Eastern Railroad Discussion > Then & Now - 81 Years Apart

My grandfather took two small b&w images of the New Haven Railroad's Farmington River Bridge on July 12, 1941, two years before I was born.  I had the pleasure of replicating his wotk from the same spot on November 23, 2022, the day before Thanksgiving. 

The stone arch bridge was built in 1867.  The location is about a half mile north of the historic Windsor, CT station just before the Farmington River empties into the Connecticut River..

1.  Southbound passenger train headed towards New Haven, CT. (1941)
2.  Northbound passenger train headed towards Springfield, MA. (1941)
3.  Northbound CT Rail commuter train being pushed towards Springfield. (2022)



Edited 5 time(s). Last edit at 11/28/22 09:57 by cinder.

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Superior "Then and Now" posting.
Bob

Beautiful! The bridge was 74 years old when your grandfather took the picture, then another 81 years before you took yours. That is incredible!

Posted from iPhone

Excellent display.  The coaches on the CTRail train were purchased used from the Virginia Raileay Express when they went double decker with gallery cars.  They were built in Brazil by Mafersa in 1991 using Budd design.. Initially used on the New London service, they were recently bumped offf the Shore Line by the Kawasaki (Kows) electric MU's. 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/28/22 10:51 by mp208.

Very neat Then & Now.  Thank you for sharing.

I love all three photos, Cinder and this just goes to show you how well these bridges were constructed.  Thank you for sharing the photos with all of us.
John in White Marsh, Maryland

Very nice shots! That bridge over the Farmington River in Windsor is very popular for railfanning along the Springfield Line. I've photographed a train crossing that bridge once and many more at the Windsor Station. Yes, those Mafersa Cars, now owned by CDOT, originally started out on Virginia Railway Express. Since VRE converted to bilevels and until May of 2022, the Mafersa Cars have been plying the two CDOT commuter rail owned lines that are based out of New Haven(Shore Line East and Hartford Line) up until this past May. Since May of 2022, Ctrail operations on the Shoreline have mainly been M8s and as a result, that has freed up more Mafersa Cars to run on Ctrail Hartford Line trains. The Ctrail cars are about 30 years old and as of right now, CDOT is looking into replacement coach and cab car options for the Mafersa plus the MBB cars.

For me the Biggest thing is they didnt have modern or any machines back then to build the stone and steel bridges ... AMAZING !!!

Outstanding. That bridge is a beauty. Very sharp, and high quality photos as well.

Railroad infrastructure is amazing

Posted from Android

Wow cinder, outstanding post. Great reflection in Photo #3.
John

Visiting your brother up in Becket, MA?
David too?
 

No.  Taking older brother George and Dave to family Thanksgiving in Kennebunk, ME..