I remember two things about the railroads in Norwich — the electrified switcher the Ponemah had years ago — a large black hulk and it was very menacing, but very interesting. The time must have been in the mid-1950s when my father took my sister Mary and me on a short trip to Voc’s to get grinders. We continued up to Taftville so he could drop off music at a fellow Barbershop quartet singer’s home. I saw this black electrical yard switcher, and I asked my dad to stop so I could look it over. The engineer wouldn’t allow me into the cab, but oh well.

The other view of a train, from a distance, was my chance to see one as we went over one of the bridges that transverse Hollyhock Island to the West Side. Black smoke, blowing skyward with bright eerie burnt coal embers, gave the evening a scary presence. The standard black 0-4-4 configuration Central Vermont Baldwin steam engine was working the freight cars going onto the siding of the Yantic Grain Company. For a train watcher, this was what you wanted to see and hear.

Trains have been around Norwich for over 180 years. Train usage began in Maryland in 1830, when a stream engine and passenger carriage rode along trackage of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, proving their reliability and practicality. In 1832, the Boston, Norwich and New London Railroad received its charter from the Connecticut General Assembly. The company was also chartered in Massachusetts. The starting capital for the development of the railroad was one million dollars ($33,000,000 today), and the capital increased by another $1,825,000 in 1836 ($55,175,000 today for a total layout of $88,175,000). The rail’s name was changed at this time to the Norwich & Worcester Railroad. The Quinebaug Bank, in order to be chartered in Connecticut had to provide $200,000 in 1837 ($5.9 million today) out of their $500,000 capital to the Norwich & Worcester Railroad as a requirement which would be repaid. The railroad chose at that time to purchase land for rights-of-way and necessary property for stations and warehouse facilities. This amount was $8,000 but in today’s economy it would be valued at $275,000.

The tracks were completed in 1842 when train service began. The Norwich & Worcester built a workshop in Norwich adjacent to the Jewett City Road (North Main Street) where the old Shetucket Plumbing building can be found. This building had a roundhouse for the stream locomotives. This new building was called the ‘car shop’ where engines, passenger cars and ‘dirt cars’ (hopper cars) were manufactured.

On Nov. 25, 1845, the Norwich & Worcester Railroad changed its name to the Providence & Worcester Railroad, reflecting its entry into Rhode Island where it was also incorporated in the Ocean State. The train company also began operating a succession of fine passenger steam boats such as the City of Worcester and the City of Lowell which would extend the company’s coverage to New York City.

The P & W railroad also tunneled through a huge granite ledge in Lisbon for its track laying; in 1898, the New Haven Railroad inherited a large operation when it took control of the P & W RR; a train depot which had been built earlier at Allen Point on the Thames enlarged its facility with a larger coal bunker and wharf in order for its passenger boats to have an ice free dockage during the winter and resupply coal if need be; The New Haven line built a spur line from the Norwich train station and roundhouse to the head of the Thames River for movement of freight to the dock; the spur line was built behind the bank buildings on Shetucket Street, and the trackage continued to the east side of the Yantic River by way of a trestle, over the east branch of the Yantic River, Hollyhock Island, and then over the west branch of the Yantic, integrating onto the New London Northern Railroad located on the west side of the Thames River.

The economic world changed a bit for Norwich with the completion of the New York, New Haven & Hartford rail bridge over the mouth of the Thames River in the late 1870s, skirting the coastline of Connecticut, thereby allowing train traffic to continue service both ways for the traffic of the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad. The freights shipment to Boston or New York could be directly sent on the main line of the New Haven Rail Road with this freight skipping Norwich. Local factory shipments could still be sent along the local rail line or still be shipped by the ships steaming to Boston or New York.

The P & W also had a hand in the trolley system in Norwich. The Connecticut Company was involved in the trolley services in most of those cities that had this mode of transportation. The P & W allowed the Connecticut line to use the rails from Norwich, north, from Taft Station to Central Village for local passengers and limited freight operations on their right-of-way, by way of an overhead electrified line.

The Great Ponemah also used the lower section of the line to shuttle freight cars from its factory complex to the sidings near The Bleachery along the Shetucket. The Ponemah provided the electricity from its factory to the mainline of the P&W as far as the Ponemah needed to go since they produced the power from its power dam and water wheels.

After many legal battles the P & W became an independent operating entity on Feb. 3, 1973. It then expanded into Rhode Island and ran all Conrail freight service with its headquarters in Worcester.

The history of the New London Northern Railroad began in 1847 following its charter from the State of Connecticut. The line was built from the harbor of New London north to Norwich and then through to Willimantic and finally to Palmer, Mass. This new line wanted to be available to the cotton mills, woolen mills, American Thread Company, some cotton mills and the furniture factories in Palmer.

Stations were built along the tracks in the local towns it passed for both freight and passenger service. The first section was opened in September 1849 from Norwich to Willimantic to stimulate freight traffic to Norwich harbor. The second section opened the next month from Norwich to New London.

In 1850 the line opened the third section to Stafford, and the following year the line was finally extended to Palmer, Mass. The New London Northern bought up rail lines going east and west north of the Connecticut border so as to have a presence in Albany and Boston. The New London Northern became the Central Vermont Railroad.

In 1896, the Grand Trunk Railroad bought the Central Vermont. In 1923, the Grand Trunk merged with the Canadian National Railway, providing a new source of export of lumber products to the United States. In 1995, the New London Northern line became part of the New England Central Railroad.

Just a note, when President Taft made his visit for the 250th celebration of the founding of Norwich, he arrived in Norwich, in his presidential train, at the New London Northern train depot in Norwich.

Train traffic is still a vital need, servicing the freight and passengers of America. Due to the lower density of population in eastern Connecticut and the lack of infrastructure improvements along with the use of cars and trucks to move freight and people, it will take money and stimulation for people to see trains as a mode of transportation worth using.

Many European cities have exceptional inter- and intra-city transportation using trains, trollies, and subways and we may experience this as fossil fuels for automobiles become too expensive for the average American.

Bill Shannon is a retired Norwich Public Schools teacher and a lifelong resident of Norwich.