Eastern Railroad Discussion > New England's Newest Freight Hauler

Hi all,

Commonly known for its tourist and excursion trains, the Naugatuck Railroad is now New England's newest freight hauling railroad. Frost Bridge Associates built a large C&D debris transfer facility in Watertown, CT. along the Naugy's rails and it began receiving service earlier this year. The railroad usually interchanges with Pan Am in Waterbury on Thursdays. This is a welcome source of traffic for Pan Am also, as that railroad has seen its traffic in the Waterbury area slip to almost nothing in recent years. I hope you enjoy these two photos of the operation from this past Thursday, October 20.

Photo 1: The Naugatuck Railroad crew has just left the engine house/maintenance facility in Thomaston as they shove their caboose southward with leased Taconic & Berkshire Rail Technologies B39-8 8537. The train is crossing over the railroad's namesake river.

Photo 2: After gathering up a whopping 18 loads from Frost Bridge, the Naugatuck crew continues shoving southward toward the Pan Am interchange against a backdrop of blazing foliage. Another 13 cars were delivered this day. Both of these views were seen along Thomaston Avenue. 

Thanks for looking!
Adam Twombly



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/24/16 20:53 by AT0315.

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Those colors are nothing short of spectacular... Also it's nice to see where #8537 ended up; I saw it twice in Upstate NY while it was being transported east on NS earlier in the year...

It's always good to learn of a short line getting more freight business. Nice photos!
Dan

Posted from iPhone

Thank you for sharing photos of the new freight venture by the Naugatuck RR. The fall colors in photo #2 look splendid even in cloudy weather.
John

That is good news....It has been a while since there has been frieght on that line..

bluesboyst Wrote:
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> That is good news....It has been a while since
> there has been frieght on that line..

+1

The area of Waterbury, Bristol, Thomaston, New Britain,  etc used to be warren of factories along the railroads.  Hundreds of thousands of manufacturing jobs.  Hats, clocks, brass, even carousel horses...

Nice end of train device.

BobE

Lackawanna484 Wrote:
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> The area of Waterbury, Bristol, Thomaston, New
> Britain,  etc used to be warren of factories
> along the railroads.  Hundreds of thousands of
> manufacturing jobs.  Hats, clocks, brass, even
> carousel horses...

I believe that Thomaston, site of the Naugy's main station, was named after clock maker Seth Thomas.

CPR_4000 Wrote:
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> Lackawanna484 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > The area of Waterbury, Bristol, Thomaston, New
> > Britain,  etc used to be warren of factories
> > along the railroads.  Hundreds of thousands of
> > manufacturing jobs.  Hats, clocks, brass, even
> > carousel horses...
>
> I believe that Thomaston, site of the Naugy's main
> station, was named after clock maker Seth Thomas.

Yes.

The clock business was a bedrock of industry in those days.Produced a lot of ancillary jobs like case making, fabricating weights, etc.  Most of which had some impact on rail traffic.  Many cities took their specialty into their logos.  Danbury was the Hat City, for example.