Meriden, Waterbury and Connecticut River Railroad

Meriden, Waterbury, and Connecticut River Railroad

Early-20th-century postcard view of the railroad along the Mad River in Waterbury
Overview
Headquarters	Meriden, Connecticut
Locale	Central Connecticut
Dates of operation	1885–1892 (operated under successors until 1994)
Successor	New York and New England Railroad
Route map Legend mi New York & New England to Providence Naugatuck Railroad to Winsted Watertown Branch to Watertown 0.0 Waterbury Naugatuck River New York & New England to Danbury Naugatuck Railroad to Devon Naugatuck River 2.6 Waterbury Dublin Street 5.9 East Farms 7.5 East Summit 9.6 Prospect 10.9 West Cheshire Canal Line to New Haven and Northampton 12.9 Southington Road Quinnipiac River 16.2 East Hanover 16.8 Hanover Park 17.9 Meriden West Main Street New Haven–Springfield Line to New Haven and Springfield Meriden 20.4 East Meriden East Meriden Junction 23.5 Highland 25.2 Smiths Middletown Branch to Berlin 27.0 Westfield Middletown Branch to Middletown 28.0 West Cromwell Valley Line to Fenwick and Hartford 30.2 Cromwell Connecticut River This diagram: view talk edit

The Meriden, Waterbury, and Connecticut River Railroad was a railroad in the state of Connecticut. The charter, originally granted in 1871 to the Meriden and Cromwell Railroad, was obtained by Meriden residents and construction began in 1883. The line opened between the city of Meriden, Connecticut, and the Connecticut River in Cromwell, Connecticut, in 1885. An extension to Waterbury, Connecticut, was completed in 1888 as the Meriden and Waterbury Railroad, and the two companies merged to form the Meriden, Waterbury and Connecticut Railroad.

Due to high costs to reach Waterbury and existing railroad competition, the MW&CR was consistently unprofitable, and was taken over in October 1892 by the New York and New England Railroad. Following the assumption of control by the New England Railroad (a subsidiary of the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad, also known as the New Haven) in 1895, the line became redundant to the ex-Hartford and New Haven Railroad alignment through Meriden, and the railroad was taken out of service in 1896.

Following a threat by the state of Connecticut to revoke the railroad's charter, the New Haven returned it to service in January 1899. The easternmost portion of the line beyond Westfield, Connecticut, was abandoned in 1904. Electric trolley service ran between Meriden and Middletown via Westfield from 1907 to 1931. Passenger service on the west portion of the line ended in 1917, and in 1924 the line was abandoned between Meriden and the East Farms neighborhood of Waterbury. The eastern portion of the line was abandoned beyond a Meriden quarry in 1938.

The remaining tracks near Meriden were gradually abandoned, with all rail operations ended by 1976. The remaining MW&CR tracks in Waterbury were cut back in 1958 to make way for Interstate 84, and the final active tracks were abandoned in 1994 by Guilford Transportation Industries. Part of the railroad right-of-way in Meriden was converted to rail trails in 2007 and 2013. Further plans exist to convert more of the right-of-way into rail trails.