Tariffville – Agawam Junction railway line

Tariffville CT-Agawam Junction MA
Route length:	23 km
Gauge :	1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Dual track :	-
Society:	most recently New Haven
Legend from Hartford 0 Tariffville CT according to Poughkeepsie Farmington River 5 East Granby CT 6th Montague Farms 13 West Suffield CT Connecticut , Massachusetts 19th Feeding Hills MA Westfield River 23 from Albany (Agawam Junction) to Worcester

The railway Tariffville-Agawam Junction is a railway line in Connecticut and Massachusetts ( United States ). It is around 14 miles long and connects the towns of Simsbury , East Granby , Suffield , Agawam and West Springfield . The standard gauge line is closed.

history

The Central New England Railroad (CNE), whose main line ran from Hartford westwards into New York State, intended to connect the city of Springfield to its network at the end of the 19th century . The plan already existed at the various predecessor companies of the CNE, but it was not finalized until 1899. From Hartford there were already two rail lines to Springfield, the main line via Windsor and the branch line via South Windsor . Both routes belonged to the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad (NH), which of course had no interest in a competitive situation. The CNE began construction in 1899. Two larger bridges were necessary for the route, otherwise the terrain is relatively flat and the route was easy to route.

In 1900 the construction work was completed. In the meantime, however, the NH had managed to buy a strip of land north of East Granby over which the route ran. They tore down the tracks on their land and prevented the line from opening. The CNE was forced to take a detour of one and a half kilometers in order to bypass the NH country. She quickly founded the East Granby and Suffield Railroad Company , which applied for and received an additional concession for a new route between East Granby and West Suffield. The diversion route has now also been routed. In 1903, however, the NH had acquired a majority stake in the CNE. The CNE was still run as an independent company, but under the control of the NH. This allowed the re-installation of the tracks north of East Granby, so that in 1904 the line could finally be opened on its original route. The diversion route was never in operation and it is not clear whether tracks had been laid on it. Between Agawam Junction and Springfield, the CNE agreed a right of use for the main line of the Boston and Albany Railroad .

The route was hardly profitable, and express trains running through were out of the question. The bridge over the Westfield River at the northern end of the line was poorly built and could not carry heavy trains. So it is not surprising that it was shut down again in 1921 to save maintenance costs. The trains now ended at Feeding Hills station. However, the section to Agawam Junction initially remained intact for any train diversions. A year later, passenger traffic ended on the route. In 1927 the NH took over the management itself after the CNE had been dissolved. The entire line was finally shut down in 1938 and subsequently dismantled.

Route description

The route began in the village of Tariffville, which is part of the Simsbury parish. The train station on Main Street is now overbuilt. The route turns off the also disused CNE main line and leads north across the Farmington River . After the closure, the railway bridge was used as a road bridge, but was later demolished and replaced by a new building further south. Old Hartford Avenue is further along the railway line. At the northern end of this road, the embankment continues relatively straight through open terrain and crosses Hatchet Hill Road and Holcomb Street. In the meantime, the railway site has been partially built over. After crossing Holcomb Street, the route turns northeast and crosses the street again at an acute angle. Instead of the railway line, there is now a quarry to the east of this level crossing and a quarry in the further course of the route.

East Granby Station was just before Turkey Hills Road. The route continued northwards. Here the route has completely disappeared and a housing estate has been built over it. It only reappears when it is near the former level crossing over Main Street. The train crossed Main Street at an acute angle and continued north-east to over Grand Street, next to which it ran further north. The diversion route, which was never opened, is also partially visible. It begins at East Granby Station, and from there first headed east. She crossed East Street about level with Crystal Drive, then made a sharp turn north. In the curve she crossed Russell Road. The route of this diversion now leads in a straight line next to Grand Street northwards until it rejoins the original railway line shortly before Sheldon Street.

The route through Suffield continues in a relatively straight line next to Grand Street. West Suffield Station was on Mountain Road, about 150 yards east of the junction with Grand Street. Further parallel to Grand Street, the route then crosses the state border to Massachusetts and ran right next to the country road called Pine Street. In Agawam, the road turns off the railway line, which runs further north, right on the western edge of today's Agawam Junior High School. On Springfield Street was the Feeding Hills train station, the site of which is now a supermarket.

The route, no longer recognizable in the further course, was roughly where Cambridge Street runs today. Where this street curves, the embankment reappears, continues northeast out of Agawam and crosses North Street. From the railway bridge over the Westfield River, the bridgeheads and the central pillar in the river bed still exist. Shortly after the bridge, the railway line joins the Worcester – Albany railway line , via which the trains reached Springfield after a further six kilometers. There was no stopping point at the junction, it is in the middle of the forest.

passenger traffic

In 1906 there were two weekday passenger trains in each direction on the route. One drove from Spruce Street Station in Hartford via Tariffville to Springfield and back, the other only between Tariffville and Springfield with a connection in the direction of Hartford. One of the train pairs ran as a mixed train and took 80 minutes to travel from Tariffville to Springfield. The pure passenger trains ran this route in 42 minutes. As early as the early 1910s, both trains only ran on the Tariffville – Springfield route, each with a connection in the direction of Hartford. After the end of the First World War, one of the train pairs was canceled, so that in 1920 a mixed train ran from Springfield to Tariffville only on weekday mornings and returned in the evening. In 1921, passenger traffic ended north of Feeding Hill and the rest of the route the following year.

Sources and further reading

Individual evidence

1. ↑ see timetables of the route from the years mentioned.

literature

• Ronald D. Karr: The Rail Lines of Southern New England. A Handbook of Railroad History. Branch Line Press, Pepperell, MA 1995. ISBN 0-942147-02-2
• Mike Walker: Comprehensive Railroad Atlas of North America. New England & Maritime Canada. (2nd edition) SPV-Verlag, Dunkirk (GB), 2010. ISBN 1-874745-12-9