55 Years ago today -Floods of '55

55 Years ago today, August 19, 1955 which was a Friday, the New Haven Railroad was hit by a hurrricane with major floods in much of Southern New England and especially in
Connecticut. The Naugy between Derby Junction and Winsted was especially hit and portions of it took a long time to restore. Major bridges were out in Derby, Seymour,
Waterbury and some more between Waterbury and Thomaston. Other lines as well were affected including portions of the Berkshire, Canal and especially the Hartford - Boston line
which lost a bridge just outside of Putnam which was never replaced. This severed this route into Hartford - Pomfret and Putnam - Boston and ended both the through freight (1)
and passenger trains (4 in the summer) that were using this route. The other lines were eventually restored to service although it took months in some caases. Restored yes but
never to their previous levels of service. Passenger service out of Waterbury was reduced considerably and the Hartford - Maybrook jobs gone for good. \
The New Haven Railroad really did not come back completely from this mess. The situation was not helped by the terrible management of McGinnis and Alpert but even back in 1955
business was going downhill affected by truck competetion and building of expressways in this territory.
Where did I stand with all of this, we lived in Waterbury but on high ground and had no damage although no safe water for days, no power nor telephone for a long time either. I had
just graduated from high school that year and was still recovering from a broken leg suffered while skiing earlier that year. I saw freight cars moving in a south direction, not on
tracks but in the flood waters of the Naugatuck River.
This is what was responsible for the creation of the Thomaston Dam on the Naugy today, replacement of a four track bridge with a two track bridge over the Naugatuck River in
Waterbury, damaged SS-202, Bank Street Junction tower so badly that it was replaced by hand thrown switches and marooned a bunch of equipment at the Waterbury Engine House
until the bridges could be restored, repaired or replaced by a temporary one.
I will never ever forget this one and wanted to share it here.
Noel Weaver

As always, thank you for sharing your recollections, Mr. Weaver.

I've always found it odd that the New Haven went to the expense of restoring the trackage between Torrington and Winsted only to abandon it within a decade. Were they required to do this by the ICC, or was their a major customer in Winsted that "went away" some time in the early 1960s?

Ridgefielder wrote:I've always found it odd that the New Haven went to the expense of restoring the trackage between Torrington and Winsted only to abandon it within a decade. Were they required to do this by the ICC, or was their a major customer in Winsted that "went away" some time in the early 1960s?

The line wasn't badly damaged between Torrington and Winsted. They had a lumber yard at that time that wanted and needed service. In fact the lumber yard fought the railroad
when they applied to abandon that stretch of track but to no avail, the railroad was in bankrupty at that time and they wanted to shed as much as they could.
Noel Weaver

There was apparently another flood in October of 1955. Here is a Life photo that I came across some time ago. Oddly enough passengers a today’s major airports have the same expression on their face. Below is the photo’s caption.

STAMFORD - OCTOBER 01, 1955: New Haven Railroad line commuters at train station waiting for buses to take them to Norwalk after floods ravaged the area and knocked out service further up the line.

Yes on the October floods in 1955. There was a pretty big washout between Stamford and South Norwalk, also more problems on the Naugy and I think the Berkshire too.
1955 Was not a good year in more ways than one for the New Haven Railroad.
Noel Weaver

There was an excellent book published by either the Waterbury Republican-American or the Hartford Courant that has incredible photos of the flood damage including the damages on the NH.

The Waterbury Republican-American did the book. We had a family copy that I wish I could find now.

The Hartford Courant has gathered its 8/19/55 flood coverage here:
http://www.courant.com/news/connecticut ... orygallery

And I remember the mess in Ansonia, including standing with my dad at the base of a hill and watching the water rushing down Main Street. That flood and the one in October were the end for the NH's station, freight house, and yard off West Main Street. The current Metro-North platform shelter was built at that time.

The August, 1955 flooding was the remnant of Hurricane Diane which was mostly torrential rain by the time it got into New England. The New Haven made a plea for a loan of U. S. Army motive power because so much of its equipment was 'stranded" and inaccessible until track could be restored. I don't remember right off hand how many units were loaned, but they were a universal type engine and quite squat which allowed them to be used almost anywhere in the world where standard U. S. gauge existed. Their squatness let them fit almost any clearance restrictions. The McGinnis group had allowed their motive power to deteriorate during their tenure on the road and the Army units were in tip top shape when delivered. The Army had to go after the NYNH & H to get their engines back. Some were still on the property in the Spring of 1956. The Waterbury-Winsted service was not restored until about a year after the flood. The October, 1955 flooding, much less, but bad enough coming only two months after Hurricane Diane, was caused by Hurricane Hazel which went up the Hudson Valley and into Canada. That's a very unusual path and there was serious loss of life and destruction in an area that is not accustomed to that type of weather. In Hurricane Hazel, the State of Maine detoured from Lowell to Framingham and South in broad daylight due to highwater either of the B & M or NYNH & H. South Boston sent either one of two DL-109s light to Lowell to handle the S of Me.

eddiebehr wrote:The August, 1955 flooding was the remnant of Hurricane Diane which was mostly torrential rain by the time it got into New England. The New Haven made a plea for a loan of U. S. Army motive power because so much of its equipment was 'stranded" and inaccessible until track could be restored. I don't remember right off hand how many units were loaned, but they were a universal type engine and quite squat which allowed them to be used almost anywhere in the world where standard U. S. gauge existed. Their squatness let them fit almost any clearance restrictions. The McGinnis group had allowed their motive power to deteriorate during their tenure on the road and the Army units were in tip top shape when delivered. The Army had to go after the NYNH & H to get their engines back. Some were still on the property in the Spring of 1956. The Waterbury-Winsted service was not restored until about a year after the flood. The October, 1955 flooding, much less, but bad enough coming only two months after Hurricane Diane, was caused by Hurricane Hazel which went up the Hudson Valley and into Canada. That's a very unusual path and there was serious loss of life and destruction in an area that is not accustomed to that type of weather. In Hurricane Hazel, the State of Maine detoured from Lowell to Framingham and South in broad daylight due to highwater either of the B & M or NYNH & H. South Boston sent either one of two DL-109s light to Lowell to handle the S of Me.

The floods occurred in August and October, 1955. Freight service to Torrington and Winsted resumed sometime that fall but I do not have the date handy. I might have it at home.
The railroad originally had no intention of resuming passenger service between Waterbury and Winsted and it wasn't until the end of April, 1956 that service between Waterbury
and Winsted was resumed using one Budd Car. For that summer two round trips were possible between New York and Winsted with changes at Bridgeport on all the trains and
also at Waterbury on two of them. After trains 442 and 465 came off between Waterbury and Bridgeport in the fall of 1956, the early morning train from Waterbury to Winsted
continued to operate with a Budd car as did the evening train from Winsted to Waterbury but there was no service after the fall of 1956 between Waterbury and Bridgeport to
provide a connection for these two trains. Of course this move practically killed any patronage that these two trips had between Winsted and Waterbury.
At this time the management of the New Haven was setting things up for their own funeral. Cut here, cut there whether they were justified or not. They just threw the
Railway Express business to trucks in the Naugatuck Valley when they took 465 and 442 off but that didn't matter to them.
Noel Weaver

Noel Weaver wrote:Yes on the October floods in 1955. There was a pretty big washout between Stamford and South Norwalk, also more problems on the Naugy and I think the Berkshire too.
1955 Was not a good year in more ways than one for the New Haven Railroad.
Noel Weaver

I know that the Danbury Branch portion of the Berkshire was very badly hit. The Norwalk River was up to the eaves of the station at Branchville, and the dam at the Gilbert & Bennett plant in Georgetown burst, taking out the bridge over the Norwalk just south of the Route 107 overpass. I believe Ridgefield registered over 10" of rain in one day in October '55. The Still River in Danbury also flooded.

Folks, I was there for the Oct 15 flood (We lived in Danbury). This was not a hurricane at all rather an extremely heany rain --- 11 1/2 inches in Danbury. It was rather localized, predominately affected far western CT. The Danbury line was the worst hit when the Norwalk River went on a rampage and washed out or damaged all 7 bridges where the RR crosses the Norwalk River. The Still River also did a lot of washing out of the RR (not to mention a lot of other damage) in Danbury proper. A passenger train was marooned around Honey Hill Road north of Cannondale for at least a month until the track could be restored. I seem to recall the Danbury line was out for at least a month although I do not remember the date of restoration

One bridge was washed out on the New Canaan Branch (between Springdale and Springdale Cemetery). There was a sizeable washout on the main line caused by the east branch of the Rippowam River between Noroton Hts. and Glenbrook (right behind where the I-95 service plaza is today).

There was damage in other places but those are the highlights.

BTW, in addition to the damage to the railroad in the Norwalk River valley at least four highway bridges that I can recall were washed out on paralell route 7.

chnhrr wrote: STAMFORD - OCTOBER 01, 1955: New Haven Railroad line commuters at train station waiting for buses to take them to Norwalk after floods ravaged the area and knocked out service further up the line.

Wrong date --- I believe the photo was Oct. 16 or 17

Tom you’re probably right. That should have read October 1955 and not October 1, 1955. Here is a picture at Norwalk (photo courtesy Life Magazine). There’s nothing like designing a track layout with a flood plain in mind.

When I was a kid (early '80s) there was a small sign stuck in the embankment opposite the platform at Branchville, just at the southern edge of where the station building is. It stated that where the sign was marks the highpoint of the water from one of those '55 floods. I'd still look up at it, until it disappeared (wish I had a camera then). Both of my folks were kids that year, one was in New Canaan, the other in Silvermine, and they had some wild stories about those storms. We'd pass some bridge in downtown Norwalk and they would relate about someone getting swept away in their car, or something along those lines. Saddest was the story about what happened in the cemetary in Springdale, when the flood washed away or exposed a section where there were alot of children interred...