|
********************
SOUND BEACH1 [EB]
SOUND BEACH1. This stop first appears on timetables
and maps around 1882. It may have been the outgrowth of efforts reported in the Palladium
to build a depot at Marshall's Corners in Greenwich, halfway between Riverside and Stamford, with local property owners
subscribing $1,000 for a new depot building to be maintained thereafter by the railroad company. This structure must be the
one reported by the Register to "have caught fire and burned to the ground, causing
all east bound trains to be delayed" on 1/26/1892. The NRHP nomination form for SOUND BEACH3 [see
below] says that the railroad "reluctantly allowed"
this station to be built around 1875. We cannot comment on the reluctance, but that date does not square with the timetable
and map evidence. It also says, plausibly, that the name of the
stop was chosen because the NYNH&H did not like stations with similar names and GREENWICH, farther west, was already
taken. The NRHP research does corroborate that the first station was "constructed, furnished and operated at the expense
of the area's residents." [REFS: 1851TT; 1879TT; NHDP/04/05/1879/04; RRM1882; 1883TT; HC/07/30/1890/06; NHER/01/17/1892/03]
********************
SOUND
BEACH2 [EB]
SOUND BEACH2. The NYNH&H replaced the burned-out
depot with a new one, again on the east side of the track. While
we do not know the style of its predecessor, the replacement was done in the salt-box style that was popular with the Consolidated
at the time. A real estate card dates this structure, most likely in error, to 1891 and gives its dimensions as approximately
11x21 feet. The 1962 date on the card indicates that it was still standing at that time. The val photo at left dates to 1916.
The Dodd RHA image at right is a March, 1946 view that looks east with SOUND BEACH2 on the south side of
the tracks. [REFS: NHER/01/27/1892/03; NHER/01/23/1900/03;
HC/01/24/1900/03]
********************
SOUND BEACH3
[WB]
SOUND BEACH3. This much larger salt-box
station, built
on the westbound side in 1892, measures 71x26 feet and was moved to the realigned ROW with the four-tracking and elevation project of 1895. Both
these stations would be renamed OLD GREENWICH [see O stations] in 1931. SOUND BEACH3 received
an NRHP designation [click here] in 1989. Restored after an arson fire on 8/19/2002, it
continues to serve Metro-North customers in 2011. [REFS: R80]
********************
SOUND VIEW1
SOUND VIEW1. Stop established in the town of Old Lyme by the NYNH&H in 1892.
********************
SOUND VIEW2
|
| Leroy Roberts Collection |
|
| Leroy Roberts Collection |
SOUND VIEW2. [REFS: NHAR41.1912.10]
********************
SOUTH BRITAIN
SOUTH BRITAIN. This flag stop probably
debuted around 1915. It was not on the list of stations when the NY&NE opened the extension to the Hudson River in 1881
and it is neither on their real estate maps for 1886, revised in some cases to 1889, nor on any of the system maps we have
from 1889 to 1895. The newspaper in late in 1880 said of the stations
in this town that the SOUTHBURY depot had been centrally positioned
so as to serve that village, Woodbury and South Britain, but that the inconvenient location chosen "will probably discommode
all of them." The first mention of a depot here in any of the sources is in 1917 as a flag stop and it is still listed
as such for four daily trains each way on our 1923 timetable. We have its location as being just south of I-84, east of the
Ichabod Rd. overpass. The 1915 val map shows the station standing on the south side of the track. If you look closely at both
of these shots, you can see that there is no rear wall in this unusual shelter. Also noteworthy is the post with the paddle
mechanism that was raised to notify the
train that there was a passenger waiting. [REFS: DN/11/24/1880/??; DN/12/01/1880/??;
DN/07/27/1881/01; PTH418.1907.??: no; PTH1917:
yes; D139]
********************
SOUTH CHESTER [> CHESTER2]
********************
SOUTH COVENTRY
|
| Boston Public Library |
SOUTH COVENTRY. This stop was established in 1850 by the NLW&P.
The location is seen on the 1857TC map at lower middle and its image is found on the 1878 bird's-eye map at lower left. [REFS: R90]
********************
SOUTH KENT1
SOUTH KENT1. The HRR
opened its line north of New Milford in 1842. Although there was a post office here from 1857 until 1864 and it was reestablished
in 1872, there is no station on any HRR timetable we have seen. Like NORTH KENT, also unlisted, trains still may have picked
up passengers here. The first mention of a railroad station is in Atwater's 1897 History of Kent [p100]
wherein he says VanNess Chase, the storekeeper, "waves a red flag for trains to stop, but has no tickets to sell."
Since Atwater claims the depot was the size of an umbrella(!), we have posted that one as the first station and added the
next entry.
********************
SOUTH KENT2
SOUTH KENT2. The 'pigtail' reference on the building behind the station goes back to the names
this area was known by, including Hopson Corners, Pigtail Corners, and Bulls Bridge. One legend has it that the porcine name,
favored by locals, came from an incident in which one feuding neighbor cut the tail off the pig of his enemy. Alternately,
the name may have come from the irregular layout of the intersecting Bulls Bridge Rd. and today's Rte. 7. Regardless,
the nearby South Kent School has used the 'against the world' rallying call and the student newspaper is The
Pigtail even today [click here]. This station would subsequently be named LILY LAKE in 1913 and finally WOODROW the next year, due to a wreck in 1913 at
NORTH KENT [see N stations]. The renaming was at the suggestion of the Public Utilities Commission, which said that too many KENT stations may
have caused the engineer's confusion that resulted in the accident. The LILY LAKE name, unpopular with local residents,
was to be changed to WOODROW with the printing of the next timetable, (in April, 1914?) in honor of
the recently elected President Wilson. Interestingly, the NYT article reported that town of
Kent in its entirety had voted for William Howard Taft over Wilson 94-86 in the 1912 election. The gentleman thumbing his nose is said to be Irving N. Drake who
acted as chauffeur to famed railroad-station photographer Louis H. Benton in the 1930s. Benton
appears in one of our BRANFORD2 photographs. While some have conjectured that Drake is showing displeasure at the
renaming of this station, the name of which is not even visible here, it is more widely thought that the
pair has gotten the bum's rush from the station agent. According to an online posting, the
NHRR was allowed to close WOODROW in 1946 but, as part of the deal, it agreed to continue
stopping trains here when classes at the nearby South Kent School recessed or reconvened. [REFS: HDC/04/28/1859/02: Pigtail; CWN/12/27/1872/02; NYT/12/21/1913/01; HC/12/21/1913/21; D71]
********************
SOUTH
KILLINGLY [> KILLINGLY]
********************
SOUTH LYME1
Line built in 1852 by the NH&NL. We need to check when the stop was established.
********************
SOUTH LYME2
|
| Leroy Roberts Collection |
SOUTH LYME. [REFS: CRC43.1895.13]
********************
SOUTH MANCHESTER
SOUTH MANCHESTER. This station is seen on the 1880
Bailey map at middle left [click here], appropriately
located amidst the buildings of the silk mills of the Cheney family, which paid for the 2.25-mile South Manchester RR to bring
trains to its door. Upon completion in June, 1869, the road was sold to the HP&F but bought back in 1879 by the Cheneys
who were dissatisfied with the service they were getting. Lewis [SAS] says that the station pictured here was only built as
of that date. The woodcut at middle right from Harper's New Monthly magazine
of November, 1872, however, shows the depot standing then. Based on that and the fact that it seems unlikely that this branch
was run for 10 years without a station at its southern terminus, we are sticking with the date we had of 1870. Plans were
drawn for a new brick depot in 1889 at Elm and Park Sts., one purpose of which was to eliminate the need for passenger trains
to cross Forest St. This station was never built. The safety issue was not addressed until 20 years later when the old depot
was moved about 1,005 feet north to just above Forest St., an action approved on 10/22/1910
by the railroad commissioners. The 1893 map [lower left] shows the original location and the 1914 Hughes and Bailey map [lower
right] shows it moved farther north. It stood until 1955, its last incarnations as a restaurant and finally
as headquarters for the local Socialist Party. Ed Ozog comments that the photo at upper right shows a train pulled by SMRR
2-4-4T #3. The NYNH&H took over in 1933 on the condition that the passenger service was dropped and the line was operated
until it was handed over to Penn Central in 1969. All service ended under Conrail. [REFS: HDC/05/22/1869/02; HDC/06/29/1869/02;
HC/08/05/1889/06; CRC49.1901.24; CRC58.1910.14; HC/09/30/1910/17; HC/10/25/1910/07; HC/10/09/1981/C9; SAS p24,27]
********************
SOUTH NORFOLK [> NORFOLK SUMMIT]
********************
SOUTH NORWALK [> NORWALK]
********************
SOUTH STREET1
Line built by Windsor Locks and Suffield RR in 1870 with backing of H&NH;
we have to check on when stop was established.
********************
SOUTH
STREET2
|
| Leroy Roberts Collection |
|
| Max Miller Collection |
SOUTH STREET2.
[REFS: Memorial History of Hartford County, p407;
NHAR45.1916.10: new station]
********************
SOUTH WETHERSFIELD
|
| Dave Peters Collection |
SOUTH WETHERSFIELD. Later known as SPRING BROOK. According to the Courant,
this depot was being built by locals in 1872. [REFS: HDC/09/22/1872/04; HDC/1204/1875/01: late night burglary;
Memorial History of Hartford County, p482]
********************
SOUTH WILLINGTON1
|
| Leroy Roberts Collection |
SOUTH WILLINGTON1. According
to the Courant, this station burned in 1890 after the passage of the boat train that evening, even though everything
had "appeared to be all right" [HC/09/06/1890/06]. The depot was described as being "a small inferior
looking building" and it was hoped that the new one would be "more in keeping with that enterprising and growing
village."
********************
SOUTH WILLINGTON2
|
| Max Miller Collection |
SOUTH
WILLINGTON2. Presumably built in late 1890 or early 1891 after the first station burned.
********************
SOUTH WILTON
|
| Max Miller Collection |
|
| Max Miller Collection |
|
| Dave Peters Collection |
SOUTH
WILTON. This was an original D&N stop from 1852 and
is seen as KENT on the 1868 map at middle left. According to the reference
work, Connecticut Place Names, [p679] Kent was a popular surname in the Norwalk River
valley and it dated back to 1699 for a resident living nearby.
The structure seen in all the photos may well be the one that dated back to 1852. The name was later changed to SOUTH WILTON
probably in 1886 with the lease of the D&N by the HRR, likely to avoid
confusion with its station in the town of Kent. Cornwall [p88] has an employee timetable from April, 1933 that shows this station called HOPKINS.
The only attribution we can find for this later name is its "use by R.R. men c. 1914 as the name of S. Wilton"
[CPN]. Public timetables we have from
1889 to 1956 show SOUTH WILTON exclusively. Service here was by bus increasingly until it took over completely
by the latter date. There is no listing at all for this stop on a 1971TT in Cornwall [p94] but he says
it reappeared nearby in 1976 as KENT ROAD. The two upper photos are from PUC inspections, with the subsequent notation on the
one on the left that this station building was 'out' as of 5/22/1939. On the bottom left, the 1915
val map shows the station in the northeast quadrant of the crossing. [REFS: DC/09/03/1872/02; P17,32,45,68,78,88,94,103c; SL17.1.10]
********************
SOUTH WINDHAM1
|
| Joseph Cerreto Collection |
SOUTH WINDHAM1. The upper left photo appears in Woodward following page 32. He says that the shot is
ca. 1883 and that this brick combination station measured 72x30 feet and was built in 1849, authorized by the directors
on 11/16/1849. John Roy [p92] agrees with the 1849 date and says that it once had the columned portico. The picture on
the upper right with the water tank looks ca. 1900. The portico has come down and the structure beyond the station,
a woodshed for locomotive fuel, has also been removed. The lower right looks like a Benton and Drake 1930s shot. The factory-like
building on the right might still be standing though it is out of sight at this angle. Woodward also says this location
was known as Spaffordsville. The 1893 map shows this location, the highlighted
station at the left being the NW&P/NLN/CVT SOUTH WINDHAM2, and the one at the right SOUTH WINDHAM1, the first station
for the HP&F, which had become the NY&NE by this time.
********************
SOUTH WINDHAM2
|
| Dave Peters Collection |
SOUTH WINDHAM2. This is the HP&F
depot that presumably dates to 1849 when this line was opened. The map on the right shows this location north of the Shetucket
River and also shows the NLW&P depot location south of the river.
********************
SOUTH WINDSOR1
SOUTH WINDSOR1. This
photo carries a ca. 1904 date in Phil Wooding's collection. Presumably, this was the station built when the CC opened
in 1876 and established a stop here. We have deleted the photo that was here previously because it was actually RYE STREET,
also in South Windsor. This replacement shot is sometimes seen mislabeled as EAST WINDSOR HILL but now has been identified
in other collections as belonging here. This station must be the one that burned, as reported by the railroad commissioners
in their 1910 annual report. One factor that helped place this photo here is the siding
track running around the back of the depot. It is visible, again with a rail car or two, in the
shots of SOUTH WINDSOR2 in our next entry. [REFS: CRC58.1910.14][rev12/11]
********************
SOUTH WINDSOR2
SOUTH WINDSOR2. The photo at upper left is from ca. 1930, with Irving
N. Drake sitting on the steps and his iconic touring car not in the shot taken by Louis H. Benton. The PUC inspection photo
at upper right is dated 10/15/1925 and shows the depot in the northwest quadrant of the grade crossing. The 1915 val map at lower left shows the station area and the bow-shaped siding track around the
back of the depot. [REFS: NHAR40.1911.11; HC/01/21/1915/17]
********************
SOUTHBURY
|
| Leroy Roberts Collection |
SOUTHBURY. This was the name of this NY&NE station
on opening [DN/07/27/1881/01] and also appears as such on an 1889 system map [SL29.1.8]. In the fashion of many stops, it
had the alternate name of POMPERAUG VALLEY, and the two sometimes even appear in combination with each other. Both names,
in fact, appear on a list of stations compiled by the state railroad commissioners themselves, with exactly the same 46.9
mileage point from Hartford [CRC30.1883.62]. Multiple names and
ones that were similar enough to cause confusion in train orders became the focus of Interstate Commerce Commission efforts
for renaming stations in 1915. [REFS: RAM99 has both names listed as stations in Southbury; D138]
********************
SOUTHFORD
|
| Leroy Roberts Collection |
|
| Dave Peters Collection |
|
| Dave Peters Collection |
SOUTHFORD station was said in the Danbury News to be "a
fair example of the large stations on the NY&NE westward extension," with "seperate (sic) waiting rooms for
the sexes, with toilet conveniences, and telegraph office, and ticket office." Coverage in the Courant
goes on to say that the interior finish was oiled wood and the exterior was painted olive green, with red trim and brown
roof and that the freight house was in the same building but more plainly finished. To avoid confusion with SOUTHBURY, this
station would be renamed OXFORD around 1915. SOUTHFORD, SANDY HOOK, and SOUTHBURY look virtually identical
in design. All the extension stations, said to be 12 in number, were contracted to Leman (often misspelled Leaman) Oatman,
a well-known Hartford builder. It would appear that he superimposed the freight portion on the rear and over the square
passenger section, which by itself might look like the smaller stations of MILL PLAIN, NEWTOWN3, and TOWANTIC. A Courant
article, which gives his first name as James, says that he had already finished the Connecticut stations and that he
had gotten the contract for the stations from Brewsters to Fishkill. As for the 12 stations, if you count BRADLEY STATION, which is
not mentioned on opening day, and FAIR GROUNDS2, where a station was not built as far as we know, then there were
exactly a dozen stops from Waterbury to Mill Plain. The val map shows the arrangement
of the railroad facilities here in 1915, including the milk house. The passenger station stood in the southeast
quadrant at the grade crossing with the road that is today's Rte. 188. The OXFORD station burned to the ground on 6/10/1987, according
to an article by Richard Ryan in a newspaper that is not identified on the photocopy we have. This structure was being used for storage at the
time. The shot at lower left is one we took in the late
1970s. Shorn of its passenger canopy, the structure still showed the telegraph bay along the left, track, side.
[REFS: HDC/08/23/1880/02; HDC/06/21/1881/02; HDC/07/23/1881/02; DN/07/27/1881/01; D137]
********************
SOUTHINGTON1
SOUTHINGTON1. The location is seen to be the
same on the 1855HC map at upper left and on the 1868 Beers map at upper right. The bottom left image is from the Bailey 1878
bird's-eye map [click here] and shows the approximate location of the first depot at the red X and the site of the successor station at the red arrow.
Inasmuch as Bailey was sketching the town only a few years after the first station was abandoned, it is very likely that it
is one of the buildings adjacent to the red X, in the block between High and Centre Sts.
********************
SOUTHINGTON2
|
| Dave Peters Collection |
|
| Dave Peters Collection |
SOUTHINGTON2. The 1878 Bailey bird's-eye sketch shows the second
depot. It opened on 5/6/1874 and, with the concurrent abandonment of PLANTSVILLE, sparked an historic legal controversy that
would last for years. See P stations for more. [REFS: HDC/05/06/1874/04; CRC22.1875.34]
********************
SOUTHINGTON CORNERS [> PLANTSVILLE]
********************
SOUTHINGTON ROAD
SOUTHINGTON
ROAD. The val photo at upper left [add1/1] is dated 8/30/1916, less than a
year before passenger service would cease. The 1893 topo map at upper right shows that the station sat just east of Rte. 10. and north of the track that ran above Creamery Rd. in the town of Cheshire. This stop is not on the opening day timetable in Snow but we just noticed the excursion poster at lower left
[add12/26] that says that it was in existence by July, 1892. The timing may
have had something to do with lease of the MW&CR by the NY&NE late in that year. The val map at lower right dates
to 1915 and shows the arrangement at that
time, with a separate platform across the
access road that ran west of the station structure. Click here for the full val map. [REFS: S14,21,29]
********************
SOUTHPORT1
SOUTHPORT1. This stop was an original one on the NY&NH, as shown by the 2/9/1849 schedule,
and its location is seen on the 1856FC map. The small board and batten, cross-gabled Gothic structure lasted until 5/17/1884
when it caught fire from the sparks of a passing locomotive [HDC/05/19/1884/04]. It was valued at $8,000. The conflagration
also took the adjacent Congregational Church.
********************
SOUTHPORT2
SOUTHPORT2 was built to replace SOUTHPORT1. The new brick station cost $8,500 and opened in August of
1884. Still standing, it received an NRHP designation in 1989. [CRC32.1885.9;
NHAR13.1885.8; R92]
********************
SOUTHPORT3
SOUTHPORT3, on the westbound side, was probably built with
the four-tracking of the mid-1890s, though John Roy [p93] gives it a date range from 1875 to 1899. The station received an
NRHP designation in 1989. Damaged by fire on 1/4/2008, it has been refurbished and still stands as one of the few remaining
saltbox-style stations on the New Haven line.
______________________________________
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