & Norwalk division." While a this is a bit of a leap, we speculate that upgrades were in progress here at the time and may have included a new depot, which, in any case, was most likely built after the late 1886 lease of the D&N by the HRR. While we have found no newspaper announcement of the the debut of BRANCHVILLE2, when BRANCHVILLE3 was under construction in 1905, the Danbury News said that "... the frame work for the new passenger station at Branchville is now up and the the building will soon be erected. The old depot will be used for a freight station." All the photos, except the upper right Blizzard of 1888 southeastward shot, look at the building, a combination station, from the southwest, with the passenger portion out of sight on the north end of the depot. Note the turntable in the foreground in the shot at upper left. The view at lower left shows NYNH&H No. 500 relettered from HRR No. 50 sometime after the Consolidated lease in 1892. The val photo at lower left is dated 10/16/1916 and shows BRANCHVILLE2 as the freight house and BRANCHVILLE1, the old Beers residence, across the track. The coversheds extend down from BRANCHVILLE3, which is out of sight, just to the north. [REFS: CWN/10/29/1890/04; DN/02/22/1905/11]
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Dave Peters Collection
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BRANCHVILLE3 [NYNH&H, 1905]
Due to a gap in the microfilm of the Ridgefield Press, we are unable to pinpoint the opening date of this station. An article in that paper in December, 1904 said that "the new railroad station at Branchville will be a wooden structure to cost about $3,000." In March, 1905, the paper read as follows: "The New Station. Work on the new railroad station at Branchville is progressing rapidly. The lumber for the new platforms has arrived and they will soon be laid. The station building has received its first coat of paint and the interior will soon be in order. By the time spring is really with us the building will no doubt be ready for the summer travel." At bottom right is the 1915 val map showing this station by the track and the Beers residence behind it, both marked in yellow. The Ridgefield branch diverges to the northwest from the Danbury main line on the map. The upper left photo looks south, other two look north. BRANCHVILLE3 still stands today in commercial use at the Metro North stop on the Danbury line. [REFS: RP/12/01/1904/01; RP/03/16/1905/05; CRC53.1905.25; R36; SL17.4.26]
Due to a gap in the microfilm of the Ridgefield Press, we are unable to pinpoint the opening date of this station. An article in that paper in December, 1904 said that "the new railroad station at Branchville will be a wooden structure to cost about $3,000." In March, 1905, the paper read as follows: "The New Station. Work on the new railroad station at Branchville is progressing rapidly. The lumber for the new platforms has arrived and they will soon be laid. The station building has received its first coat of paint and the interior will soon be in order. By the time spring is really with us the building will no doubt be ready for the summer travel." At bottom right is the 1915 val map showing this station by the track and the Beers residence behind it, both marked in yellow. The Ridgefield branch diverges to the northwest from the Danbury main line on the map. The upper left photo looks south, other two look north. BRANCHVILLE3 still stands today in commercial use at the Metro North stop on the Danbury line. [REFS: RP/12/01/1904/01; RP/03/16/1905/05; CRC53.1905.25; R36; SL17.4.26]
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BRANFORD1 [NH&NL, 1852]
The 1852NH map at left already shows the NH&NL that opened in July of the very same year but does not yet indicate a station here. How reliable this is as an indicator is unclear but, in fact, this map does show a depot in place for MADISON and other towns. Rockey, on the other hand, states that "when the road was completed, in 1852, the station was located at the foot of Montowese street, where was also the village wharf." He continues on to say that "a few years later Elizur Rogers began his improvements at Page's Point, opening a new street to that place from Main street, in the old village, and the depot was soon after located west of Page Point wharf." The map on the right dates to 1856 and shows the depot south of the track at the new location. Since the earlier map shows no depot, we are going put on a limb in thinking that the Andrews residence there at the foot of Montowese St. [red arrow] may have served as BRANFORD1 until an actual structure was built as BRANFORD2. Many thanks to Jane Bouley of the Branford Historical Society [click here] for the photos, maps, and data, much of which we have incorporated into this examination of the town's railroad stations. Would that we had such luck, assistance, and success everywhere! [REFS: K95; R2.26]
The 1852NH map at left already shows the NH&NL that opened in July of the very same year but does not yet indicate a station here. How reliable this is as an indicator is unclear but, in fact, this map does show a depot in place for MADISON and other towns. Rockey, on the other hand, states that "when the road was completed, in 1852, the station was located at the foot of Montowese street, where was also the village wharf." He continues on to say that "a few years later Elizur Rogers began his improvements at Page's Point, opening a new street to that place from Main street, in the old village, and the depot was soon after located west of Page Point wharf." The map on the right dates to 1856 and shows the depot south of the track at the new location. Since the earlier map shows no depot, we are going put on a limb in thinking that the Andrews residence there at the foot of Montowese St. [red arrow] may have served as BRANFORD1 until an actual structure was built as BRANFORD2. Many thanks to Jane Bouley of the Branford Historical Society [click here] for the photos, maps, and data, much of which we have incorporated into this examination of the town's railroad stations. Would that we had such luck, assistance, and success everywhere! [REFS: K95; R2.26]
Branford Historical Society
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Branford Historical Society
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Branford Historical Society
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Branford Historical Society
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BRANFORD2 [NH&NL, c1855]
The earliest station that has survived in town images is seen in the the upper shots, the one at left being an enlargement of the middle photo. Since the 1856 map in our previous entry already shows this station, we are leaning toward it being built by the NH&NL and not by the NYP&B, which controlled the NH&NL from 1858 to 1862. The enduring 'compass' detail that the Stonington road put on the sides of its leased depots, while not in sight in the photos, was caught when the artist sketched the 1881 bird's-eye map at lower right. Thank you, Mr. Bailey! An 1885 article in the Register anticipating the elegant brick BRANFORD3 said it would replace the "old brown wooden structure" and a 1939 article in The Branford Review said that this new one was built on the opposite side of the track, thus north, to the old one that stood on the south side. That location is verified on both the 1868 [lower left] and 1881 maps. This station was may have been used briefly as a freight depot in this location before being razed or moved to allow the construction of the bridge that eliminated the Kirkham St. grade crossing just to the west. According to the railroad commissioners, however, a new freight depot was built in 1887, the one seen to the east at Montowese St. on the 1905 bird's-eye map [click here]. We think that the theory, advanced by Carr, that BRANFORD2 became the new freight station is unlikely, and only possible if both the structure was moved and the commissioners misspoke. [REFS: HDC/07/15/1863/02; NHER/08/24/1885/04; CRC36.1888.19; BR/08/17/1939/01; Carr, John C., Old Branford, p48]
The earliest station that has survived in town images is seen in the the upper shots, the one at left being an enlargement of the middle photo. Since the 1856 map in our previous entry already shows this station, we are leaning toward it being built by the NH&NL and not by the NYP&B, which controlled the NH&NL from 1858 to 1862. The enduring 'compass' detail that the Stonington road put on the sides of its leased depots, while not in sight in the photos, was caught when the artist sketched the 1881 bird's-eye map at lower right. Thank you, Mr. Bailey! An 1885 article in the Register anticipating the elegant brick BRANFORD3 said it would replace the "old brown wooden structure" and a 1939 article in The Branford Review said that this new one was built on the opposite side of the track, thus north, to the old one that stood on the south side. That location is verified on both the 1868 [lower left] and 1881 maps. This station was may have been used briefly as a freight depot in this location before being razed or moved to allow the construction of the bridge that eliminated the Kirkham St. grade crossing just to the west. According to the railroad commissioners, however, a new freight depot was built in 1887, the one seen to the east at Montowese St. on the 1905 bird's-eye map [click here]. We think that the theory, advanced by Carr, that BRANFORD2 became the new freight station is unlikely, and only possible if both the structure was moved and the commissioners misspoke. [REFS: HDC/07/15/1863/02; NHER/08/24/1885/04; CRC36.1888.19; BR/08/17/1939/01; Carr, John C., Old Branford, p48]
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Dave Peters Collection
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Branford Historical Society
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Branford Historical Society
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Branford Historical Society
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BRANFORD3 [NYNH&H, 1887/88]
If the Consolidated had a more elegant and graceful station in Connecticut, we would be hard-pressed to find it. The architect's plan at upper left is dated October, 1886. In early November, 1887, a Register article reported that work was rapidly progressing on the new depot and another article late in the month said that it was likely not going to be opened until a grade crossing matter west of the station was resolved, making it sound like the structure was nearly ready then. No actual article about the opening has been found but the 1888 report of the railroad commissioners issued in January, 1889 said it had opened since their last report, hence a very late 1887 or early 1888 debut is probable. Click here for the 1905 bird's-eye map showing the depot and the freight station built at the same time on Montowese St. to the east, and click here for the 1915 val map of this area. The photo at upper right explains what happened to the old station. The approach to the bridge built to eliminate the Kirkham St. grade crossing, a contentious issue in town affairs for years, took the space where BRANFORD2 sat. It is seen in the center left photo possibly in use as a freight station for a very brief time in 1888 before it was removed. Articles in the Branford News and The Branford Review have helped clarify the fate of the grand, turreted BRANFORD3. The latter says that it was "in urgent need of repairs" after damage from the 1938 hurricane and that contractors were bidding in August, 1939 on the demolition job since it was the railroad's intention "to wreck the station and erect in its stead a shelter, similar to to the one at Leetes Island." See L stations for discussion of what that meant. The removal of BRANFORD3 was contemplated even earlier because only two trains per day were stopping here to take commuters to work in New Haven. The elderly gentleman with camera and tripod in the photo at lower right is Louis H. Benton. Chauffeured by the young Irving N. Drake, whose touring car is usually seen in the photos, Benton took pictures of thousands of railroad stations all over New England in the late 1920s and early 1930s. Drake is seen 'walking the rail' in our NORTH CROMWELL photo. Carlton Parker, another noted rail photographer, may have been on this trip to catch this rare image of Benton. [REFS: NHER/08/24/1885/04; NHER/11/02/1887/03; NHER/11/26/1887/03; CRC35.1887.17; NHAR16.1887.7; NHAR17.1888.7; CRC36.1888.19; NHER/02/25/1889/01: bridge done already; NHER/06/28/1892/01: case closed; BR/08/17/1939/01; BN/08/20/1939; NL6.6.6; NL20.4.10]
If the Consolidated had a more elegant and graceful station in Connecticut, we would be hard-pressed to find it. The architect's plan at upper left is dated October, 1886. In early November, 1887, a Register article reported that work was rapidly progressing on the new depot and another article late in the month said that it was likely not going to be opened until a grade crossing matter west of the station was resolved, making it sound like the structure was nearly ready then. No actual article about the opening has been found but the 1888 report of the railroad commissioners issued in January, 1889 said it had opened since their last report, hence a very late 1887 or early 1888 debut is probable. Click here for the 1905 bird's-eye map showing the depot and the freight station built at the same time on Montowese St. to the east, and click here for the 1915 val map of this area. The photo at upper right explains what happened to the old station. The approach to the bridge built to eliminate the Kirkham St. grade crossing, a contentious issue in town affairs for years, took the space where BRANFORD2 sat. It is seen in the center left photo possibly in use as a freight station for a very brief time in 1888 before it was removed. Articles in the Branford News and The Branford Review have helped clarify the fate of the grand, turreted BRANFORD3. The latter says that it was "in urgent need of repairs" after damage from the 1938 hurricane and that contractors were bidding in August, 1939 on the demolition job since it was the railroad's intention "to wreck the station and erect in its stead a shelter, similar to to the one at Leetes Island." See L stations for discussion of what that meant. The removal of BRANFORD3 was contemplated even earlier because only two trains per day were stopping here to take commuters to work in New Haven. The elderly gentleman with camera and tripod in the photo at lower right is Louis H. Benton. Chauffeured by the young Irving N. Drake, whose touring car is usually seen in the photos, Benton took pictures of thousands of railroad stations all over New England in the late 1920s and early 1930s. Drake is seen 'walking the rail' in our NORTH CROMWELL photo. Carlton Parker, another noted rail photographer, may have been on this trip to catch this rare image of Benton. [REFS: NHER/08/24/1885/04; NHER/11/02/1887/03; NHER/11/26/1887/03; CRC35.1887.17; NHAR16.1887.7; NHAR17.1888.7; CRC36.1888.19; NHER/02/25/1889/01: bridge done already; NHER/06/28/1892/01: case closed; BR/08/17/1939/01; BN/08/20/1939; NL6.6.6; NL20.4.10]
Branford Historical Society
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Branford Historical Society
BRANFORD4 [NYNH&H, 1939]
The grandeur, however faded, of BRANFORD3 was replaced by a box. The photo at upper right may be right after this open-faced shed was finished, judging by the automobile and with baggage carts still on the platform. The 1965 aerial map at upper middle shows the outline from the sky. The photo at upper left was taken by Charlie Gunn in the 1950s and that timing is borne out by the vintage cars parked adjacent to the shelter. This humble replacement met its own end when the Courant reported in 1970 that the "old Branford depot" was demolished by a Boston-New York freight train that derailed on 3/22/1970, with 25 of the 86 cars leaving the tracks that were torn up for a quarter of a mile. A boy who had just waved to the engineer heard the crash seconds later and said it "sounded like the end of the world." The aftermath is pictured at lower left. [REFS: HC/03/23/1970/02][rev031013]
The grandeur, however faded, of BRANFORD3 was replaced by a box. The photo at upper right may be right after this open-faced shed was finished, judging by the automobile and with baggage carts still on the platform. The 1965 aerial map at upper middle shows the outline from the sky. The photo at upper left was taken by Charlie Gunn in the 1950s and that timing is borne out by the vintage cars parked adjacent to the shelter. This humble replacement met its own end when the Courant reported in 1970 that the "old Branford depot" was demolished by a Boston-New York freight train that derailed on 3/22/1970, with 25 of the 86 cars leaving the tracks that were torn up for a quarter of a mile. A boy who had just waved to the engineer heard the crash seconds later and said it "sounded like the end of the world." The aftermath is pictured at lower left. [REFS: HC/03/23/1970/02][rev031013]
Branford Historical Society
BRANFORD5 [PC?, 1970s]
The estimated date of this photo is ca. 1979 and the folks at BHS say it was the next station here, this one on the south side of the tracks. An article we happened upon in the Courant said Penn Central was planning to raze shelters still standing and otherwise abandon service on the Shore Line in 1973. This structure may have come along with the creation of Amtrak in the 1970s when there was local service and the Beacon Hill stopped here until it was reportedly discontinued in 1981 [click here and here]. [REFS: HC/03/27/1973/13]
The estimated date of this photo is ca. 1979 and the folks at BHS say it was the next station here, this one on the south side of the tracks. An article we happened upon in the Courant said Penn Central was planning to raze shelters still standing and otherwise abandon service on the Shore Line in 1973. This structure may have come along with the creation of Amtrak in the 1970s when there was local service and the Beacon Hill stopped here until it was reportedly discontinued in 1981 [click here and here]. [REFS: HC/03/27/1973/13]
Branford Historical Society
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BRANFORD6 [SLE, c1990]
This plexiglass enclosure stood once again on the north side of the tracks and was probably put up at the first incarnation of Shore Line East service in 1990. We cannot determine specifically when P&W got trackage rights on the NEC but here it is seen passing this shelter some time after the railroad's rebirth in 1973.
This plexiglass enclosure stood once again on the north side of the tracks and was probably put up at the first incarnation of Shore Line East service in 1990. We cannot determine specifically when P&W got trackage rights on the NEC but here it is seen passing this shelter some time after the railroad's rebirth in 1973.
BRANFORD7 [SLE, 2005]
According to Wikipedia, this Shore Line East station opened on 8/8/2005. Our photo was taken on 8/2/2010. The station now is west of the Kirkham St. bridge that caused so much controversy a century ago.
According to Wikipedia, this Shore Line East station opened on 8/8/2005. Our photo was taken on 8/2/2010. The station now is west of the Kirkham St. bridge that caused so much controversy a century ago.
Max Miller Collection
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New Haven Register
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BRANFORD DRIVING PARK [BSRR, 1900]
It is perhaps a little-known fact that the Branford Steam RR began as a spur track to this horse-racing and agricultural fair venue, seen at upper right. Newly found articles reveal that trains started running from New Haven to this station on 8/16/1900, leaving people "at the park gates without change of cars." The Branford Park Association was chartered in 1895 and the property was subsequently purchased by manager/entrepreneur/politician, Louis A. Fisk, who refurbished the facility for a Memorial Day, 1900 grand reopening. Initially, people were brought by stage, bus, or 'barge' vehicles from either the BRANFORD depot or PINE ORCHARD2, the new station on the relocated Shore Line, but Fisk wanted trains run directly to the park and work on a spur track was begun on 7/10/1900 from the old NH&NL line that had been retained by the NYNH&H for access to the Stony Creek RR. He had hoped that the spur would be completed in time for what the Register reported as the "most extensive automobile tournament ever held in America," wherein two-, three-, and four-wheeled vehicles, both gasoline- and steam-powered, one even said to resemble a baby carriage, were to compete "for international supremacy" on 7/25/1900. Stymied briefly by an injunction, Fisk was quoted as saying "I'll have a spur track for my patrons or I will get you from Union station here in airships" and, by August 16 at least, he made good on his promise when the paper said "the special train went on to the new park station" for the first time. By 1905 the irrepressible Fisk was illuminating his park with arc lamps, search lights, and mirror reflectors and promising a day and night "hippodrome" of racing events. The Branford Steam R.R. was incorporated on 3/19/1903 by Fisk and two partners to take over the spur, the name chosen to differentiate it from the Branford Electric Rwy that had opened on 9/3/1900. Since the spur was to be utilized only for park events, grade crossings were allowed and one source says the right was given to operate trolley cars, though the incorporating act specifies steam power and there is no evidence of electric cars ever having been run. Subsequently, Fisk became interested in quarrying trap rock on Totoket Mountain in North Branford and was granted permission in 1905 for an extension, dubbed the Damascus RR for this section of Branford, that was later folded into the BSRR. Through his influence as a state legislator, he was able to get permission for the new entity's crossings, with the exception of the Boston Post Road, also to be at grade. The one at the heavily traveled Rte. 80 was even passed over gubernatorial veto and this coup forced the Shore Line Electric Rwy, about to open in 1911, to lower its gradient and construct a bridge to go under the still-unbuilt BSRR to avoid the danger of a steam and an electric road crossing each other at grade. While further permission to build to a tidewater terminus at Juniper Point was received in 1909, the newspaper said as late as 1910 that no BSRR construction on either end had begun. For some reason, perhaps tiring of the decade-long project, Fisk sold both the quarry and the BSRR in 1914 to his partners, principal of whom were members of the Blakeslee construction family, who incorporated as the New Haven Trap Rock Co. Interestingly, when Rte 80 was paved with "bituminous macadam" in 1933, it was realigned to use the old SLER ROW, thus eliminating the grade crossing by having Rte. 80 pass under the BSRR via the old trolley bridge. Notwithstanding the 2006 CTDOT replacement of the 1914 bridge, seen at lower right, the BSRR is pretty much now as it was completed then, the tidewater terminus as well as the old NH&NL interchange, now connecting with the P&W and Amtrak, still in place in 2012. While the SLER is gone, part of the Branford Electric Rwy is perpetuated by Shore Line Trolley Museum today [click here]. Though we don't know how long the trains actually ran to the BRANFORD DRIVING PARK station or even how long the races lasted, the final newspaper reference we see is in 1940 when Ben Kennard was running the property as the Pine Orchard Riding Academy. The 1934 aerial map at lower left shows the racing track still very much intact. The red arrow points to the building that may have served as the arrival center and depot, seen in the 11/8/1923 PUC inspection photo at upper left, and the blue arrow points to the railroad bridge over the Boston Post Road. The 1915 val map [click here] at lower middle shows the old NH&NL ROW as 'Original Center Line' still in place only this far from the west to connect with the 'To Quarry' line, the BSRR spur. The southern extension to Juniper Point, owned by another company, is not shown on the NYNH&H val map. The image at upper right is a chance Internet hit in research that has assembled what may be the definitive bibliography on the fascinating Fisk, the park, and the BSRR [click here and here]. With its peculiar origins, special privileges, and its evanescent evolution, this railroad went, in just the first 15 years of its existence, from personal rail spur, to common-carrier, to private industrial railroad and still operates in the latter capacity today over a century later. [REFS: NHER/04/01/1895/01; NHER/08/04/1899/08; NHER/08/31/1899/02; HC/05/26/1900/02; NHER/05/30/1900/15; NHER/07/10/1900/08; HC/07/26/1900/02; NHER/07/24/1900/02; NHER/07/26/1900/05; NYT/07/26/1900/05; NHER/08/17/1900/10; NHER/09/04/1900/08; NHER/09/12/1900/09; HC/12/28/1901/05; RRC37.485 (12/31/1901); HC/12/31/1902/04; HC/01/23/1903/13; Spec Laws, 1903-31; RRC9.106 (9/24/1904); HC/05/29/1905/02; HC/06/16/1905/11; Spec Laws, 1905-481; HC/05/28/1906/17; HC/06/04/1907/07; HC/07/02/1910/07: trolley cars; Spec Laws, 1907-236; Spec Laws, 1909-104; HC/03/05/1909/06; HC/03/29/1910/06; HC/02/11/1911/06; HC/04/05/1910/11; RRC13.52 (6/30/1910); HC/07/02/1910/07; CRC58.1910.9; CRC59.1911.44+; HC/02/28/1911/05; PUC1.1912.xlv; HC/04/28/1914/12; HC/06/20/1912/07; HC/06/26/1912/05; HC/02/07/1914/04; HC/04/28/1914/12; PUC3.1914.36; NLD/05/06/1915/11; MDJ/05/12/1915/03; Spec Laws, 1915-343; HC/08/04/1933/07; HC/07/25/1937/D7; HC/07/13/1940/SM3; NHR/05/26/1963/4/01; NHR/07/26/1987/B5; NHR/12/31/2005/B2; H421; R2.35]
It is perhaps a little-known fact that the Branford Steam RR began as a spur track to this horse-racing and agricultural fair venue, seen at upper right. Newly found articles reveal that trains started running from New Haven to this station on 8/16/1900, leaving people "at the park gates without change of cars." The Branford Park Association was chartered in 1895 and the property was subsequently purchased by manager/entrepreneur/politician, Louis A. Fisk, who refurbished the facility for a Memorial Day, 1900 grand reopening. Initially, people were brought by stage, bus, or 'barge' vehicles from either the BRANFORD depot or PINE ORCHARD2, the new station on the relocated Shore Line, but Fisk wanted trains run directly to the park and work on a spur track was begun on 7/10/1900 from the old NH&NL line that had been retained by the NYNH&H for access to the Stony Creek RR. He had hoped that the spur would be completed in time for what the Register reported as the "most extensive automobile tournament ever held in America," wherein two-, three-, and four-wheeled vehicles, both gasoline- and steam-powered, one even said to resemble a baby carriage, were to compete "for international supremacy" on 7/25/1900. Stymied briefly by an injunction, Fisk was quoted as saying "I'll have a spur track for my patrons or I will get you from Union station here in airships" and, by August 16 at least, he made good on his promise when the paper said "the special train went on to the new park station" for the first time. By 1905 the irrepressible Fisk was illuminating his park with arc lamps, search lights, and mirror reflectors and promising a day and night "hippodrome" of racing events. The Branford Steam R.R. was incorporated on 3/19/1903 by Fisk and two partners to take over the spur, the name chosen to differentiate it from the Branford Electric Rwy that had opened on 9/3/1900. Since the spur was to be utilized only for park events, grade crossings were allowed and one source says the right was given to operate trolley cars, though the incorporating act specifies steam power and there is no evidence of electric cars ever having been run. Subsequently, Fisk became interested in quarrying trap rock on Totoket Mountain in North Branford and was granted permission in 1905 for an extension, dubbed the Damascus RR for this section of Branford, that was later folded into the BSRR. Through his influence as a state legislator, he was able to get permission for the new entity's crossings, with the exception of the Boston Post Road, also to be at grade. The one at the heavily traveled Rte. 80 was even passed over gubernatorial veto and this coup forced the Shore Line Electric Rwy, about to open in 1911, to lower its gradient and construct a bridge to go under the still-unbuilt BSRR to avoid the danger of a steam and an electric road crossing each other at grade. While further permission to build to a tidewater terminus at Juniper Point was received in 1909, the newspaper said as late as 1910 that no BSRR construction on either end had begun. For some reason, perhaps tiring of the decade-long project, Fisk sold both the quarry and the BSRR in 1914 to his partners, principal of whom were members of the Blakeslee construction family, who incorporated as the New Haven Trap Rock Co. Interestingly, when Rte 80 was paved with "bituminous macadam" in 1933, it was realigned to use the old SLER ROW, thus eliminating the grade crossing by having Rte. 80 pass under the BSRR via the old trolley bridge. Notwithstanding the 2006 CTDOT replacement of the 1914 bridge, seen at lower right, the BSRR is pretty much now as it was completed then, the tidewater terminus as well as the old NH&NL interchange, now connecting with the P&W and Amtrak, still in place in 2012. While the SLER is gone, part of the Branford Electric Rwy is perpetuated by Shore Line Trolley Museum today [click here]. Though we don't know how long the trains actually ran to the BRANFORD DRIVING PARK station or even how long the races lasted, the final newspaper reference we see is in 1940 when Ben Kennard was running the property as the Pine Orchard Riding Academy. The 1934 aerial map at lower left shows the racing track still very much intact. The red arrow points to the building that may have served as the arrival center and depot, seen in the 11/8/1923 PUC inspection photo at upper left, and the blue arrow points to the railroad bridge over the Boston Post Road. The 1915 val map [click here] at lower middle shows the old NH&NL ROW as 'Original Center Line' still in place only this far from the west to connect with the 'To Quarry' line, the BSRR spur. The southern extension to Juniper Point, owned by another company, is not shown on the NYNH&H val map. The image at upper right is a chance Internet hit in research that has assembled what may be the definitive bibliography on the fascinating Fisk, the park, and the BSRR [click here and here]. With its peculiar origins, special privileges, and its evanescent evolution, this railroad went, in just the first 15 years of its existence, from personal rail spur, to common-carrier, to private industrial railroad and still operates in the latter capacity today over a century later. [REFS: NHER/04/01/1895/01; NHER/08/04/1899/08; NHER/08/31/1899/02; HC/05/26/1900/02; NHER/05/30/1900/15; NHER/07/10/1900/08; HC/07/26/1900/02; NHER/07/24/1900/02; NHER/07/26/1900/05; NYT/07/26/1900/05; NHER/08/17/1900/10; NHER/09/04/1900/08; NHER/09/12/1900/09; HC/12/28/1901/05; RRC37.485 (12/31/1901); HC/12/31/1902/04; HC/01/23/1903/13; Spec Laws, 1903-31; RRC9.106 (9/24/1904); HC/05/29/1905/02; HC/06/16/1905/11; Spec Laws, 1905-481; HC/05/28/1906/17; HC/06/04/1907/07; HC/07/02/1910/07: trolley cars; Spec Laws, 1907-236; Spec Laws, 1909-104; HC/03/05/1909/06; HC/03/29/1910/06; HC/02/11/1911/06; HC/04/05/1910/11; RRC13.52 (6/30/1910); HC/07/02/1910/07; CRC58.1910.9; CRC59.1911.44+; HC/02/28/1911/05; PUC1.1912.xlv; HC/04/28/1914/12; HC/06/20/1912/07; HC/06/26/1912/05; HC/02/07/1914/04; HC/04/28/1914/12; PUC3.1914.36; NLD/05/06/1915/11; MDJ/05/12/1915/03; Spec Laws, 1915-343; HC/08/04/1933/07; HC/07/25/1937/D7; HC/07/13/1940/SM3; NHR/05/26/1963/4/01; NHR/07/26/1987/B5; NHR/12/31/2005/B2; H421; R2.35]
BREAKWATER [NYNH&H, c1900?]
As seen on the 1915 val map, this station in the town of Ledyard is on the N&W Groton extension, completed by the NYNH&H in 1899. This stop may be the same as POQUETANUCK.
As seen on the 1915 val map, this station in the town of Ledyard is on the N&W Groton extension, completed by the NYNH&H in 1899. This stop may be the same as POQUETANUCK.
BRICK YARD [NYNH&H, c1900?]
The 1915 val map shows just a platform here on the east side of the track and adjacent to the East Windsor Brick Co. This was not an original station on the Connecticut Central when it opened in 1876 and we do not yet know precisely when it was established, but it is on our 1907TT as a flag stop for one of the two trains daily each way between Hartford and Springfield on this branch. The stop is in the town of South Windsor.
The 1915 val map shows just a platform here on the east side of the track and adjacent to the East Windsor Brick Co. This was not an original station on the Connecticut Central when it opened in 1876 and we do not yet know precisely when it was established, but it is on our 1907TT as a flag stop for one of the two trains daily each way between Hartford and Springfield on this branch. The stop is in the town of South Windsor.
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BRIDGEPORT1 [HRR, 1840]
In going through the Fairfield County Historical Society records [click here] that we recently came upon, we found the following statement: "About 1846 the Housatonic Railroad company removed their depot for both for passenger and freight from near Fairfield avenue southerly to a point near the present elevator." The FCHS records go on to say that the railroad's first operational base was at Porter's Point, identified in Orcutt as the location of a farm once owned by Samuel Porter at the foot of Gold St. The snippets are from the Bailey 1875 bird's-eye map [click here]. The one on the left shows the Porter farm location. The right shaft of the double arrow points to what FCHS calls the "long car house" that remained here for years after 1846 and the left shaft points to a small structure that we have discounted as being the first depot because it is too small and a bit too far from Fairfield Ave. The single red arrow on both snippets points to what we think was the first HRR depot, shown just north of the 1861 station we now have designated as BRIDGEPORT3. Late in 1860, when that station was about to open, the Courant referred to the old one as a "shanty" and in 1879, the Journal Courier reported that "the old passenger depot of the Housatonic railroad in Bridgeport is being torn down." While both may refer to the larger BRIDGEPORT2, it is perhaps more likely that this small structure is the one they meant, perhaps being used by the NY&NH after the HRR vacated it and in later days for a baggage and express office for all three railroads. It is worth noting that Mr. Bailey has once again come to the rescue with a representation of Bridgeport that we may never have had otherwise and that includes an accurate rendering of the 1848 swing-span bridge, the first of the four that the railroad would use to cross the Pequonnock River here, as well as the Park City's old Congress St. bridge to the north. [REFS: HDC/12/29/1860/02; NHJC/08/12/1879/02; FCHS Reports and Papers, 1882-1897, p152,154 (For Porter, see p6,7); Orcutt, A History of the Old Town of Stratford and the City of Bridgeport, 1.553]
In going through the Fairfield County Historical Society records [click here] that we recently came upon, we found the following statement: "About 1846 the Housatonic Railroad company removed their depot for both for passenger and freight from near Fairfield avenue southerly to a point near the present elevator." The FCHS records go on to say that the railroad's first operational base was at Porter's Point, identified in Orcutt as the location of a farm once owned by Samuel Porter at the foot of Gold St. The snippets are from the Bailey 1875 bird's-eye map [click here]. The one on the left shows the Porter farm location. The right shaft of the double arrow points to what FCHS calls the "long car house" that remained here for years after 1846 and the left shaft points to a small structure that we have discounted as being the first depot because it is too small and a bit too far from Fairfield Ave. The single red arrow on both snippets points to what we think was the first HRR depot, shown just north of the 1861 station we now have designated as BRIDGEPORT3. Late in 1860, when that station was about to open, the Courant referred to the old one as a "shanty" and in 1879, the Journal Courier reported that "the old passenger depot of the Housatonic railroad in Bridgeport is being torn down." While both may refer to the larger BRIDGEPORT2, it is perhaps more likely that this small structure is the one they meant, perhaps being used by the NY&NH after the HRR vacated it and in later days for a baggage and express office for all three railroads. It is worth noting that Mr. Bailey has once again come to the rescue with a representation of Bridgeport that we may never have had otherwise and that includes an accurate rendering of the 1848 swing-span bridge, the first of the four that the railroad would use to cross the Pequonnock River here, as well as the Park City's old Congress St. bridge to the north. [REFS: HDC/12/29/1860/02; NHJC/08/12/1879/02; FCHS Reports and Papers, 1882-1897, p152,154 (For Porter, see p6,7); Orcutt, A History of the Old Town of Stratford and the City of Bridgeport, 1.553]
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BRIDGEPORT2 [HRR, 1846]
The FCHS clue that the HRR moved its depot south to the grain elevator location ties nicely into the 1850 Sidney & Neff map at CHO [upper left] and the 1856FC map [upper middle]. They both show an L-shaped depot at Water and Union Sts. on the east side of the tracks that now terminate there instead of at Porter Point. This second station would be used by the NY&NH and the NRR when they both opened in 1848/1849. The HRR's 1850 annual report says that the rents the other two roads were paying were "proportionate to the occupancy" of the HRR terminal property and amounted half the interest on the cost of the facilities, indicating a 25/25/50 split. The 1867 Beers map [upper right] shows the 1846 BRIDGEPORT2 location at the bottom red arrow and the 1861 BRIDGEPORT3 depot at the upper red arrow. A Courant article in 1865 mentions that HRR employee, William McGrath, was severely injured while working at "the old depot," which we interpret as meaning Union St. Though we have yet found no photographs, the lower left shot from the 1875 Bailey bird's-eye map shows the appearance of a rather ornate building at the lower red arrow, standing right below the tall structure marked 'F', which is the grain elevator. Newspapers in 1846 noted the new construction and applauded the strides the HRR made after its early financial troubles. The Albany Evening Journal said that the company "have erected spacious Depot Buildings at their termination in Bridgeport" and the Palladium, quoted in the Republican Farmer, reported that the company "was erecting, at the lower end of the wharf a depot, which in its dimensions will equal, if not surpass, any structure of the kind in the country." According to FCHS records, when Pres. Lincoln visited in March, 1860, "he arrived at the old depot, then at the foot of Union street" and we know he later gave a speech at what is now McLevy Hall a few blocks away. He was probably the last visitor of importance to this station because BRIDGEPORT3 would open less than a year later. BRIDGEPORT2, the lower portion at least, was later turned into a car house and the footprint presents such an appearance on the 1867 Beers map with tracks leading into it. An 1880 map shows HRR offices here, probably on the north end of the building but by 1884 the structure is gone and the space filled in with more tracks leading to expanded HRR facilities just to the south. [REFS: RF/09/15/1846/03; AEJ/11/21/1846/02; HRRAR1850.11,12; HDC/10/20/1865/02; NHJC/08/12/1879/02; FCHS p1050, (For Lincoln, see page xvi)]
The FCHS clue that the HRR moved its depot south to the grain elevator location ties nicely into the 1850 Sidney & Neff map at CHO [upper left] and the 1856FC map [upper middle]. They both show an L-shaped depot at Water and Union Sts. on the east side of the tracks that now terminate there instead of at Porter Point. This second station would be used by the NY&NH and the NRR when they both opened in 1848/1849. The HRR's 1850 annual report says that the rents the other two roads were paying were "proportionate to the occupancy" of the HRR terminal property and amounted half the interest on the cost of the facilities, indicating a 25/25/50 split. The 1867 Beers map [upper right] shows the 1846 BRIDGEPORT2 location at the bottom red arrow and the 1861 BRIDGEPORT3 depot at the upper red arrow. A Courant article in 1865 mentions that HRR employee, William McGrath, was severely injured while working at "the old depot," which we interpret as meaning Union St. Though we have yet found no photographs, the lower left shot from the 1875 Bailey bird's-eye map shows the appearance of a rather ornate building at the lower red arrow, standing right below the tall structure marked 'F', which is the grain elevator. Newspapers in 1846 noted the new construction and applauded the strides the HRR made after its early financial troubles. The Albany Evening Journal said that the company "have erected spacious Depot Buildings at their termination in Bridgeport" and the Palladium, quoted in the Republican Farmer, reported that the company "was erecting, at the lower end of the wharf a depot, which in its dimensions will equal, if not surpass, any structure of the kind in the country." According to FCHS records, when Pres. Lincoln visited in March, 1860, "he arrived at the old depot, then at the foot of Union street" and we know he later gave a speech at what is now McLevy Hall a few blocks away. He was probably the last visitor of importance to this station because BRIDGEPORT3 would open less than a year later. BRIDGEPORT2, the lower portion at least, was later turned into a car house and the footprint presents such an appearance on the 1867 Beers map with tracks leading into it. An 1880 map shows HRR offices here, probably on the north end of the building but by 1884 the structure is gone and the space filled in with more tracks leading to expanded HRR facilities just to the south. [REFS: RF/09/15/1846/03; AEJ/11/21/1846/02; HRRAR1850.11,12; HDC/10/20/1865/02; NHJC/08/12/1879/02; FCHS p1050, (For Lincoln, see page xvi)]
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BRIDGEPORT3 [NY&NH, 1861]
This station opened on January 1, 1861. According to the NY&NH 1860 annual report, the HRR and the NRR declined an offer to participate at "joint fair proportional expense" in the erection of a station for "the mutual accommodation of the three Companies." The NY&NH then applied to the railroad commissioners on its own for an "up-town" location at Fairfield Ave. and Water St. where the older HRR depot was still standing. The Courant said in November, 1859 that the railroad commissioners had given their approval and that the depot would be built the following spring. Some delay or other resulted in a report in September, 1860 that a "new railroad depot, 200 feet long by 23 wide, and two stories high, for the N.Y. and N.H. Railroad Company, is under contract at Bridgeport." Though there is a newspaper reference in 1867 to an otherwise undocumented Naugatuck passenger station and one in 1873 to a Housatonic depot, we assume that the other roads abandoned BRIDGEPORT2 in 1861 and began to pay rental for use of the new NY&NH depot, a union station that was never really referred to as such. In 1890, the Register reported that the charge to the HRR was a surprisingly modest $300 per year. In 1880, a 31-ft addition was put on the south end of this station to give the Adams Express Co. more space. The improvements included lengthening the platform to 550 feet and erecting a covershed over it like the one at the recently built NEW HAVEN4. The expansion seems to also have added another chimney to what appear to have been the four original ones, as seen in the ca. 1870 stereo view image at upper left. The old track arrangement is seen in it as well, with the HRR crossing the NY&NH right at the station to reach its facilities on the harbor. A later cross-over would be farther west at the grain elevator, the towering structure seen in the distance. Continuing difficulties at this crossing, fueled by corporate antagonism on the part of the NYNH&H, led to armed combat by crews and the tearing up of tracks in the late 1880s. An amicable rearrangement of deeds and property rights in 1890 left the HRR actually owning the station, a short-lived victory when the Consolidated leased the HRR in 1892 and got it back. The upper middle photo is imprinted as 1868 in other copies but we used this one to show it mistaken for NORWALK5, which had a Mansard roof unlike BRIDGEPORT3. The other views are some time after the addition, which can be seen in the portion without the covershed on the west end. The image at lower right is probably ca. 1900 and shows pedestrians and trolley tracks behind the station on Water St. [REFS: RRC2.104 (11/22/1859); HDC/11/28/1859/02; NYNH AR1860, p6; NLDC/09/14/1860/02; HDC/09/19/1860/02; HDC/10/09/1860/02; HDC/12/29/1860/02; HDC/04/24/1867/08; PS/05/14/1873/02; NHER/10/11/1880/01; NHER/09/03/1888/04; NHER/01/13/1890/01; HC/03/03/1890/08; FCHS, p1006; SL28.3.6+][rev100212]
This station opened on January 1, 1861. According to the NY&NH 1860 annual report, the HRR and the NRR declined an offer to participate at "joint fair proportional expense" in the erection of a station for "the mutual accommodation of the three Companies." The NY&NH then applied to the railroad commissioners on its own for an "up-town" location at Fairfield Ave. and Water St. where the older HRR depot was still standing. The Courant said in November, 1859 that the railroad commissioners had given their approval and that the depot would be built the following spring. Some delay or other resulted in a report in September, 1860 that a "new railroad depot, 200 feet long by 23 wide, and two stories high, for the N.Y. and N.H. Railroad Company, is under contract at Bridgeport." Though there is a newspaper reference in 1867 to an otherwise undocumented Naugatuck passenger station and one in 1873 to a Housatonic depot, we assume that the other roads abandoned BRIDGEPORT2 in 1861 and began to pay rental for use of the new NY&NH depot, a union station that was never really referred to as such. In 1890, the Register reported that the charge to the HRR was a surprisingly modest $300 per year. In 1880, a 31-ft addition was put on the south end of this station to give the Adams Express Co. more space. The improvements included lengthening the platform to 550 feet and erecting a covershed over it like the one at the recently built NEW HAVEN4. The expansion seems to also have added another chimney to what appear to have been the four original ones, as seen in the ca. 1870 stereo view image at upper left. The old track arrangement is seen in it as well, with the HRR crossing the NY&NH right at the station to reach its facilities on the harbor. A later cross-over would be farther west at the grain elevator, the towering structure seen in the distance. Continuing difficulties at this crossing, fueled by corporate antagonism on the part of the NYNH&H, led to armed combat by crews and the tearing up of tracks in the late 1880s. An amicable rearrangement of deeds and property rights in 1890 left the HRR actually owning the station, a short-lived victory when the Consolidated leased the HRR in 1892 and got it back. The upper middle photo is imprinted as 1868 in other copies but we used this one to show it mistaken for NORWALK5, which had a Mansard roof unlike BRIDGEPORT3. The other views are some time after the addition, which can be seen in the portion without the covershed on the west end. The image at lower right is probably ca. 1900 and shows pedestrians and trolley tracks behind the station on Water St. [REFS: RRC2.104 (11/22/1859); HDC/11/28/1859/02; NYNH AR1860, p6; NLDC/09/14/1860/02; HDC/09/19/1860/02; HDC/10/09/1860/02; HDC/12/29/1860/02; HDC/04/24/1867/08; PS/05/14/1873/02; NHER/10/11/1880/01; NHER/09/03/1888/04; NHER/01/13/1890/01; HC/03/03/1890/08; FCHS, p1006; SL28.3.6+][rev100212]
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BRIDGEPORT4 [NYNH&H, 1891/92]
This undated sketch shows the street-level station on the eastbound side of the tracks put up by the NYNH&H in late 1891 or early 1892. This was in some ways occasioned by the release of BRIDGEPORT3 to the HRR after which there was the expectation that the NYNH&H would build its own new station. The Palladium ran a small item in October, 1891 saying that published reports that the NYNH&H was about to build a completely new depot "more costly and elaborate than any other on the road" had been denied by General Mgr. Tuttle. He said nothing would be done about a permanent structure until the four-tracking and elevation project was completed. In the meantime, however, he did say that the company was going to erect a "temporary wooden depot on the south side of the tracks, something after the plan of the depot at Westport" to afford comfortable accommodations to travelers taking trains across from the main station. It was expected to cost about $4,000. For this purpose, Tuttle said in July that the NYNH&H was going to purchase land between BRIDGEPORT3 and the Pequonnock River from the Miller and Strickland Co. coal dealers. The footprint of the station is seen on the map. In the sketch, all we can see is the covershed from this angle, but whatever was built foreshadowed the oversized eastbound station and train shed [BRIDGEPORT7, below] that debuted around 1907. [REFS: TR/08/23/1891/04; NHDP/10/07/1891/??; HC/04/03/1891/06; HC/07/14/1891/06]
This undated sketch shows the street-level station on the eastbound side of the tracks put up by the NYNH&H in late 1891 or early 1892. This was in some ways occasioned by the release of BRIDGEPORT3 to the HRR after which there was the expectation that the NYNH&H would build its own new station. The Palladium ran a small item in October, 1891 saying that published reports that the NYNH&H was about to build a completely new depot "more costly and elaborate than any other on the road" had been denied by General Mgr. Tuttle. He said nothing would be done about a permanent structure until the four-tracking and elevation project was completed. In the meantime, however, he did say that the company was going to erect a "temporary wooden depot on the south side of the tracks, something after the plan of the depot at Westport" to afford comfortable accommodations to travelers taking trains across from the main station. It was expected to cost about $4,000. For this purpose, Tuttle said in July that the NYNH&H was going to purchase land between BRIDGEPORT3 and the Pequonnock River from the Miller and Strickland Co. coal dealers. The footprint of the station is seen on the map. In the sketch, all we can see is the covershed from this angle, but whatever was built foreshadowed the oversized eastbound station and train shed [BRIDGEPORT7, below] that debuted around 1907. [REFS: TR/08/23/1891/04; NHDP/10/07/1891/??; HC/04/03/1891/06; HC/07/14/1891/06]
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BRIDGEPORT5 [NYNH&H, 1904]
This was the temporary structure that was used from February, 1904 to August, 1905. It apparently stood in the empty space between the new permanent station and the new railway express building, as seen in the postcard in the middle. With the track-elevation project finally completed, the newspaper said early in 1904 that "work on the structure of this [new] station cannot be begun until the present one is entirely abandoned and torn down" and that "one by one the tenants of Bridgeport's chief relic of the past, the railroad station, have moved out," leaving only the ticket office and the news stand which would probably move out within the week. The article went on to say that the "temporary station has been in readiness for them some time" but problems with the new "overhead" tracks down by the grain elevator had prevented their use for several weeks. Apparently, extra fill was needed between the huge stone walls to stabilize this particularly soft mud-flat area. It is hard to visualize railroad operations at this point in time, but it sounds like somehow trains on street-level tracks were still serving BRIDGEPORT3, likely on either side of the four new elevated tracks stood ready on the massive stone-enclosed embankment that still cuts through the city today. Eighteen months later when the new station was about to open, the paper said in August, 1905 that the "temporary station on the east end of the new building will be closed and removed in a few days." The paper went on to say on that "a big gang of men will be engaged in the task" that evening of transferring railroad property from the temporary station to the new one. A recently found Courant article has given us an interesting tidbit of information on the fate of the interim station. Titled "Waterbury Gets It," it says "Another duty has been found by the New York, New Haven & Hartford road for the station that did temporary service at Bridgeport during the construction of the new depot in that city. The old station will be moved to Waterbury and is to be put up on West Main street, at the present New England road crossing." The photo at left [add9/2] is of the temporary depot reassembled in the Brass City while WATERBURY7 was being built. Thus ended the saga of the opening of BRIDGEPORT6 and of the massive construction project that elevated the tracks of the New York Division. The only image, seen at right, we have found is from an unidentified newspaper ca. 1940 with captioning that reads "Do you remember 'way back when -- There were 'wooden cars and iron men?' Here they are over 30 years ago, filling in the great ditch made with stone walls to elevate the tracks of the New Haven road. The location is Crescent avenue, east of East Main street and as far as the camera lens could see the 'iron men' are pitching off the dirt a spoonful at a time and in unison." With more photos like these, what a fascinating exhibit or article could be put together about this memorable chapter in Connecticut railroad history! [REFS: BEP/01/25/1904/01+; BEP/08/19/1905/01][rev090212]
This was the temporary structure that was used from February, 1904 to August, 1905. It apparently stood in the empty space between the new permanent station and the new railway express building, as seen in the postcard in the middle. With the track-elevation project finally completed, the newspaper said early in 1904 that "work on the structure of this [new] station cannot be begun until the present one is entirely abandoned and torn down" and that "one by one the tenants of Bridgeport's chief relic of the past, the railroad station, have moved out," leaving only the ticket office and the news stand which would probably move out within the week. The article went on to say that the "temporary station has been in readiness for them some time" but problems with the new "overhead" tracks down by the grain elevator had prevented their use for several weeks. Apparently, extra fill was needed between the huge stone walls to stabilize this particularly soft mud-flat area. It is hard to visualize railroad operations at this point in time, but it sounds like somehow trains on street-level tracks were still serving BRIDGEPORT3, likely on either side of the four new elevated tracks stood ready on the massive stone-enclosed embankment that still cuts through the city today. Eighteen months later when the new station was about to open, the paper said in August, 1905 that the "temporary station on the east end of the new building will be closed and removed in a few days." The paper went on to say on that "a big gang of men will be engaged in the task" that evening of transferring railroad property from the temporary station to the new one. A recently found Courant article has given us an interesting tidbit of information on the fate of the interim station. Titled "Waterbury Gets It," it says "Another duty has been found by the New York, New Haven & Hartford road for the station that did temporary service at Bridgeport during the construction of the new depot in that city. The old station will be moved to Waterbury and is to be put up on West Main street, at the present New England road crossing." The photo at left [add9/2] is of the temporary depot reassembled in the Brass City while WATERBURY7 was being built. Thus ended the saga of the opening of BRIDGEPORT6 and of the massive construction project that elevated the tracks of the New York Division. The only image, seen at right, we have found is from an unidentified newspaper ca. 1940 with captioning that reads "Do you remember 'way back when -- There were 'wooden cars and iron men?' Here they are over 30 years ago, filling in the great ditch made with stone walls to elevate the tracks of the New Haven road. The location is Crescent avenue, east of East Main street and as far as the camera lens could see the 'iron men' are pitching off the dirt a spoonful at a time and in unison." With more photos like these, what a fascinating exhibit or article could be put together about this memorable chapter in Connecticut railroad history! [REFS: BEP/01/25/1904/01+; BEP/08/19/1905/01][rev090212]
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BRIDGEPORT6 [NYNH&H, 1905]
Ground was broken on 4/4/1904 for this station to replace the Civil War-era BRIDGEPORT3 and to accommodate the new elevated, four-track main line. That $4M project had just been finished, with the first train running over the new viaducts on 1/31/1904. The new station was not ready until more than a year and a half later, opening on 8/20/1905. The foundation for BRIDGEPORT6 was granite and the exterior was buff brick. A 115-ft tower at the Golden Hill St. side of the station was adorned by four copper gargoyles and a red slate roof topped the entire Romanesque structure that was designed by architect Warren R. Briggs. A street level tunnel connected the main station with the eastbound platform and a long ramp up from Fairfield Ave. served, more or less, as the main entrance. The view at upper right looks west on the old HRR approach that caused the station platforms to be built in a unique V shape. The 160x70-ft waiting room had terrazzo and marble floors and a painted metal ceiling. There were freight, passenger and express elevators and over a thousand electric light bulbs illuminated the station and its surroundings. These improvements also included the opening of a new rolling lift drawbridge over the Pequonnock River. Until the old bridge was demolished, the swing span was left open, eliminating the old walkway and forcing pedestrians to use the Stratford Ave. or Congress St. bridges. As impressive as this station was, it was later said to have been too small and outdated within a decade. In the 1950s, NHRR Pres. McGinnis said it should be blown up(!) and a new station built in East Bridgeport where there was more room for parking. While closed in the mid-1970s and being considered for other uses, it was destroyed on 3/20/1979 in a suspected arson fire. The postcard at upper middle reportedly dates to 1907, with the red arrow pointing to the 1904 SS 28 Fairfield Ave. tower. According to Dale Martin, this was eliminated when the Peck tower, SS 60, debuted on the bridge just east of the station. [REFS: HC/07/17/1903/09; HC/08/07/1903/14: new bridge; BEP/02/01/1904; BEP/03/04/1904; HC/05/06/1904/15: old bridge being torn down; CRC53.1905.25; BEP/08/14/1905; HC/08/15/1905/05; BEP/08/19/1905/01; HC/03/21/1979/1A; NL19.1.8; R36]
Ground was broken on 4/4/1904 for this station to replace the Civil War-era BRIDGEPORT3 and to accommodate the new elevated, four-track main line. That $4M project had just been finished, with the first train running over the new viaducts on 1/31/1904. The new station was not ready until more than a year and a half later, opening on 8/20/1905. The foundation for BRIDGEPORT6 was granite and the exterior was buff brick. A 115-ft tower at the Golden Hill St. side of the station was adorned by four copper gargoyles and a red slate roof topped the entire Romanesque structure that was designed by architect Warren R. Briggs. A street level tunnel connected the main station with the eastbound platform and a long ramp up from Fairfield Ave. served, more or less, as the main entrance. The view at upper right looks west on the old HRR approach that caused the station platforms to be built in a unique V shape. The 160x70-ft waiting room had terrazzo and marble floors and a painted metal ceiling. There were freight, passenger and express elevators and over a thousand electric light bulbs illuminated the station and its surroundings. These improvements also included the opening of a new rolling lift drawbridge over the Pequonnock River. Until the old bridge was demolished, the swing span was left open, eliminating the old walkway and forcing pedestrians to use the Stratford Ave. or Congress St. bridges. As impressive as this station was, it was later said to have been too small and outdated within a decade. In the 1950s, NHRR Pres. McGinnis said it should be blown up(!) and a new station built in East Bridgeport where there was more room for parking. While closed in the mid-1970s and being considered for other uses, it was destroyed on 3/20/1979 in a suspected arson fire. The postcard at upper middle reportedly dates to 1907, with the red arrow pointing to the 1904 SS 28 Fairfield Ave. tower. According to Dale Martin, this was eliminated when the Peck tower, SS 60, debuted on the bridge just east of the station. [REFS: HC/07/17/1903/09; HC/08/07/1903/14: new bridge; BEP/02/01/1904; BEP/03/04/1904; HC/05/06/1904/15: old bridge being torn down; CRC53.1905.25; BEP/08/14/1905; HC/08/15/1905/05; BEP/08/19/1905/01; HC/03/21/1979/1A; NL19.1.8; R36]
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Copyright NHRHTA
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BRIDGEPORT7 [NYNH&H, c1907]
Months before BRIDGEPORT6 opened in August, newspapers were reporting in May, 1905 that a station was also going to be built on the east side of the tracks, essentially replacing the earlier and already demolished BRIDGEPORT4. The Ansonia Evening Sentinel article said: "Another Depot for Bridgeport. While accepting the plan proposed by Supervising Architect Warren R. Briggs, on behalf of the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad company, for a waiting room and shelter said on the east side of the platform of the new passenger station, the board of trade committee on railroad improvements has informed Mr. Briggs that another depot is an urgent necessity..." An article from an unidentified paper added that Briggs presented plans for a temporary station to be "100 feet long and twenty-four feet wide... supplied with the modern conveniences for passengers waiting for trains, but it will not have a ticket office." Bridgeport Board of Trade President Fred Enos was said to not be satisfied but glad for what the railroad was willing to give. He was of the opinion, however, that within five years the railroad would be "obliged to build a permanent and solid structure on the east side for their passenger traffic and equip it with a ticket office." The postcard at upper left has a 1906 date and shows just a small covershed on the eastbound side, while the 1908 upper middle image shows a substantial gabled building behind a longer, curved covershed as well as a trainshed that protected passengers from the elements while boarding on Track 6. Both the 1910 real estate map at upper right and the 1915 val map at lower right show the footprint of BRIDGEPORT7 without the adjacent appendages. The 1913 Sanborn map we have seen shows the eastbound structure as 'Iron Clad from the 'waiting room' at Stratford Ave. all the way up to opposite the east end of the main passenger station. Nothing is found further in the newspapers or the railroad commissioners reports to clarify more exactly when this structure was put up or the extent of the amenities it provided, but the next Sanborn map shows the same-length structure in 1939 with no waiting room indicated at the west end by that time. Passengers thereafter must have stayed at the main station and descended to the concourse beneath the tracks to come the up stairs on the east side to get trains there. We recall public entrances to the 1905 station on Water St., on the north end of the main station where you drove in under the Berkshire line overpass at the foot of Golden Hill St., and on the south end via the Fairfield Ave. pedestrian ramp that was touted as quite an innovation when it debuted. The 1915 val map at lower right shows the elaborate, dare we say intermodal, transportation complex that the NYNH&H built for the Park City. BRIDGEPORT7 is at the red arrow and a streetcar loop circles around the back of the station through what we once knew as just a parking lot, goes under the elevated tracks, and into the carbarns that had a clever pass-through arrangement to Congress St. The express building, utilized by Adams before the Railway Express Agency was created, is seen west of the trolley barn complex that was only recently torn down. [REFS: AES/05/15/1905/05; ???/05/18/1905/03; HC/08/29/1905/13][rev120812]
Months before BRIDGEPORT6 opened in August, newspapers were reporting in May, 1905 that a station was also going to be built on the east side of the tracks, essentially replacing the earlier and already demolished BRIDGEPORT4. The Ansonia Evening Sentinel article said: "Another Depot for Bridgeport. While accepting the plan proposed by Supervising Architect Warren R. Briggs, on behalf of the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad company, for a waiting room and shelter said on the east side of the platform of the new passenger station, the board of trade committee on railroad improvements has informed Mr. Briggs that another depot is an urgent necessity..." An article from an unidentified paper added that Briggs presented plans for a temporary station to be "100 feet long and twenty-four feet wide... supplied with the modern conveniences for passengers waiting for trains, but it will not have a ticket office." Bridgeport Board of Trade President Fred Enos was said to not be satisfied but glad for what the railroad was willing to give. He was of the opinion, however, that within five years the railroad would be "obliged to build a permanent and solid structure on the east side for their passenger traffic and equip it with a ticket office." The postcard at upper left has a 1906 date and shows just a small covershed on the eastbound side, while the 1908 upper middle image shows a substantial gabled building behind a longer, curved covershed as well as a trainshed that protected passengers from the elements while boarding on Track 6. Both the 1910 real estate map at upper right and the 1915 val map at lower right show the footprint of BRIDGEPORT7 without the adjacent appendages. The 1913 Sanborn map we have seen shows the eastbound structure as 'Iron Clad from the 'waiting room' at Stratford Ave. all the way up to opposite the east end of the main passenger station. Nothing is found further in the newspapers or the railroad commissioners reports to clarify more exactly when this structure was put up or the extent of the amenities it provided, but the next Sanborn map shows the same-length structure in 1939 with no waiting room indicated at the west end by that time. Passengers thereafter must have stayed at the main station and descended to the concourse beneath the tracks to come the up stairs on the east side to get trains there. We recall public entrances to the 1905 station on Water St., on the north end of the main station where you drove in under the Berkshire line overpass at the foot of Golden Hill St., and on the south end via the Fairfield Ave. pedestrian ramp that was touted as quite an innovation when it debuted. The 1915 val map at lower right shows the elaborate, dare we say intermodal, transportation complex that the NYNH&H built for the Park City. BRIDGEPORT7 is at the red arrow and a streetcar loop circles around the back of the station through what we once knew as just a parking lot, goes under the elevated tracks, and into the carbarns that had a clever pass-through arrangement to Congress St. The express building, utilized by Adams before the Railway Express Agency was created, is seen west of the trolley barn complex that was only recently torn down. [REFS: AES/05/15/1905/05; ???/05/18/1905/03; HC/08/29/1905/13][rev120812]
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BRIDGEPORT8 [MN, 1975]
Designed by Antinozzi Associates and built by Kepetan, Inc., this station straddles Water St. and is still in service in 2012. It was completed in 1975. John Roy [p.36] says BRIDGEPORT6 was closed in June, 1973 and passengers were accommodated minimally in the meantime. The photo at right is probably from the 1980s.
Designed by Antinozzi Associates and built by Kepetan, Inc., this station straddles Water St. and is still in service in 2012. It was completed in 1975. John Roy [p.36] says BRIDGEPORT6 was closed in June, 1973 and passengers were accommodated minimally in the meantime. The photo at right is probably from the 1980s.
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BRISTOL1 [HP&F, 1850]
The snippet on the left is from the 1878 Bailey bird's-eye map [click here] and, when compared to the stereopticon view at right, it seems as if Mr. Bailey has misinterpreted the roof gables. A similar situation occurred with NEW BRITAIN1 on his 1875 map in that town, leading us to think that there were new structures in both municipalities until further research proved us wrong. BRISTOL1 was built in 1850 by the HP&F and, with its tall center gable, it is similar to the company's NEW BRITAIN1 and TERRYVILLE1 depots. This one apparently stood until an "equinoctial" storm of snow, rain, hail, thunder and lightning about 1:00 a.m. on the morning of 3/20/1886. The same wide-ranging weather event also destroyed FARMINGTON1 and damaged CHESHIRE, all by fires thought to be the result of ungrounded telegraph wires that conducted lightning into the buildings. Though there were newspaper reports in 1881 and 1882 of a new depot coming for Bristol and the Courant said the station burned in the storm was a year or so old, the Bristol Weekly Press, more creditable by proximity, states that depot that burned "was renovated thoroughly a year or two ago," not built at that time. This leads us to believe that BRISTOL1 was destroyed by the storm, not a subsequent station that we otherwise have no record of being constructed. The span of 19 months that it took to plan and build a new permanent station also appears to argue against an intervening one, which could have been rebuilt almost immediately if recent plans were still in hand. In fact, the Press said that on Saturday, the same day of the fire, "a small temporary depot was begun up the track and finished on Sunday." While the newspapers commended the NY&NE on its speed in constructing the temporary replacement, local appreciation turned to petitions from leading businessmen to Pres. Charles Peter Clark in July about why it was taking so long to build a new permanent depot. [REFS: HDC/05/25/1881/01; HDC/09/18/1882/02; NHER/03/20/1886/01; HDC/03/22/1886/03; NHER/03/22/1886/04; BWP/03/25/1886/04; BWP/07/29/1886/02; D129]
The snippet on the left is from the 1878 Bailey bird's-eye map [click here] and, when compared to the stereopticon view at right, it seems as if Mr. Bailey has misinterpreted the roof gables. A similar situation occurred with NEW BRITAIN1 on his 1875 map in that town, leading us to think that there were new structures in both municipalities until further research proved us wrong. BRISTOL1 was built in 1850 by the HP&F and, with its tall center gable, it is similar to the company's NEW BRITAIN1 and TERRYVILLE1 depots. This one apparently stood until an "equinoctial" storm of snow, rain, hail, thunder and lightning about 1:00 a.m. on the morning of 3/20/1886. The same wide-ranging weather event also destroyed FARMINGTON1 and damaged CHESHIRE, all by fires thought to be the result of ungrounded telegraph wires that conducted lightning into the buildings. Though there were newspaper reports in 1881 and 1882 of a new depot coming for Bristol and the Courant said the station burned in the storm was a year or so old, the Bristol Weekly Press, more creditable by proximity, states that depot that burned "was renovated thoroughly a year or two ago," not built at that time. This leads us to believe that BRISTOL1 was destroyed by the storm, not a subsequent station that we otherwise have no record of being constructed. The span of 19 months that it took to plan and build a new permanent station also appears to argue against an intervening one, which could have been rebuilt almost immediately if recent plans were still in hand. In fact, the Press said that on Saturday, the same day of the fire, "a small temporary depot was begun up the track and finished on Sunday." While the newspapers commended the NY&NE on its speed in constructing the temporary replacement, local appreciation turned to petitions from leading businessmen to Pres. Charles Peter Clark in July about why it was taking so long to build a new permanent depot. [REFS: HDC/05/25/1881/01; HDC/09/18/1882/02; NHER/03/20/1886/01; HDC/03/22/1886/03; NHER/03/22/1886/04; BWP/03/25/1886/04; BWP/07/29/1886/02; D129]
BRISTOL2 [NY&NE, 1886]
This was the small replacement depot built after BRISTOL1 burned. It was said to be "up the track" which most likely meant a little west of the earlier structure. In March, 1887, a year after the fire when a new depot was reported to finally be in the offing, the Press said "it is now about a year since the old station was burned, and the public has had to put up with a dry goods box all this time, and not always good humoredly. A year is a long time to wait and much inclement weather makes it seem longer still." A dry goods box, indeed! This small depot would be used until 10/1/1887 when BRISTOL3 opened. We have no picture yet of this structure that we are aware of but, as frugal as railroads were in those days, it may yet show up in another photo if it was put to further use after it ceased serving passengers. [REFS: BWP/03/17/1887/04]
This was the small replacement depot built after BRISTOL1 burned. It was said to be "up the track" which most likely meant a little west of the earlier structure. In March, 1887, a year after the fire when a new depot was reported to finally be in the offing, the Press said "it is now about a year since the old station was burned, and the public has had to put up with a dry goods box all this time, and not always good humoredly. A year is a long time to wait and much inclement weather makes it seem longer still." A dry goods box, indeed! This small depot would be used until 10/1/1887 when BRISTOL3 opened. We have no picture yet of this structure that we are aware of but, as frugal as railroads were in those days, it may yet show up in another photo if it was put to further use after it ceased serving passengers. [REFS: BWP/03/17/1887/04]
Boston Public Library
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Dave Peters Collection
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Bristol Public Library
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BRISTOL3 [NY&NE, 1887]
Impatient for the new station, the Bristol Weekly Press was quoted in February, 1887 as wondering "what about that fine new depot that was to be built?" and further saying humorously that, if the derelict, soon-to-be-replaced NEW BRITAIN1 was being brought here by the NY&NE, there should be a vigorous protest! The contract for Bristol's new station was signed on 4/25/1887. An original copy can be seen in the Bristol History Room at the city library, which is well worth a visit [click here]. When BRISTOL3 opened on 10/1/1887, the Press noted it with just a single sentence: "The depot came into use last Saturday." The "incandescent electric lamps" touted in a previous article notwithstanding, there was considerable envy and resentment of the magnificent, towering, brick edifice with porte cochere in New Britain that so overshadowed Bristol's simple, one-story depot. When it came time in 1898 to reposition BRISTOL3 south of the tracks for the Main St. grade crossing elimination project, the paper said with dripping sarcasm that "Bristol's elegant passenger station, in which we all take so much pride, is to be moved across the tracks next Sunday. The regrettable feature is that it is to go only a few feet south. The advisable thing to do, when once it got started, would be to keep it on a southerly course until it reached Cuba. It could then be covered with corrugated iron and converted into a place of detention for Spanish prisoners. Then Bristol would take a pride in it that was not ironical. However, the building will do duty for years, probably. Mr. Fred Linstead has the contract for moving it." References to the Spanish-American War aside, the town was not happy with its depot! Another sore subject was the dangerous Main St. grade crossing and an 1899 Courant article gives details on that. In 1889, a law was passed stipulating that railroads in the state had to eliminate one grade crossing annually for every 60 miles of mainline track operated. The NY&NE failed to satisfy this requirement in 1891 and the railroad commissioners, acting within their statutory powers, chose this crossing to be eliminated to make up for the others not done. The then-estimated $100,000 cost led the NY&NE to fight the order and challenge the borough of Bristol all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court [click here], which in 1894 upheld the statute and affirmed the commissioners' actions. The new lessee of the line, the NYNH&H, still had to be prodded to undertake the massive excavation to lower Main St. When the new iron bridge was completed on 1/1/1901, the project was finally finished. The shot at upper left, from the George E. Norris bird's-eye map of 1889 [click here], shows the depot shortly after it opened in its new location, northeast of the Main St. crossing. The upper middle val photo is dated 8/21/1916 and the dotted lines on the 1916 val map at upper right reflect the realignment of the right of way in 1900. The post card view at lower left shows Prospect Park created in 1906 from the land where the tracks once were. The historic lower middle shot dates to between 1898 and 1900 and shows the agent's bay temporarily not at trackside! How that was addressed on the other side of the building is not yet known because the old tracks on the north side of the depot, which show a third-rail electric car here, would not be relaid south of the station until November, 1900. In March, 1954, the Press reported that BRISTOL3 been had been purchased from the NYNH&H on 10/26/1953 by developer Allen M. Heflin who sold the land, including the park, to some local banks. With accommodations made for passengers at the freight station across Main St., BRISTOL3 passed through a succession of humble uses in the 1960s. It opened in 1970 as the Iron Horse and later the Bristol Station Restaurant, flanked by two rail cars, one of which was the former Merchants Limited diner. The last operation closed about four years later and fire struck the dining car on 8/8/1975. The depot was spared the flames but was said at the time to so little resemble a station inside as to not be worth preserving, though the local historical society made some efforts. It was razed, in an altogether too familiar scenario, for a parking lot. Demolition began on 5/15/1976. The photo at lower right shows the depot after it was closed in April, 1954. The stairway that was necessitated by the 1900 excavation project and was only covered in 1911 after numerous slip-and-fall incidents, is now boarded up. The gabled structure to its left on the sidewalk housed a stone drinking fountain, a public amenity built in 1901 on a patch of land leased to the city by the NYNH&H. In the contract, also in the Bristol History Room, it specifies that "the lessee shall pay as rent the sum of one dollar on the 8th day of every August," probably just enough to make it all legal and symbolically conclude decades of public complaint, legal action, and railroad improvement in Bristol. [REFS: NHER/03/20/1886/01; HDC/03/22/1886/03; CRC35.1887.16; HDC/02/05/1887/04; BWP/03/10/1887/04; BWP/03/17/1887/04; HDC/06/23/1887/04; BWP/09/29/1887/04; BWP/10/06/1887/04; HC/10/25/1899/05; HC/11/15/1899/03; BRP/11/11/1900/01; HC/11/24/1900/12; HC/12/08/1900/12; HC/01/02/1901/10; HC/08/23/1901/16; BRP/03/29/1906/02; HC/07/29/1911/18; BRP/03/10/1954/??; BRP/01/23/1960/01; HC/10/04/1970/20J; HC/08/10/1975/2B1; HC/02/25/1976/61B; HC/04/03/1976/25A; BRP/05/15/1976/01; D130]
Impatient for the new station, the Bristol Weekly Press was quoted in February, 1887 as wondering "what about that fine new depot that was to be built?" and further saying humorously that, if the derelict, soon-to-be-replaced NEW BRITAIN1 was being brought here by the NY&NE, there should be a vigorous protest! The contract for Bristol's new station was signed on 4/25/1887. An original copy can be seen in the Bristol History Room at the city library, which is well worth a visit [click here]. When BRISTOL3 opened on 10/1/1887, the Press noted it with just a single sentence: "The depot came into use last Saturday." The "incandescent electric lamps" touted in a previous article notwithstanding, there was considerable envy and resentment of the magnificent, towering, brick edifice with porte cochere in New Britain that so overshadowed Bristol's simple, one-story depot. When it came time in 1898 to reposition BRISTOL3 south of the tracks for the Main St. grade crossing elimination project, the paper said with dripping sarcasm that "Bristol's elegant passenger station, in which we all take so much pride, is to be moved across the tracks next Sunday. The regrettable feature is that it is to go only a few feet south. The advisable thing to do, when once it got started, would be to keep it on a southerly course until it reached Cuba. It could then be covered with corrugated iron and converted into a place of detention for Spanish prisoners. Then Bristol would take a pride in it that was not ironical. However, the building will do duty for years, probably. Mr. Fred Linstead has the contract for moving it." References to the Spanish-American War aside, the town was not happy with its depot! Another sore subject was the dangerous Main St. grade crossing and an 1899 Courant article gives details on that. In 1889, a law was passed stipulating that railroads in the state had to eliminate one grade crossing annually for every 60 miles of mainline track operated. The NY&NE failed to satisfy this requirement in 1891 and the railroad commissioners, acting within their statutory powers, chose this crossing to be eliminated to make up for the others not done. The then-estimated $100,000 cost led the NY&NE to fight the order and challenge the borough of Bristol all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court [click here], which in 1894 upheld the statute and affirmed the commissioners' actions. The new lessee of the line, the NYNH&H, still had to be prodded to undertake the massive excavation to lower Main St. When the new iron bridge was completed on 1/1/1901, the project was finally finished. The shot at upper left, from the George E. Norris bird's-eye map of 1889 [click here], shows the depot shortly after it opened in its new location, northeast of the Main St. crossing. The upper middle val photo is dated 8/21/1916 and the dotted lines on the 1916 val map at upper right reflect the realignment of the right of way in 1900. The post card view at lower left shows Prospect Park created in 1906 from the land where the tracks once were. The historic lower middle shot dates to between 1898 and 1900 and shows the agent's bay temporarily not at trackside! How that was addressed on the other side of the building is not yet known because the old tracks on the north side of the depot, which show a third-rail electric car here, would not be relaid south of the station until November, 1900. In March, 1954, the Press reported that BRISTOL3 been had been purchased from the NYNH&H on 10/26/1953 by developer Allen M. Heflin who sold the land, including the park, to some local banks. With accommodations made for passengers at the freight station across Main St., BRISTOL3 passed through a succession of humble uses in the 1960s. It opened in 1970 as the Iron Horse and later the Bristol Station Restaurant, flanked by two rail cars, one of which was the former Merchants Limited diner. The last operation closed about four years later and fire struck the dining car on 8/8/1975. The depot was spared the flames but was said at the time to so little resemble a station inside as to not be worth preserving, though the local historical society made some efforts. It was razed, in an altogether too familiar scenario, for a parking lot. Demolition began on 5/15/1976. The photo at lower right shows the depot after it was closed in April, 1954. The stairway that was necessitated by the 1900 excavation project and was only covered in 1911 after numerous slip-and-fall incidents, is now boarded up. The gabled structure to its left on the sidewalk housed a stone drinking fountain, a public amenity built in 1901 on a patch of land leased to the city by the NYNH&H. In the contract, also in the Bristol History Room, it specifies that "the lessee shall pay as rent the sum of one dollar on the 8th day of every August," probably just enough to make it all legal and symbolically conclude decades of public complaint, legal action, and railroad improvement in Bristol. [REFS: NHER/03/20/1886/01; HDC/03/22/1886/03; CRC35.1887.16; HDC/02/05/1887/04; BWP/03/10/1887/04; BWP/03/17/1887/04; HDC/06/23/1887/04; BWP/09/29/1887/04; BWP/10/06/1887/04; HC/10/25/1899/05; HC/11/15/1899/03; BRP/11/11/1900/01; HC/11/24/1900/12; HC/12/08/1900/12; HC/01/02/1901/10; HC/08/23/1901/16; BRP/03/29/1906/02; HC/07/29/1911/18; BRP/03/10/1954/??; BRP/01/23/1960/01; HC/10/04/1970/20J; HC/08/10/1975/2B1; HC/02/25/1976/61B; HC/04/03/1976/25A; BRP/05/15/1976/01; D130]
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BRISTOL4 [NYNH&H, 1954]
With BRISTOL3 sold in 1953 and soon to be out of railroad service, other arrangements had to be made. The decision was to turn the freight house across Main St. into a combination station like the old days. The Press of 3/10/1954 said that the railroad had until April 26 to make room for the ticket office, Railway Express Agency, and the taxi office at the freight house. The coversheds, which we have seen in a much earlier val photo, pre-dated these changes. The lounge in the freight house, seen in the photo at left, served as the final passenger station in Bristol until the last Budd car pulled out in 1960. The freight station itself would later become a source of friction between the railroad and the city until it was torn down by Conrail in 1977. [REFS: BRP/01/23/1960/01; HC/04/23/1977/27; HC/08/02/1977/19A]
With BRISTOL3 sold in 1953 and soon to be out of railroad service, other arrangements had to be made. The decision was to turn the freight house across Main St. into a combination station like the old days. The Press of 3/10/1954 said that the railroad had until April 26 to make room for the ticket office, Railway Express Agency, and the taxi office at the freight house. The coversheds, which we have seen in a much earlier val photo, pre-dated these changes. The lounge in the freight house, seen in the photo at left, served as the final passenger station in Bristol until the last Budd car pulled out in 1960. The freight station itself would later become a source of friction between the railroad and the city until it was torn down by Conrail in 1977. [REFS: BRP/01/23/1960/01; HC/04/23/1977/27; HC/08/02/1977/19A]
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BRISTOL PARK [NY&NE, 1887]
This was a minor, seasonal, and probably short-lived stop created in 1887 by the NY&NE for the new fairgrounds of the Bristol Park Association. They had taken over the Hickory Park property from the earlier Pequabuck Association who had started running an agricultural fair back in 1865. Speculation was that the revived effort was to see the railroad run a 600-ft spur into the park to deliver the animals as well as the fair-goers, but we do not see any evidence that this was done. Several newspaper articles refer to a 'fair station' from which the attendees could walk the short distance and cross the bridge over the Pequabuck River to enter the fairgrounds. We have put the red X at the likely spot for the station on all three maps, dated from left to right, 1893, 1940, and 2011. We are not sure exactly how long the fair and the horse racing that was a part of the activities lasted but Hickory Park was sold to A.J. Muzzy, a successful Bristol merchant, in 1900 and it was turned into housing lots with the adjacent Muzzy Field retained for public use. In 1914, land to the north was donated by Bristol industrialist A.J. Rockwell for Bristol's first public park. In an iconic American corporate success story, his New Departure company [click here] would start out making doorbells in 1888 and progress to bicycle components, ball-bearing products, and even taxi cabs and automobiles. Rockwell Park received an NRHP designation in 1987 [click here] and still serves the public today. Although tangential to the park, the agricultural-fair history of the land in this area is not noted at all in the NRHP nomination research. [REFS: HDC/10/10/1867/04; HDC/05/16/1887/04; HDC/09/26/1887/05; HC?09/24/1888/08; BP/08/23/1900/01; HC/02/24/1916/11]
This was a minor, seasonal, and probably short-lived stop created in 1887 by the NY&NE for the new fairgrounds of the Bristol Park Association. They had taken over the Hickory Park property from the earlier Pequabuck Association who had started running an agricultural fair back in 1865. Speculation was that the revived effort was to see the railroad run a 600-ft spur into the park to deliver the animals as well as the fair-goers, but we do not see any evidence that this was done. Several newspaper articles refer to a 'fair station' from which the attendees could walk the short distance and cross the bridge over the Pequabuck River to enter the fairgrounds. We have put the red X at the likely spot for the station on all three maps, dated from left to right, 1893, 1940, and 2011. We are not sure exactly how long the fair and the horse racing that was a part of the activities lasted but Hickory Park was sold to A.J. Muzzy, a successful Bristol merchant, in 1900 and it was turned into housing lots with the adjacent Muzzy Field retained for public use. In 1914, land to the north was donated by Bristol industrialist A.J. Rockwell for Bristol's first public park. In an iconic American corporate success story, his New Departure company [click here] would start out making doorbells in 1888 and progress to bicycle components, ball-bearing products, and even taxi cabs and automobiles. Rockwell Park received an NRHP designation in 1987 [click here] and still serves the public today. Although tangential to the park, the agricultural-fair history of the land in this area is not noted at all in the NRHP nomination research. [REFS: HDC/10/10/1867/04; HDC/05/16/1887/04; HDC/09/26/1887/05; HC?09/24/1888/08; BP/08/23/1900/01; HC/02/24/1916/11]
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BROAD BROOK1 [CC, 1876]
This stop is in the town of East Windsor. We can't be completely sure but this depot seems smaller to us and we have put this image here as being of the first station. The dating of the bird's-eye map is said to be between 1876 and 1880, the former date coinciding with the opening of the Connecticut Central RR whose train is coming into the station from the south. The station is clearly shown on the west side of the track. To our surprise, the 1893 Hurd map places the depot on the east side of the track. Is the mapmaker in error or the bird's-eye map artist or are both correct and there were two different stations here, a situation complicated by the fact that the val map in our next entry shows the station back on the west side of the track. For now, we are assuming that the 1893 mapmaker got it wrong.
This stop is in the town of East Windsor. We can't be completely sure but this depot seems smaller to us and we have put this image here as being of the first station. The dating of the bird's-eye map is said to be between 1876 and 1880, the former date coinciding with the opening of the Connecticut Central RR whose train is coming into the station from the south. The station is clearly shown on the west side of the track. To our surprise, the 1893 Hurd map places the depot on the east side of the track. Is the mapmaker in error or the bird's-eye map artist or are both correct and there were two different stations here, a situation complicated by the fact that the val map in our next entry shows the station back on the west side of the track. For now, we are assuming that the 1893 mapmaker got it wrong.
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BROAD BROOK2 [NYNH&H, c1900?]
The 1915 val map shows the arrangement of the station grounds and adjacent area at that time, the depot being on the west side of the track. The middle photo is a Benton and Drake from the 1930s with the signature touring car in view. The one on the left looks to be slightly later based on the automobile fender glimpsed there. Both photos look south. If this, in fact, is a station subsequent to 1876, we do not have a build date.
The 1915 val map shows the arrangement of the station grounds and adjacent area at that time, the depot being on the west side of the track. The middle photo is a Benton and Drake from the 1930s with the signature touring car in view. The one on the left looks to be slightly later based on the automobile fender glimpsed there. Both photos look south. If this, in fact, is a station subsequent to 1876, we do not have a build date.
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BROOKFIELD1 [HRR, 1840]
Upon reconsideration of the evidence, we are now thinking that the first passenger station in this town was in the American Hotel, on the east side of the tracks. This establishment, operated by Anthony S. Knapp in 1867, was already a landmark by that time and lasted into the next century. This Iron Works District stop reportedly handled mostly freight but there also had to be passenger service here from the start of the HRR in 1840. The hotel-station arrangement is borne out in the 1864 Courant article that said "A fire, which took in a store in Knapp's hotel building, Brookfield, Thursday night, communicated to the railroad, telegraph and post offices in the same building, doing quite extensive damage. -- Building saved." It was not unusual for early HRR stations to be in hotels; we have confirmed instances elsewhere with MERWINSVILLE1, CANAAN1, and possibly STEPNEY1. Also supporting the hotel as station is the fact that neither the 1856FC map at middle nor the 1867 Beers map at right indicate any actual passenger depot. Both show Knapp's American Hotel [red arrow] and the latter also shows the freight depot [blue arrow] just up the track. In the photo at top left, the hotel is the large building in the extreme right. Shorn of its third floor, perhaps after the 1864 fire, it is still seen as railroad property in the 9/18/1916 val photo at lower left. [REFS: HDC/03/28/1864/01][rev101112]
Upon reconsideration of the evidence, we are now thinking that the first passenger station in this town was in the American Hotel, on the east side of the tracks. This establishment, operated by Anthony S. Knapp in 1867, was already a landmark by that time and lasted into the next century. This Iron Works District stop reportedly handled mostly freight but there also had to be passenger service here from the start of the HRR in 1840. The hotel-station arrangement is borne out in the 1864 Courant article that said "A fire, which took in a store in Knapp's hotel building, Brookfield, Thursday night, communicated to the railroad, telegraph and post offices in the same building, doing quite extensive damage. -- Building saved." It was not unusual for early HRR stations to be in hotels; we have confirmed instances elsewhere with MERWINSVILLE1, CANAAN1, and possibly STEPNEY1. Also supporting the hotel as station is the fact that neither the 1856FC map at middle nor the 1867 Beers map at right indicate any actual passenger depot. Both show Knapp's American Hotel [red arrow] and the latter also shows the freight depot [blue arrow] just up the track. In the photo at top left, the hotel is the large building in the extreme right. Shorn of its third floor, perhaps after the 1864 fire, it is still seen as railroad property in the 9/18/1916 val photo at lower left. [REFS: HDC/03/28/1864/01][rev101112]
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BROOKFIELD2 [HRR, 1869?]
Store-like in appearance, this structure was for many years considered, erroneously we now think, to be the first station in this town. Various undocumented sources claim that this structure caught fire or was later sold to the Brookfield Iron Works. One or both of these fates may be true, but it is seen at top left still standing as railroad property in a 9/15/1916 val photo, out of service after BROOKFIELD3 was built but still sporting its old signboard. In reexamining the photos for this update, we studied the middle one more closely. It is a unique panorama of all three passenger stations here: BROOKFIELD1, i.e. the American Hotel, at the green arrow; BROOKFIELD2 at the blue arrow; and, BROOKFIELD3 at the purple arrow. It was the mansard-roofed house with the steep, front staircase at the red arrow, however, that really caught our eye. It is identical to one we recalled in the photo at right labeled as LONG HILL. The typewritten captioning reportedly was a trademark of Walter Hofer, a NYNH&H engineer and knowledgable railroad man, who in this case confused the large building, possibly a rooming house or hotel, with a somewhat similar structure in Long Hill. In the 'Long Hill' shot, we see the same station as in the val photo, complete with staircase up to the porch with the semaphore mechanism. The structure east of the track is not, as we once speculated, a turntable, but more likely a sheltered platform for milk cans. The absence of other buildings in the 'Long Hill' photo may indicate a date perhaps as far back as the 1870s and, seen in this new light, BROOKFIELD2 may possibly be the depot that was vacated when Pittsfield's new union station opened there in 1869. The Danbury Times said the HRR was intending to move the old 20x50-ft structure to Brookfield. We cannot be exactly sure of the dimensions of the station in question here, but it seems to be pretty close in size. The 1912 real estate map at lower left shows this station still at the same location before the track changes that would abandon about a half mile of the old HRR and bring about the construction of BROOKFIELD3. [REFS: RRC6.11 (5/16/1868: depot repairs??); PS/08/12/1869/02,03; DT/10/07/1869/02][rev100712]
Store-like in appearance, this structure was for many years considered, erroneously we now think, to be the first station in this town. Various undocumented sources claim that this structure caught fire or was later sold to the Brookfield Iron Works. One or both of these fates may be true, but it is seen at top left still standing as railroad property in a 9/15/1916 val photo, out of service after BROOKFIELD3 was built but still sporting its old signboard. In reexamining the photos for this update, we studied the middle one more closely. It is a unique panorama of all three passenger stations here: BROOKFIELD1, i.e. the American Hotel, at the green arrow; BROOKFIELD2 at the blue arrow; and, BROOKFIELD3 at the purple arrow. It was the mansard-roofed house with the steep, front staircase at the red arrow, however, that really caught our eye. It is identical to one we recalled in the photo at right labeled as LONG HILL. The typewritten captioning reportedly was a trademark of Walter Hofer, a NYNH&H engineer and knowledgable railroad man, who in this case confused the large building, possibly a rooming house or hotel, with a somewhat similar structure in Long Hill. In the 'Long Hill' shot, we see the same station as in the val photo, complete with staircase up to the porch with the semaphore mechanism. The structure east of the track is not, as we once speculated, a turntable, but more likely a sheltered platform for milk cans. The absence of other buildings in the 'Long Hill' photo may indicate a date perhaps as far back as the 1870s and, seen in this new light, BROOKFIELD2 may possibly be the depot that was vacated when Pittsfield's new union station opened there in 1869. The Danbury Times said the HRR was intending to move the old 20x50-ft structure to Brookfield. We cannot be exactly sure of the dimensions of the station in question here, but it seems to be pretty close in size. The 1912 real estate map at lower left shows this station still at the same location before the track changes that would abandon about a half mile of the old HRR and bring about the construction of BROOKFIELD3. [REFS: RRC6.11 (5/16/1868: depot repairs??); PS/08/12/1869/02,03; DT/10/07/1869/02][rev100712]
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BROOKFIELD3 [NYNH&H, 1914]
The Courant reported in 1913 that the new station here was to be built about 50 feet east of the old location on the newly aligned, double-tracked right of way. The Danbury News said late in the year that "a temporary passenger station, freight house and car for handling milk shipments at that place are located on the west side of the track," presumably adjacent to where BROOKFIELD3 was being built. While no actual opening date has yet been found in the newspapers, the 1914 annual report said completion was expected in the fall of that year and the following report said that the new passenger station was in service. BROOKFIELD3 has been a real estate office and part of the Brookfield Craft Center since leaving railroad service. It still stands today as trains of the reincarnated HRR rumble by. [REFS: HC/03/14/1913/03; HC/08/07/1913/03; DN/12/03/1913/04; NHAR43.1914.21; NHAR44.1915.10; R37][rev100812]
The Courant reported in 1913 that the new station here was to be built about 50 feet east of the old location on the newly aligned, double-tracked right of way. The Danbury News said late in the year that "a temporary passenger station, freight house and car for handling milk shipments at that place are located on the west side of the track," presumably adjacent to where BROOKFIELD3 was being built. While no actual opening date has yet been found in the newspapers, the 1914 annual report said completion was expected in the fall of that year and the following report said that the new passenger station was in service. BROOKFIELD3 has been a real estate office and part of the Brookfield Craft Center since leaving railroad service. It still stands today as trains of the reincarnated HRR rumble by. [REFS: HC/03/14/1913/03; HC/08/07/1913/03; DN/12/03/1913/04; NHAR43.1914.21; NHAR44.1915.10; R37][rev100812]
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BROOKFIELD JUNCTION1 [HRR, 1868]
According to the venerable Newtown Bee, this structure was to be "moved to the west, across the branch... [to] serve as a freight depot" when DANBURY4 was brought here in 1889. We have long wondered whether, in fact, the smaller structure was the older station that was brought down from Stockbridge, MA by the HRR late in 1869 and reassembled here for the use of both the HRR and the NYH&N. It was said to measure 13x30 feet. We are not sure how accurate that measurement was, but the article seems like good evidence, with no other building on the property, that this is the long-lost BROOKFIELD JUNCTION1. See Track 9 and Track 10, MP 10.2.7 for more. An 1887 newspaper article mentions that this was an agency station and the office was hit in an overnight robbery, making us wonder how, with all the activity at this important junction, the HRR could have made do all those years with such a small structure. The arrival of the next depot, which was brought up from Danbury, must have been quite a relief to the station agent. [REFS: DT/11/18/1869/02; DT/12/02/1869/03; DEN/10/08/1887/03: agent, office, robbery; NB/04/05/1889/02; Check LR59808]
According to the venerable Newtown Bee, this structure was to be "moved to the west, across the branch... [to] serve as a freight depot" when DANBURY4 was brought here in 1889. We have long wondered whether, in fact, the smaller structure was the older station that was brought down from Stockbridge, MA by the HRR late in 1869 and reassembled here for the use of both the HRR and the NYH&N. It was said to measure 13x30 feet. We are not sure how accurate that measurement was, but the article seems like good evidence, with no other building on the property, that this is the long-lost BROOKFIELD JUNCTION1. See Track 9 and Track 10, MP 10.2.7 for more. An 1887 newspaper article mentions that this was an agency station and the office was hit in an overnight robbery, making us wonder how, with all the activity at this important junction, the HRR could have made do all those years with such a small structure. The arrival of the next depot, which was brought up from Danbury, must have been quite a relief to the station agent. [REFS: DT/11/18/1869/02; DT/12/02/1869/03; DEN/10/08/1887/03: agent, office, robbery; NB/04/05/1889/02; Check LR59808]
ICC Collection/National Archives
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McCoid/Wooding Collection
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BROOKFIELD JUNCTION2 [HRR, 1889]
This structure was built as DANBURY4 in 1886 and was moved here early in 1889 to replace the first station that was used thereafter as the freight depot. See Track 9 and Track 10, MP 10.6.5 for more. The middle photo shows the depot closed but with signboard still in place perhaps ca. 1932; passenger service ended here in 1925. The ICC 12799 abandonment docket map at right is dated 5/2/1940 and appears to say 'Foundation' at our red arrow. The fate and the end date for this structure is not yet known. [rev122112]
This structure was built as DANBURY4 in 1886 and was moved here early in 1889 to replace the first station that was used thereafter as the freight depot. See Track 9 and Track 10, MP 10.6.5 for more. The middle photo shows the depot closed but with signboard still in place perhaps ca. 1932; passenger service ended here in 1925. The ICC 12799 abandonment docket map at right is dated 5/2/1940 and appears to say 'Foundation' at our red arrow. The fate and the end date for this structure is not yet known. [rev122112]
BROOKS/CHESHIRE [> BROOKSVALE]
BROOKS/COLEBROOK [> COLEBROOK]
BROOKS/COLEBROOK [> COLEBROOK]
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BROOKSIDE PARK [D&N, 1880]
This stop was virtually synonomous with REDDING, but we have chosen to list it separately because of its own history and identity. While some sources say it was about a half mile south, these 1911 real estate maps show the access point to the park on the easterly side of the D&N to be a few hundred feet from REDDING2. Traversed by the Saugatuck River crossed on a bridge just in from the entrance, this 25-acre parcel appears to have been a camp meeting ground going back at least to 1851 when the newspaper said that "a Camp Meeting will be held near the Norwalk road [D&N], in Ridgefield, one mile west of the Methodist church, commencing Monday, Sept. 1st." Though the Register foreshadowed the creation of the railroad park in 1874, the railroad commissioners say it was in 1880 when the D&N "ventured the experiment of purchasing and fitting up in an attractive manner a grove on the line of its road at Reading [sic] station," similar to HIGH ROCK GROVE or PARLOR ROCK. In 1881, the Register called it a "fortunate hit" for the railroad, recouping $8,000 of the $12,000 expended in just two years of operation, and the commissioners added that the railroad was making money "being mostly done on regular trains, and causing but little addition to its ordinary operating expenses." With its commanding views and amenities, the pavilion was said in 1882 to be capable of accommodating 3,000 worshippers. Obviously, there was money to be made in what the commissioners called "The Excursion Business" in 1880, the new phenomenon in this country of railroad tourism to recreational destinations that had already been proven profitable abroad. Apparently, the NYNH&H carried on the tradition at this location at least until 1899 when the last newspaper item we found said that Connecticut Sunday School Association held a rally here. In 1905, The Hour of Norwalk reported that the railroad had sold the pavilion "to parties who will remove it to Lake Kenoshia" in Danbury. The park property still appears intact on the 1911 maps and on the 1915 val map [click here], as well. Cornwall said in a 1986 Shoreliner that two granite pillars still marked the entrance across the road from the REDDING2 at that time, presumably at the Passageway seen on the map, and Brent Colley's HistoryofRedding website [click here], says they are there today in 2011. Although possible, it seems unlikely there was any separate BROOKSIDE PARK depot south of the entrance gate seen in the postcard. [REFS: CR/08/30/1851/03; NHER/08/21/1874/02; NHDP/07/31/1878/02; NHER/12/09/1881/04; CRC27.1880.11; CRC28.1881.14; NHER/08/11/1882/04; NHER/07/21/1883/02; NHER/08/20/1885/04; NHER/09/01/1899/10; NH/05/18/1905/03; SL17.4.26]
This stop was virtually synonomous with REDDING, but we have chosen to list it separately because of its own history and identity. While some sources say it was about a half mile south, these 1911 real estate maps show the access point to the park on the easterly side of the D&N to be a few hundred feet from REDDING2. Traversed by the Saugatuck River crossed on a bridge just in from the entrance, this 25-acre parcel appears to have been a camp meeting ground going back at least to 1851 when the newspaper said that "a Camp Meeting will be held near the Norwalk road [D&N], in Ridgefield, one mile west of the Methodist church, commencing Monday, Sept. 1st." Though the Register foreshadowed the creation of the railroad park in 1874, the railroad commissioners say it was in 1880 when the D&N "ventured the experiment of purchasing and fitting up in an attractive manner a grove on the line of its road at Reading [sic] station," similar to HIGH ROCK GROVE or PARLOR ROCK. In 1881, the Register called it a "fortunate hit" for the railroad, recouping $8,000 of the $12,000 expended in just two years of operation, and the commissioners added that the railroad was making money "being mostly done on regular trains, and causing but little addition to its ordinary operating expenses." With its commanding views and amenities, the pavilion was said in 1882 to be capable of accommodating 3,000 worshippers. Obviously, there was money to be made in what the commissioners called "The Excursion Business" in 1880, the new phenomenon in this country of railroad tourism to recreational destinations that had already been proven profitable abroad. Apparently, the NYNH&H carried on the tradition at this location at least until 1899 when the last newspaper item we found said that Connecticut Sunday School Association held a rally here. In 1905, The Hour of Norwalk reported that the railroad had sold the pavilion "to parties who will remove it to Lake Kenoshia" in Danbury. The park property still appears intact on the 1911 maps and on the 1915 val map [click here], as well. Cornwall said in a 1986 Shoreliner that two granite pillars still marked the entrance across the road from the REDDING2 at that time, presumably at the Passageway seen on the map, and Brent Colley's HistoryofRedding website [click here], says they are there today in 2011. Although possible, it seems unlikely there was any separate BROOKSIDE PARK depot south of the entrance gate seen in the postcard. [REFS: CR/08/30/1851/03; NHER/08/21/1874/02; NHDP/07/31/1878/02; NHER/12/09/1881/04; CRC27.1880.11; CRC28.1881.14; NHER/08/11/1882/04; NHER/07/21/1883/02; NHER/08/20/1885/04; NHER/09/01/1899/10; NH/05/18/1905/03; SL17.4.26]
BROOKSVALE1 [NH&N, 1848; opened as BROOKS]
This was probably an original NH&N stop from 1848, 12 miles up the Canal line from Long Wharf. It is shown on the 1868 map on the east side of the track. The Cheshire Historical Society has a copy of a document, which reads in part, that "When the Railroad went through the Brooks Farm, it was stipulated there would be a station and a mail-arm at the road crossing." The Brooksvale post office, with Edwin M. Brooks as postmaster was established in 1858. According to the Courant, the the Canal line stopped service here early in 1872, at the same time that it was consolidating the SOUTHINGTON and PLANTSVILLE stations, here citing lack of patronage. After a hearing on the matter, the railroad commissioners gave their official approval as of 6/2/1874 and BROOKS drops off the timetables, reappearing by 1894 as BROOKSVALE, a flag stop 11.97 miles north of New Haven. At some point by the early 1900s, the BROOKSVALE1 structure was sold to the Thayer family who moved it to serve as quarters for domestic help on their nearby property. An 1874 Palladium article indicates that this structure was sizeable enough for the Rev. Dr. Horton of Cheshire Academy to speak here "to an interested audience." How large that assembly was and how big BROOKSVALE1 was are tantalizing questions for which we yet have no answers. It certainly seems as though the station must have been larger than BROOKSVALE2, our next listing. Could it have looked like CHESHIRE and first-generation Canal line stations? We can only hope to know! [REFS: 1851TT, 1858TT, HDC/10/23/1858/02; 1858GED yes; HDC/09/10/1860/02; HDC/04/22/1872/04; NHDP/09/16/1874/04; RRC9.4,6,24,202; RRM1876-1912: no; 1879GHD: no; 1894TT; RAM1904+: yes; 1907TT, 1909TT]
This was probably an original NH&N stop from 1848, 12 miles up the Canal line from Long Wharf. It is shown on the 1868 map on the east side of the track. The Cheshire Historical Society has a copy of a document, which reads in part, that "When the Railroad went through the Brooks Farm, it was stipulated there would be a station and a mail-arm at the road crossing." The Brooksvale post office, with Edwin M. Brooks as postmaster was established in 1858. According to the Courant, the the Canal line stopped service here early in 1872, at the same time that it was consolidating the SOUTHINGTON and PLANTSVILLE stations, here citing lack of patronage. After a hearing on the matter, the railroad commissioners gave their official approval as of 6/2/1874 and BROOKS drops off the timetables, reappearing by 1894 as BROOKSVALE, a flag stop 11.97 miles north of New Haven. At some point by the early 1900s, the BROOKSVALE1 structure was sold to the Thayer family who moved it to serve as quarters for domestic help on their nearby property. An 1874 Palladium article indicates that this structure was sizeable enough for the Rev. Dr. Horton of Cheshire Academy to speak here "to an interested audience." How large that assembly was and how big BROOKSVALE1 was are tantalizing questions for which we yet have no answers. It certainly seems as though the station must have been larger than BROOKSVALE2, our next listing. Could it have looked like CHESHIRE and first-generation Canal line stations? We can only hope to know! [REFS: 1851TT, 1858TT, HDC/10/23/1858/02; 1858GED yes; HDC/09/10/1860/02; HDC/04/22/1872/04; NHDP/09/16/1874/04; RRC9.4,6,24,202; RRM1876-1912: no; 1879GHD: no; 1894TT; RAM1904+: yes; 1907TT, 1909TT]
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BROOKSVALE2 [NYNH&H, c1894?]
This flag-stop structure is rather unique in design, fully enclosed, and larger than most of its open-fronted counterparts. Like its predecessor, it stands on the east side of the track. The c1900 photo with the rowboat looks southeast and shows the railing for the highway bridge over the canal in the upper left corner. Sixty-plus years after it was abandoned and replaced by the railroad, the canal had segments still fed by local streams as represented on the 1915 val maps and flowing even today. We have highlighted the station and platform and the boat location on the map. The boat was owned by Thayer teenagers, Gordon (b1886) and Thornton (b1890). The former was quoted in a 1964 Register article as remembering how mail was thrown off the train from New York at 8:20 a.m. and locals would have their New York papers by 9:00 a.m. Thayer recalled further how “the eastbound (to New Haven) train snatched the mail pouch from the metal arm" and that "it was possible to have a reply to a letter received in the early mail back in New York City the same day." The post office here was discontinued on March 31, 1913 and passenger service on the Canal line ended in 1926. The fate of the cottage-like little station is unknown.
This flag-stop structure is rather unique in design, fully enclosed, and larger than most of its open-fronted counterparts. Like its predecessor, it stands on the east side of the track. The c1900 photo with the rowboat looks southeast and shows the railing for the highway bridge over the canal in the upper left corner. Sixty-plus years after it was abandoned and replaced by the railroad, the canal had segments still fed by local streams as represented on the 1915 val maps and flowing even today. We have highlighted the station and platform and the boat location on the map. The boat was owned by Thayer teenagers, Gordon (b1886) and Thornton (b1890). The former was quoted in a 1964 Register article as remembering how mail was thrown off the train from New York at 8:20 a.m. and locals would have their New York papers by 9:00 a.m. Thayer recalled further how “the eastbound (to New Haven) train snatched the mail pouch from the metal arm" and that "it was possible to have a reply to a letter received in the early mail back in New York City the same day." The post office here was discontinued on March 31, 1913 and passenger service on the Canal line ended in 1926. The fate of the cottage-like little station is unknown.
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BROWNS1 [NYNH&H, c1894]
Similar to WELTONS, just up the line on the Watertown branch, this stop appears on our timetables from 1894 until 1923 and it probably lasted until passenger service ended on the branch around 1925. According to a 1980 Shoreliner article, it was located in Waterbury just below the Brookside Home, the social services housing facility that once stood in the vicinity of Waterbury's Municipal Stadium. Correlating the maps, the station sat in the northwest quadrant of the crossing at Huntingdon Ave. The home was probably built on the site of the old Waterbury town farm, the almshouse, as shown on the 1912 NYNH&H real estate map. That institution dated back to 1839 and in 1870 was authorized to give up some of its land for the W&W right of way, which is seen in passing in front of the property in the card at right. The style of the shed matches others on the NRR at REYNOLDS BRIDGE and WELTONS. [REFS: CWN/10/26/1899/03; D99; K63; SL11.2.24]
Similar to WELTONS, just up the line on the Watertown branch, this stop appears on our timetables from 1894 until 1923 and it probably lasted until passenger service ended on the branch around 1925. According to a 1980 Shoreliner article, it was located in Waterbury just below the Brookside Home, the social services housing facility that once stood in the vicinity of Waterbury's Municipal Stadium. Correlating the maps, the station sat in the northwest quadrant of the crossing at Huntingdon Ave. The home was probably built on the site of the old Waterbury town farm, the almshouse, as shown on the 1912 NYNH&H real estate map. That institution dated back to 1839 and in 1870 was authorized to give up some of its land for the W&W right of way, which is seen in passing in front of the property in the card at right. The style of the shed matches others on the NRR at REYNOLDS BRIDGE and WELTONS. [REFS: CWN/10/26/1899/03; D99; K63; SL11.2.24]
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BROWNS2 [NYNH&H, 1918]
According to a Courant article, the only reference we have come across, a new station was to be built here a half mile south of the old one in 1918. Corroborating that change, we find that this station was 1.92 miles from Waterbury on our 1911TT and only 1.4 miles in 1923. The new location was probably at East Aurora St., as shown on the snippet from our CTTRAXMAP. Why the change and what happened to the first station has yet to be discovered. [REFS: HC/07/20/1918/03]
According to a Courant article, the only reference we have come across, a new station was to be built here a half mile south of the old one in 1918. Corroborating that change, we find that this station was 1.92 miles from Waterbury on our 1911TT and only 1.4 miles in 1923. The new location was probably at East Aurora St., as shown on the snippet from our CTTRAXMAP. Why the change and what happened to the first station has yet to be discovered. [REFS: HC/07/20/1918/03]
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BUCKHOUTS PARK [NYNH&H, c1916?]
The map on the left is from 1893 and the red dot shows the likely location of this station. The area was a residential enclave along the Housatonic River and the stop was 2.9 miles above BALDWINS, according to our 1923 timetable. It is not seen on the 1915 val map [middle] but we were able to locate it on a 1968 copy updated [right] with changes subsequent to 1916, a snippet of which is shown here. The map image shows the stop on the northern edge of Milford, just below the Orange border, though the 1918 Courant article cited below as well as the PUC decision said it was in Orange. No shed or platform is seen, only a gate and opening in the fence and planking across the track. Just when after 1915 this stop was established is unclear, but the PUC denied the NYNH&H request to discontinue it in 1918. The decision said there was "a substantial rural settlement" here without streetcar service, that the demands for accommodation were "fully as great as if not greater than at the time the station was established" and that continuing to stop trains on flag "should work no serious harm upon the company." The first reference we find to BUCKHOUT PARK, without the S, is in a state agricultural publication for 1914 listing a farm for sale near this station. It shows up on the 1919 ICC Valuation Order No. 3 list of stops but, since it is not on the 1928 NYNH&H Official List of Officers, Stations, Agents, it likely fell victim to the passenger service cutbacks of 1924. [REFS: RAM1915: no; HC/12/06/1918/12; PUC Docket 2869 (11/26/1918)]
BUCKLAND1 [HP&F, 1849; depot ????]
The map on the left is from 1893 and the red dot shows the likely location of this station. The area was a residential enclave along the Housatonic River and the stop was 2.9 miles above BALDWINS, according to our 1923 timetable. It is not seen on the 1915 val map [middle] but we were able to locate it on a 1968 copy updated [right] with changes subsequent to 1916, a snippet of which is shown here. The map image shows the stop on the northern edge of Milford, just below the Orange border, though the 1918 Courant article cited below as well as the PUC decision said it was in Orange. No shed or platform is seen, only a gate and opening in the fence and planking across the track. Just when after 1915 this stop was established is unclear, but the PUC denied the NYNH&H request to discontinue it in 1918. The decision said there was "a substantial rural settlement" here without streetcar service, that the demands for accommodation were "fully as great as if not greater than at the time the station was established" and that continuing to stop trains on flag "should work no serious harm upon the company." The first reference we find to BUCKHOUT PARK, without the S, is in a state agricultural publication for 1914 listing a farm for sale near this station. It shows up on the 1919 ICC Valuation Order No. 3 list of stops but, since it is not on the 1928 NYNH&H Official List of Officers, Stations, Agents, it likely fell victim to the passenger service cutbacks of 1924. [REFS: RAM1915: no; HC/12/06/1918/12; PUC Docket 2869 (11/26/1918)]
BUCKLAND1 [HP&F, 1849; depot ????]
BUCKLAND2 [NYNH&H, c1900?]
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BULLS BRIDGE [> SOUTH KENT]
Max Miller Collection
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Max Miller Collection
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BULLUS [Conn. Co., 1906]
We do not know much about this stop, except that it served a picnic grove of the same name in the early 1900s. Like EAST MERIDEN2, aka BEE STREET, this stop falls in the gray area of being a established on a steam railroad line after service was given over in 1906 to Connecticut Co. trolleys It is probably for that reason that it does not appear as a station on the 1915 val map where the structure seen here is only described as a shed. Twenty years later, a 1927 Courant article says that buses would be taking over between Meriden and Middletown. Snow verifies that happening along today's Rte. 66 but, because of no suitable bus route to Westfield, he says trolley service was maintained until 1932. In somewhat of a contradiction however, these 1927 PUC inspection photos seem to show no trolley wires or poles. Was there a return to steam for the last years here or were gas rail cars used? [REFS: NHER/12/08/1898/05; HC/12/28/1906/13; HC/07/08/1907/16; HC/02/29/1908/10; HC/09/27/1927/08; S25,27]
We do not know much about this stop, except that it served a picnic grove of the same name in the early 1900s. Like EAST MERIDEN2, aka BEE STREET, this stop falls in the gray area of being a established on a steam railroad line after service was given over in 1906 to Connecticut Co. trolleys It is probably for that reason that it does not appear as a station on the 1915 val map where the structure seen here is only described as a shed. Twenty years later, a 1927 Courant article says that buses would be taking over between Meriden and Middletown. Snow verifies that happening along today's Rte. 66 but, because of no suitable bus route to Westfield, he says trolley service was maintained until 1932. In somewhat of a contradiction however, these 1927 PUC inspection photos seem to show no trolley wires or poles. Was there a return to steam for the last years here or were gas rail cars used? [REFS: NHER/12/08/1898/05; HC/12/28/1906/13; HC/07/08/1907/16; HC/02/29/1908/10; HC/09/27/1927/08; S25,27]
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BURLINGTON [NH&N, 1870]
This was the Canal line station on the branch that was extended to PINE MEADOW in 1870 and NEW HARTFORD in 1876. [REFS: D116+]
This was the Canal line station on the branch that was extended to PINE MEADOW in 1870 and NEW HARTFORD in 1876. [REFS: D116+]
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BURNHAMS [NY&NE, 1882?]
This stop was probably established around 1882 when it first shows up on the RRMs. The 1915 val map shows the tiny shelter in the photograph standing on the west side of the track. The view looks north toward Springfield on the Connecticut Central line that opened in 1876.
This stop was probably established around 1882 when it first shows up on the RRMs. The 1915 val map shows the tiny shelter in the photograph standing on the west side of the track. The view looks north toward Springfield on the Connecticut Central line that opened in 1876.
BURNSIDE1 [HP&F, 1849?; opened as SCOTLAND]
First called SCOTLAND, the sources reflect the name change to BURNSIDE between 1866 and 1873 and we wonder if had something to do with local ethnic appreciation of Gen. Ambrose Burnside's Civil War service and Scottish ancestry. While the first evidence we have of this stop is the 1855HC map at left, it may go back to the opening of the HP&F line from Hartford to Willimantic in 1849. In spite of the flourishing, church-going, law-abiding community here, this area seemed to have had its share of crime. The most shocking was the robbery and brutal assault that led to the death of elderly station agent Ira Bliss who was walking home with the station receipts after closing up the depot on the night of 2/28/1873. John Dynes and Oscar Graves, ages 17 and 18 -- the Courant of 3/1/1873 recapped Dyne's confession -- pled guilty to second-degree murder and were imprisoned for life. Further criminal activity resulted in the burning of the station itself. The Hartford Times reported in September, 1876 as follows: "Monday, a few minutes after midnight, the railroad station building at Burnside, a small wooden structure, was broken into and robbed and then set on fire. When first discovered, the fire was burning in the ticket office; the ticket-case was found outside, and rifled of its contents, and a ladder was resting against the west side of the building. It was impossible to save the building, and it was soon wholly destroyed. Not much booty was obtained by the burglars -- only $2 or $3, chiefly in nickels. It is high time some measures were taken to stop this frequent occurrence of crime in that neighborhood." We have no photograph yet of the "small wooden structure" that was BURNSIDE1 but Bradley Freeman was arrested for the arson on 9/23/1876. It seems a cruel coincidence and irony that a depot named BURNSIDE was destroyed by fire with a ladder up against its side. [REFS: GHD1858: Scotland; PTH107.1858.11; CC/03/01/1873/04; MDC/09/24/1873/03; NA/10/01/1873/01; CR/09/02/1876/02; HT/09/02/1876/02; HDC/09/25/1876/02][rev020813]
First called SCOTLAND, the sources reflect the name change to BURNSIDE between 1866 and 1873 and we wonder if had something to do with local ethnic appreciation of Gen. Ambrose Burnside's Civil War service and Scottish ancestry. While the first evidence we have of this stop is the 1855HC map at left, it may go back to the opening of the HP&F line from Hartford to Willimantic in 1849. In spite of the flourishing, church-going, law-abiding community here, this area seemed to have had its share of crime. The most shocking was the robbery and brutal assault that led to the death of elderly station agent Ira Bliss who was walking home with the station receipts after closing up the depot on the night of 2/28/1873. John Dynes and Oscar Graves, ages 17 and 18 -- the Courant of 3/1/1873 recapped Dyne's confession -- pled guilty to second-degree murder and were imprisoned for life. Further criminal activity resulted in the burning of the station itself. The Hartford Times reported in September, 1876 as follows: "Monday, a few minutes after midnight, the railroad station building at Burnside, a small wooden structure, was broken into and robbed and then set on fire. When first discovered, the fire was burning in the ticket office; the ticket-case was found outside, and rifled of its contents, and a ladder was resting against the west side of the building. It was impossible to save the building, and it was soon wholly destroyed. Not much booty was obtained by the burglars -- only $2 or $3, chiefly in nickels. It is high time some measures were taken to stop this frequent occurrence of crime in that neighborhood." We have no photograph yet of the "small wooden structure" that was BURNSIDE1 but Bradley Freeman was arrested for the arson on 9/23/1876. It seems a cruel coincidence and irony that a depot named BURNSIDE was destroyed by fire with a ladder up against its side. [REFS: GHD1858: Scotland; PTH107.1858.11; CC/03/01/1873/04; MDC/09/24/1873/03; NA/10/01/1873/01; CR/09/02/1876/02; HT/09/02/1876/02; HDC/09/25/1876/02][rev020813]
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ICC Collection / NARA
BURNSIDE2 [HP&F, 1876]
Coincident with the above research on the first station, we recently chanced upon the original receipt for the building of the replacement depot. Dated 10/9/1876, it says Erastus Phelps of Hartford was paid $900 "for furnishing material & building station at Burnside 37x16 as per agreement with L.B.B." the latter possibly one of the trustees for the HP&F, which was about to become part of the NY&NE. The railroad commissioners mentioned "considerable improvements" in their 1877 annual report, and apparently that included the new depot. Adding to the history of the criminal activity here, the Register reported in 1879 that Frank Thrall, "the embezzling New England railroad agent at Burnside station, and who absconded last Wednesday, saying he was going to South Carolina, has been arrested at Warehouse Point, while stripping tobacco." Nice try, Frank! The ca. 1890 real estate map at upper left shows the depot at the southeast quadrant of the School St. crossing right where its predecessor stood. With the air brakes and automatic couplers on the box car, the middle shot dates to the 1920s or later. The 10/25/1927 PUC photo at right is an eastward view with the freight house in the foreground on the north side of the tracks and BURNSIDE2 on the south side. [REFS: CRC24.1877.20; NHER/11/17/1879/04][rev02082013]
Coincident with the above research on the first station, we recently chanced upon the original receipt for the building of the replacement depot. Dated 10/9/1876, it says Erastus Phelps of Hartford was paid $900 "for furnishing material & building station at Burnside 37x16 as per agreement with L.B.B." the latter possibly one of the trustees for the HP&F, which was about to become part of the NY&NE. The railroad commissioners mentioned "considerable improvements" in their 1877 annual report, and apparently that included the new depot. Adding to the history of the criminal activity here, the Register reported in 1879 that Frank Thrall, "the embezzling New England railroad agent at Burnside station, and who absconded last Wednesday, saying he was going to South Carolina, has been arrested at Warehouse Point, while stripping tobacco." Nice try, Frank! The ca. 1890 real estate map at upper left shows the depot at the southeast quadrant of the School St. crossing right where its predecessor stood. With the air brakes and automatic couplers on the box car, the middle shot dates to the 1920s or later. The 10/25/1927 PUC photo at right is an eastward view with the freight house in the foreground on the north side of the tracks and BURNSIDE2 on the south side. [REFS: CRC24.1877.20; NHER/11/17/1879/04][rev02082013]
Dave Peters Collection
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BURRVILLE [NRR, 1849; opened as ROSSITERVILLE]
The location is seen on the 1854LC map. The val photo at upper left is dated 8/25/1916. This station, along with several others on the NRR from Waterbury to Winsted, lost passenger service in 1926. [REFS: HC/06/20/1926/A12; D97]
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The location is seen on the 1854LC map. The val photo at upper left is dated 8/25/1916. This station, along with several others on the NRR from Waterbury to Winsted, lost passenger service in 1926. [REFS: HC/06/20/1926/A12; D97]
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