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The
Railroad Museum of New England, Inc. is a not-for-profit
educational and historical organization, founded in January
1968. The mission of the Railroad Museum of New England
(RMNE) is to establish an interpretive facility where the
story of the region's rich railroad heritage can be effectively
told. We have an extensive collection of New England rolling
stock, including locomotives of all types, passenger cars,
freight cars, and cabooses. We have New England railroad
artifacts dating from the 1840's to the present… everything
from tickets to signal towers. As much as we have acquired,
all of it remains idle without our dedicated membership.
The museum concept is more than artifacts,
it's also a story of the region and the development of society
around the railroad. We invite you to become
involved in the museum's activities. Join the engine and train crew or
exhibits and administrative departments. The operation of
a museum and a railroad is interesting and varied. One of
the goals of the museum is to allow all of the volunteers
to experience all the jobs they are interested in. You might
decide that this is a great way to spend a Saturday or Sunday.
A major restoration of The Railroad Museum of New England's
Thomaston Station is underway by its members. The station
was built in 1881 and sits on a 1.11-acre East Main Street
site in Thomaston, CT. The restoration project includes not
just the station building itself but also several outbuildings,
display tracks, an operating control tower, pedestrian walks,
parking lots and a picnic area.
After many years, Railroad Museum of New England (RMNE) volunteers finally have a building to work in. The 11,700 square foot restoration shop is nearing completion after seven years of planning and construction. With two through tracks, an inspection pit, wide work areas, good lighting, full insulation and heating, the modern 65 x 180 foot shop will enable restoration and maintenance work to take place year-round on RMNE’s collection of vintage locomotives and cars. NOTE: Thomaston Shop is not open to the public.
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The first train across the new Thomaston Dam was this freight headed for Torrington and Winsted. In the background, the temporary steel trestle over the "old" line is visible; this bridge was later removed. The train was headed by New Haven Railroad locomotives 561 and 533, both Alco RS-3 units like our NH 529. There were 28 cars headed north that day, including 2 refrigerator cars with perishables for Torrington grocery stores. Caboose C-673 brought up the rear of the train. PHOTO COURTESY OF US ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS. |
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The
original Naugatuck Railroad was chartered in 1845, to be
built between Bridgeport and Winsted, adjacent to the Naugatuck
River. Construction began in April, 1848, and was completed
by May, 1849. The first regular train service began June
11, 1849. The New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad
began leasing the Naugatuck in 1887; and formally merged
it in 1906.
Thomaston Dam was constructed by the US Army Corps of Engineers between 1958 and 1960 as a flood control dam. Massive flooding in August 1955 devastated Connecticut, especially the Naugatuck River Valley, where over 100 lost their lives and hundreds of thousand dollars
of heavy damage to the railroad occurred. The new dam required the relocation of the New Haven Railroad between Thomaston and East Litchfield, with construction of almost 10 miles of new rail line above the river valley. The new route was opened in 1960 as the dam neared completion.
Passenger
service between Waterbury and Winsted was discontinued in
1958. Facing hard economic times as a result of the decline
of its New england industrial base in the 1960s, the New
Haven Railroad became a part
of the Penn Central merger on January 1, 1969. The branch
line suffered during the Penn Central years, losing freight
customers and falling into disrepair.
In 1976, the State of Connecticut purchased the line between
Waterbury and Torrington, and Conrail was named the designated
operator. In 1982, Boston & Maine began its lease of
the Naugatuck line. Traffic continued to decline, and Boston & Maine
(now part of Guilford Rail System) discontinued regular freight
service on August 2, 1995. The future of the line was in
question.
After two decades of preserving and restoring New England's
railroad heritage, RMNE was looking for a new home. The RMNE
restored the original Naugatuck Railroad name from 1845 when
it obtained a state charter for its new wholly owned operating
subsidiary on June 7, 1995. The first passenger trains ran
in October of 1996. We currently operate between Thomaston
and the Waterville section of Waterbury.
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