Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Along the Valley Line: The History of the Connecticut Valley Railroad
    Along the Valley Line: The History of the Connecticut Valley Railroad
    Along the Valley Line: The History of the Connecticut Valley Railroad
    Ebook247 pages2 hours

    Along the Valley Line: The History of the Connecticut Valley Railroad

    By Max R. Miller

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    The Connecticut Valley Railroad once carried both passengers and freight along the west bank of the Connecticut River between Hartford and Old Saybrook. Completed in 1871, today the railroad is known throughout New England for the nostalgic steam-powered excursion trains that run on a portion of the line between Essex and Chester. Until now the history of this popular tourist attraction has been the stuff of local lore and legend. This book, written by railroad historian and former vice president and director of Valley Railroad, Max R. Miller, provides the first comprehensive history of the Connecticut Valley Railroad through maps, ephemera, and archival photographs of the trains, bridges, and scenery surrounding the line. Offering tales of train wrecks, ghost sightings, booms and busts, Along the Valley Line will be treasured by railroad enthusiasts and historians alike.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherWesleyan University Press
    Release dateAug 15, 2017
    ISBN9780819577382
    Along the Valley Line: The History of the Connecticut Valley Railroad
    Author

    Max R. Miller

    Max R. Miller is a historian of the Connecticut Valley Railroad and the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad and a collector of documents, photographs and memorabilia. He was born in Poughkeepsie, New York, in 1936 and moved to Connecticut as a teenager. Mr. Miller was in railroad construction and worked as a diesel machinist while serving 38 years in the U.S. Army, rising to the rank of Senior Railroad Sergeant in the Army Reserves. He worked for the Valley Railroad from the 1970s to the 1990s, serving as Vice President and Director of the line, and for Amtrak and Conrail in the 1970s. He currently lives in Higganum, Connecticut.

    Related to Along the Valley Line

    Related ebooks

    United States History For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      the BIG DIG

      Feb 11, 2022

      the BIG DIG
      6 min read

    • Article

      A Peak Experience

      Jul 9, 2021

      A Peak Experience
      7 min read

    • Article

      The Comanche Trail

      Sep 29, 2022

      The Comanche Trail
      5 min read

    • Article

      Coast to Coast Classics

      Jul 29, 2021

      Coast to Coast Classics
      5 min read

    • Article

      Techline

      Nov 19, 2021

      Techline
      9 min read

    • Article

      A Powerful Response

      May 19, 2023

      A Powerful Response
      2 min read

    • Article

      Forever Ford

      Mar 11, 2022

      Forever Ford
      3 min read

    • Article

      Stanier’s Turbomotive

      Nov 12, 2019

      Stanier’s Turbomotive
      2 min read

    • Article

      RIVAL FORCES: BEST and HOLT

      Oct 8, 2021

      RIVAL FORCES: BEST and HOLT
      8 min read

    • Article

      Farm Collecter

      Aug 13, 2021

      Farm Collecter
      5 min read

    • Article

      Gas Engine Magazine

      Mar 15, 2019

      From start to finish, Peter Rooke’s newly revised, easy-to-follow narrative will impress and educate both new and experienced hobbyists with exhaustive coverage of the process. In 112 pages, Rooke meticulously leads you from stripping an engine throu

      6 min read

    • Article

      D for Dependable

      May 19, 2023

      D for Dependable
      5 min read

    • Article

      Big T Roadster Lives On

      May 15, 2023

      Big T Roadster Lives On
      5 min read

    • Article

      Dream Catcher

      Oct 28, 2023

      Dream Catcher
      6 min read

    • Article

      The Cavern Club

      Mar 23, 2023

      On Wednesday 15 January 1957, The Cavern Club first opened its doors to the public. Located in the basement of an unused warehouse, in years to come it would be recognised not only as the birthplace of The Beatles but also as one of the most famous m

      1 min read

    • Article

      Doble Steam Motors

      Jun 9, 2019

      Doble Steam Motors
      6 min read

    • Article

      Armed To The Teeth

      Mar 14, 2024

      Armed To The Teeth
      1 min read

    • Article

      Must See, Must Read

      Mar 26, 2019

      Must See, Must Read
      12 min read

    • Article

      Flat Spot

      Nov 26, 2021

      Flat Spot
      2 min read

    • Article

      The Südfunk saga

      Jul 6, 2021

      Prototypes showed up in 1949, and production started in early 1950. By the middle of that first summer, things were rolling along nicely with an average production of over 30 Buses per day. By the end of the first year, over 8,000 Type 2s had been pr

      5 min read

    • Article

      JEEPS On The Farm

      Apr 15, 2022

      JEEPS On The Farm
      8 min read

    • Article

      MFJ At 50

      Oct 1, 2022

      MFJ At 50
      2 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Along the Valley Line

    0 ratings

    0 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      Along the Valley Line - Max R. Miller

      ALONG the VALLEY LINE

      A DRIFTLESS CONNECTICUT SERIES BOOK

      This book is a 2017 selection in the Driftless Connecticut Series, for an outstanding book in any field on a Connecticut topic or written by a Connecticut author.

      ALONG the VALLEY LINE

      THE HISTORY OF THE CONNECTICUT VALLEY RAILROAD

      MAX R. MILLER

      Wesleyan University Press

      Middletown, Connecticut

      The Driftless Connecticut Series is funded by the BEATRICE FOX AUERBACH FOUNDATION FUND at the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving.

      Wesleyan University Press

      Middletown CT 06459

      www.wesleyan.edu/wespress

      © 2017 Max R. Miller

      All rights reserved

      Manufactured in the United States of America

      Designed by Paul Costello

      Typeset in Adobe Caslon Pro and Blair Medium

      Cover photo (bottom) by Tom Nanos

      Every effort has been made to trace copyright holders and to obtain their permission for the use of copyright material. The publisher apologizes for any errors or omissions and would be grateful if notified of any corrections that should be incorporated in future reprints or editions of this book.

      Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

      Miller, Max R.

      Along the Connecticut Valley Line / Max R. Miller.

      Middletown, Connecticut: Wesleyan University Press, [2017] | Includes bibliographical references.

      LCCN 2016049091 (print) | LCCN 2016051301 (ebook) | ISBN 9780819577375 (pbk. : alk. paper) | ISBN 9780819577382 (ebook)

      LCSH: Railroads--Connecticut River Valley—History. | Connecticut River Valley Region—History.

      LCC TF25.C65 M55 2017 (print) | LCC TF25.C65 (ebook) | DDC 385.06/5746—dc23

      LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016049091

      5  4  3  2  1

      Front cover photo (bottom) Tom Nanos

      CONTENTS

      LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

      TABLES:

      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 Railroad from Hartford to Old Saybrook, Westbrook or Clinton via Middletown.

      It has been said that the seed for the CVRR was sown in a Hartford to Old Saybrook stagecoach that carried businessman Horace Johnson (who would later be known as a weather prophet because

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1