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![]() The roundhouse at the museum. | |
Established | 1995 |
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Location | Willimantic, Connecticut |
Coordinates | 41°42′54″N72°14′08″W / 41.7149°N 72.2356°W |
Type | Railroad museum |
Accreditation | National Railway Historical Society |
Key holdings | EMD FL9 from New Haven Railroad |
Collections | Steam locomotive, diesel-electric trains, 2 train stations, and a replica roundhouse |
Collection size | 28 |
Visitors | 1,000 (2015) |
Public transit access | Windham Region Transit District |
Nearest parking | Nearby Bridge St. (CT 32) |
Website | www |
The Connecticut Eastern Railroad Museum is a railroad museum located on Route 32 in Willimantic, Connecticut. [1] It was founded by members of the Connecticut Eastern Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society.
The museum is home to a replica Columbia Roundhouse built in 2000. [2] It holds many exhibits, including the former train station for Chaplin, twelve diesel-electric trains, and four steam locomotives. [3] The Air Line Trail runs along the edge of the property, as did the Connecticut Eastern railroad for which the museum is named. [4] The roundhouse contains a 60-foot Armstrong turntable. [5]
The original Columbia Junction roundhouse was constructed in 1892 and was torn down in the 1930s. The site was cleared of trees and debris in 1991, and the museum was established in 1995. The museum was able to reconstruct the roundhouse as part of a $400,000 grant package secured by Senator Donald Williams in 1998, as well as to complete site improvements and bring utilities to the property. The exterior walls were reconstructed in 2000, using the original foundation as a base. [6] A special ceremony was held on June 10, 2001 to lay the cornerstone. Exterior doors were hung the following year.
The roundhouse is now home to some of the museum's historic collection of trains. A replacement 60-foot, manually operated turntable was purchased from Edaville Railroad in 1994, moved to the site, and installed by museum volunteers. [7]
A section house was used to store tools and equipment used by maintainers who were in charge of a "section" of track as their territory. This former New Haven Railroad section house was located in Willimantic, and moved to the museum site in 1992. It was restored the following year and is used by museum volunteers to store tools. [8]
This former New Haven freight house was once located in Groton, Connecticut along the main line opposite Groton tower, on property belonging to Amtrak and no longer needed. Amtrak donated the structure to the museum in 1998; it was moved there in 1999 and restored by volunteers. [9]
This building was first used as a train station in 1872 by the Boston, Hartford and Erie Railroad to serve Clarks Corner, just across the town line from Chaplin, Connecticut. It was originally built as a commercial building, possibly a tin shop, and later converted for use as a train station for the small community. The BH&E became a part of the New Haven by 1898. The station was replaced by a larger structure in 1901, and the station master purchased the old building and had it moved to his backyard. The family later donated the station to the museum and it was relocated in 1995. [10]
This small shanty housed a telegraph operator who would relay orders between the dispatcher and train crews. This shanty was located in Versailles, Connecticut, and was used by the New Haven Railroad. When the telegraph station was closed, it was purchased by an employee who had it moved to his property. It was donated and moved to the museum in 2000, where it is currently used as a ticket booth and information center. [11]
The museum is home to several pieces of railroad equipment with ties to the region's history.
Willimantic is a census-designated place located in Windham, Connecticut. Previously organized as a city and later as a borough, Willimantic is currently one of two tax districts within the Town of Windham. Willimantic is located within Windham County and the Southeastern Connecticut Planning Region. Known as "Thread City" for the American Thread Company's mills along the Willimantic River, it was a center of the textile industry in the 19th century. Originally incorporated as a city in 1893, it entered a period of decline after the Second World War, culminating in the mill's closure and the city's reabsorption into the town of Windham in the 1980s.
In rail terminology, a railway turntable or wheelhouse is a device for turning railway rolling stock, usually locomotives, so that they can be moved back in the direction from which they came. it is especially used in areas where economic considerations or a lack of sufficient space have served to weigh against the construction of a turnaround wye. In the case of steam locomotives, railways needed a way to turn the locomotives around for return trips as their controls were often not configured for extended periods of running in reverse and in many locomotives the top speed was lower in reverse motion. In the case of diesel locomotives, though most can be operated in either direction, they are treated as having "front ends" and "rear ends". When a diesel locomotive is operated as a single unit, the railway company often prefers, or requires, that it be run "front end" first. When operated as part of a multiple unit locomotive consist, the locomotives can be arranged so that the consist can be operated "front end first" no matter which direction the consist is pointed. Turntables were also used to turn observation cars so that their windowed lounge ends faced toward the rear of the train.
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The Naugatuck Railroad is a common carrier railroad owned by the Railroad Museum of New England and operated on tracks leased from the Connecticut Department of Transportation. The original Naugatuck Railroad was a railroad chartered to operate through south central Connecticut in 1845, with the first section opening for service in 1849. In 1887 the line was leased by the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad, and became wholly owned by 1906. At its greatest extent the Naugatuck ran from Bridgeport north to Winsted. Today's Naugatuck Railroad, formed in 1996, runs from Waterbury to the end of track in Torrington, Connecticut. From Waterbury south to the New Haven Line, Metro-North Railroad operates commuter service on the Waterbury Branch.
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The Railroad Museum of New England is a railroad museum based in Thomaston, Connecticut. Through its operating subsidiary known as the Naugatuck Railroad, the museum operates excursion and freight trains on the Torrington Secondary between Waterville and Torrington. The Railroad Museum of New England name and trademark was adopted in 1987, as a result of reassessing the Connecticut Valley Railroad Museum's goals and visions. Home to one of the largest collections of preserved historic railroad equipment in New England, RMNE and its predecessor organizations have been active since the 1960s.
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Media related to Connecticut Eastern Railroad Museum at Wikimedia Commons