Official Naugatuck Railroad thread (NAUG/RMNE)

What was & where was Diamond National?

Matches?

Jeff Smith wrote:Ah, I'm getting a clearer picture. So this was the line that constituted the "frog" at the Canaan station? Very interesting. So was it part of the Highland? I always thought the Highland ran through Waterbury. I realize I'm probably confusing two lines.

This map here, from 1893, ought to help: https://www.loc.gov/item/98688453

The CNE route west of Hartford is in green; the line was briefly combined with the Reading in a (rather rickety) outfit called the Philadelphia, Reading & New England. The Highland is in red; it was the mainline of the New York & New England, at that time a fierce NH competitor. The New Haven as it existed then is in blue. The NH took control of the NY&NE in 1898 and the CNE in 1904, although the latter remained a separate corporate entity until the late 1920's. The CNE from Tarriffville to Canaan and the Highland from Waterbury to Southbury were abandoned at around the same time in the late 1930's.

Wow, that is one nice resource! Thanks! That really clarifies it. This I think is the eastern leg of the railroad that Bernard Rudberg has written on and leads tours about, isn't it? Although mostly over in the NY area, Hopewell Junction. The ND&C I believe. Serious history here.

ATK wrote:What was & where was Diamond National?

It was a lumber yard just south & west of the station. We used to occasionally switch them out on the siding that is still there. It later became Chapman's Lumber but they later moved to another section of Thomaston. I don't know what the buildings are used for now.

J. Lang

Jeff Smith wrote:Wow, that is one nice resource! Thanks! That really clarifies it. This I think is the eastern leg of the railroad that Bernard Rudberg has written on and leads tours about, isn't it? Although mostly over in the NY area, Hopewell Junction. The ND&C I believe. Serious history here.

The Newburgh, Dutchess & Connecticut and the CNE, yes.

There were a bunch of different lines radiating east from Poughkeepsie and Fishkill Landing (now Beacon). The corporate histories are tangled, and pretty much none of them were financially sound. The New Haven gained control of all of them in the years between 1900 and 1910. The New Haven pieced together the Poughkeepsie-Hopewell Jct. branch of the CNE, the Hopewell Jct.-Hawleyville main line of the NY&NE, the Hawleyville-Botsford main line of the Housatonic, and the Botsford-Derby Jct. branch of the Housatonic and upgraded it to create the Maybrook Line. The rest lingered as light-density branches before falling early victim to car/truck competition-- the first parts were abandoned in the 1920's, everything between Hopewell Jct. and Millerton was toast by 1938.

I have done a fair amount of sresearch on Thomaston and here is what I have come up with at least so far. From 1940 on Thomaston was not a block and train order station at any time through the 1940's and 1950's on a regular basis. There were exceptions when it was open as a block and train order station as established by train order and they did this as necessary during the 1950's when the passenger trains were still running and the local freight was late returning from Torrington to Waterbury. The agent's job at Thomaston was considered as an agent/operator so the agent had to be qualified on the operating rules for operators. Timetable no. 6, October 26, 1958 was the very last one with passenger trains (first class in the timetable). They came off in December. At that time Torrington was the only normal train order and block station and the operator was in the ticket office in the passenger station at Torrington. Winsted closed sometime sooner. After the passenger trains came off this branch only had a train order office at Waterbury under normal circumstances. From October 30, 1960 (timetable no. 11) Thomaston was open from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM with an hour off for lunch, Monday through Friday. The following timetable (no. 12, April 30, 1961) cut the hours open at Thomaston to 12:15 PM to 4:00 PM Standard Time) which meant from 1:15 PM to 5:00 PM in the winter time and for the public during the entire year. It was stated that it was combined with Naugatuck but this was not likely because Naugatuck was still open as a block station and train order office for both the first and middle trick and at this time Naugatuck still had a huge amount of freight business and it had a separate freight station with an agent and probably more than one clerk as well. Don't forget there were no computers back in those days. It looks to me like Thomaston was combined with Terryville during this period although it might possibly have been Watertown The agent/operator would cover one in the morning and the other in the afternoon and got travel time between including car expense as well. This practice was common not only on the New Haven but also elsewhere in the industry as well especially when two different stations were quite close together. During these years the railroads had to get state permission in order to close a station or even an office and often it was easier to get permission to combine them than to close one or both. There were even some cases where one person would cover three different stations. The afternoon job remained at Thomaston longer than I thought it did, the last timetable to show it open was Penn Central, New Haven Region timetable no. 1 dated April 27, 1969 and I have a note in that one that Thomaston was closed. I could not find the general order that established that move but I will try again. As for a train order signal at Thomaston, I am still trying to find the dates for when that was in use, it predates 1940 and I am still looking for more on this.Having said that, this is still a work in progress.
Noel Weaver

Typed on Saturday, May 21st
As a further update to the above I checked back even more with my employee timetables: Thomaston was a block and train order office until sometime between July 17, 1938 and September 25, 1938 reference employee timetables numbered 136 and 137. Not too far behind came the final closing of SS\-204 at Highland Junction which occurred sometime in late 1938 or early 1939; timetable 137 took effect on September 25, 1938 and this is the last timetable with Highland Junction still open two tricks six days a week, closed all day Sunday. One more item of possible interest both Winsted and Torrington were only open one trick a day from around noon until around 9:00 PM seven days a week until 1949. Winsted and Torrington both became one trick offices effective with timetable 120 on September 25, 1932. One might wonder why these two stations were not open on the first trick with 153 being the premier train to New York in the AM. Actually the ticket office at Torrington and probably Winsted too was open for 153 as was the baggage room, the railroad had several clerks at the freight stations and one came to work early and opened up the waiting room at Torrington and sold tickets and checked baggage for 153. This was a regular move. I guess I have filled in most of the blanks on this one.
Noel Weaver

Excellent information, Noel!! Now, if only we could find some interior pics of the Thomaston station....

H.F.Malone wrote:Excellent information, Noel!! Now, if only we could find some interior pics of the Thomaston station....

My best hope for this is possibly old Along the Lines of which I have a lot of them. Not right now but a project for down the road.
Noel Weaver

Thank you Mr. Weaver for the very informative post. Its hard to imagine or understand the significance and usage of these lines from afar. Rail history in Connecticut is an interesting combination of extreme decay and phenomenal growth.

On 2-June-2016, the first draft of cars for the C&D shipper was placed in the newly constructed yard.

Old saying for new things...(וְהִגִּיעָנוּ לַזְּמַן הַזֶּה)

This is great to see. Congratulations. Where do you guys make the interchange; Highland Junction or Waterbury yard? I'll have to get down that way to get some pictures and do a little foaming.

John L.

CannaScrews wrote:On 2-June-2016, the first draft of cars for the C&D shipper was placed in the newly constructed yard.

Old saying for new things...(וְהִגִּיעָנוּ לַזְּמַן הַזֶּה)

In the first photo (under the bridge), what's the white stuff floating in the air?

There is a big cottonwood tree to the right (Populus deltoides) - it's seeds are floating down, sort of like dandelions, but more snowlike.

No, it's not snow nor the national mineral of Canada.

Is this just a test cut or is the business online? And yes, inquiring minds would like to know, where is the interchange location!