Along the Valley Line. Max R. Miller
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Station, n.d.
TABLES:
| Nine 4-4-0 “American” type locomotives owned by Connecticut Valley Railroad (Chapter 4) | 67 |
| Conn Valley & Springfield Railroad Schedule, 1876 (Appendix 2) | 123 |
PROLOGUE
This book offers a glimpse into the history and stories surrounding the rail line stretching along the lower Connecticut River. Using historical documents, photos and vignettes, I have gone beyond the tracks to the surrounding areas, the people and the events that occurred from the line’s inception to the present day. An admirer of railroads from my early childhood, I have been involved with railroading for most of my adult life. After a year with Amtrak I took full-time employment with the Valley Railroad Company (the Essex Steam Train & Riverboat). As I worked on the line, I was also researching—reconstructing many events and happenings and finding artifacts from years gone by. I have presented my research to the historical societies in various towns located along the Valley Line, always tailoring my talks to a particular group. (For example, I don’t talk to Rocky Hill and tell them all about Old Saybrook.) This book entitles me to tell the whole story—for everybody’s benefit. Now, it is your turn to enjoy an excursion along the Valley Line.
Max R. Miller
Higganum, Connecticut, 2017
CHAPTER
1
EVENTS LEADING UP TO THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE RAILROAD
On Thursday, April 20, 1870, over a thousand people gathered for the Connecticut Valley Railroad groundbreaking ceremony at James C. Walkley’s Haddam farm. The guests started to arrive in carriages at about ten in the morning and by noon a large crowd had assembled to witness this historic event. The group, led by the Chester Drum Band, headed down the hill from the house to a point near the Connecticut River where a line of stakes marked the center line of the new railroad. The ceremony centered on a number of spades next to carts and wheelbarrows. President Walkley, who had granted his land for the right of way, picked up a shovel, and after a short speech struck it in the ground and announced, “Gentlemen, the deed is done, the work is begun!”1 A great applause and cheers for the president erupted followed by more music and speeches by various dignitaries. The directors of the road took up the shovels, and while the band played “Yankee Doodle,” the men cheerfully filled a cart. The ladies became enthusiastically involved too, as some of the guests joined in topping another cart before the entire group headed to the Walkley home to enjoy a feast. It was no small accomplishment to get so many people out to a farm in the country on a weekday, especially since there were no sources of transportation other than carriage and foot. But it had been a long time coming.
Nearly four decades before the Connecticut Valley Railroad (CVRR) would open its line from Hartford south along the west bank of the Connecticut River to Long Island Sound at Old Saybrook, the concept for the northern part of this line was considered. The Hartford & New Haven Railroad (H& NHRR) was chartered in 1832, and in 1835 the board of directors proposed a route from Hartford south to Middletown and on to New Haven. Thus the northern portion of the CVRR almost became part of the second railroad built in Connecticut. But when the planners in Hartford approached the town fathers of Middletown and asked them to put up $70,000 in order to be included in their new venture, the plan faltered. According to Middletown meeting records, people were receptive and interested in the new railroad, but they did not raise the money. The H& NHRR then opened a route via Meriden in 1838. Meriden, Middletown’s neighbor to the west, immediately benefited. Connecticut was in the process of developing industry and this infant railroad would soon be instrumental in helping it grow.
In 1849 the Middletown Railroad (the Berlin Branch) was built between Berlin and Middletown to be operated by the H& NHRR. This gave Middletown a taste of year round transportation for both passengers and freight shipments, even if it came at the end of a branch line.
In 1852 the Connecticut Legislature chartered the Middlesex & Hartford County Railroad to build a rail line from Hartford south to Long Island Sound. Successful opposition by the steamboat interests and difficulty in raising capital resulted in the legislature granting an extension to the Middlesex & Hartford County Railroad charter in 1855, only to lapse in the spring of 1858 with nothing but a survey to show for its existence.
By 1870 the New Haven, Middletown & Willimantic Railroad (later known as the Boston & New York Air Line) had finally reached Middletown from New Haven. Middletown’s town fathers invested $500,000 in the New Haven, Middletown & Willimantic Railroad and were now ready to financially support the proposed Connecticut Valley