Naugatuck Line

Having moved into a new home, I'm finally in a position to start building a layout and have decided to model a portion of the Naugatuck line (I only have a space about 2' X 20'). Can anybody steer me to any information about what businesses had sidings on the Naugy in the late 50s? I'm probably going to focus on the Naugatuck area, but if there's enough of a concentration in another town, then I'll consider that too.

Any help, photos, etc. would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Steven Zaretsky

Steve,
Come join the Railroad Museum of New England, then you can work on the REAL Naugatuck RR, i.e. 12" to the foot.

Unfortunately, having recently moved to Florida, joining the group (at least being active in it) is a little problematic.

Sorry about that!

Steven

The June 1992 issue of Railpace featured the line to Waterbury.
Not much on businesses, but lots of photos.

Thank you for the information about that magazine -- I'll start looking for it now.

Steven

Mr. Zaretsky asked about the town of Naugatuck in particular. My experience is from the late 1960s rather than the 1950s, when I had a summer job there for a couple years, but in either decade the US Rubber/Naugatuck Chemical facilities (later Uniroyal) were major NH shippers. In the late 60s, northbound freight ND-2 from Cedar Hill would set out a Naugatuck block of fifteen or twenty cars every weekday consisting of inbound raw materials and empty boxcars for footware shipments for the Uniroyal shoe/boot plant, and tank cars for the chemical plant. The local freight from Waterbury (always powered by an RS3) would come down midday to sort things out, and the outbound cars would depart at night via DN-1. I don't believe there were any other rail shippers in Naugatuck by the late 60s, except perhaps customers who used the team track at the freight house, but perhaps Mr. Weaver or someone else whose memories predate mine can fill in more from the previous decade.

The chemical plant is still there today. The footware plant has vanished except for the warehouse building south of the Metro-North, ex-NH station.

Tom, I am not sure that the New Haven Railroad generally stopped DN-1
or ND-2 at Naugatuck to pick up or set off. It never did in my time in
Waterbury and even after I went firing in the early 1960's, I worked DN-1
and ND-2 a couple of different times and every time I ever worked that
job, we did not work in either direction at Naugatuck.
I do know that very shortly after Penn Central took us over, they started
having DN-1 and ND-2 working at Naugatuck. One reason they did this
was to have the Naugy Road Job do work at Seymour and Beacon Falls as
business was in decline even at that time.
I seem to think that after Penn Central started, the car department at
Waterbury went to Naugatuck in their road truck to inspect the cars that
DN-1 would pick up there but I am not too sure about that either.
Noel Weaver

Noel -- You may well be right about the NH versus PC operational change. I worked at Uniroyal during the summers of 1968 and 1969, so my memories span that merger period. I definitely remember watching ND-2 setting out a block of cars at Naugatuck around the time I got to work each morning, and the switcher leaving a southbound block there for pickup after finishing its work. But whether they were doing that both years or only in '69... I'm afraid that after all these years I just don't remember for sure.

The information about the Uniroyal/US Rubber/Naugatuck Chemical plants was great -- it's exactly the sort of thing I was looking for. While I don't expect my layout to be 100% prototypical, I would like it to represent the prototype as much as possible.

Also - don't have to call me Mr. Zaretsky -- only my students do that. My name is Steven

Thanks again!

I appreciate everybody who contributed to this thread.

I'm still looking for information about the Naugatuck line. Any rememberences about businesses w/ sidings in Shelton/Derby/Ansonia?

I lived in Shelton in the mid 60s but unfortunately was too young to be remember anything useful.

Thanks again!

Steven

If you're going to model the US Rubber plant next to your Naugy line, be sure to include some brown water and putrid odor along with it! Otherwise, it wouldn't be authentic!

I remember as a kid driving down Rt. 8 to the shore on weekends. We held our noses from Union City to Beacon Falls!

NHRR WTBY wrote:If you're going to model the US Rubber plant next to your Naugy line, be sure to include some brown water and putrid odor along with it! Otherwise, it wouldn't be authentic!

I remember as a kid driving down Rt. 8 to the shore on weekends. We held our noses from Union City to Beacon Falls!

OH, the water is much cleaner now and you don't have to hold your nose
through Naugatuck any more but alas, the good decent jobs that went
with the odor and polution are also gone too. Much depression and
unemployement in the Naugatuck Valley area today.
I say bring back the smoke, odor and polution along with the good paying
jobs and the railroad business today as well.
Pardon me, JUST DREAMING!!!!
Noel Weaver

Noel Weaver wrote:

NHRR WTBY wrote:If you're going to model the US Rubber plant next to your Naugy line, be sure to include some brown water and putrid odor along with it! Otherwise, it wouldn't be authentic!

I remember as a kid driving down Rt. 8 to the shore on weekends. We held our noses from Union City to Beacon Falls!

OH, the water is much cleaner now and you don't have to hold your nose
through Naugatuck any more but alas, the good decent jobs that went
with the odor and polution are also gone too. Much depression and
unemployement in the Naugatuck Valley area today.
I say bring back the smoke, odor and polution along with the good paying
jobs and the railroad business today as well.
Pardon me, JUST DREAMING!!!!
Noel Weaver

Most of my family still lives in the Naugatuck Valley, so I'm aware of the problems there. But isn't that a common problem across the northeast? How many good jobs left Waterbury when American Brass left? Remember when the Waterbury railroad yard was full of freight and you could get a direct train to NYC? Cities like Waterbury and Naugatuck need to adapt to the current climate and develop new industries rather than wishing for the past to return.

And by the way, good riddance to the brown water and putrid air from Naugatuck Chemical. The damage to the environment was not worth it. (And I'm a conservative!)

I remember American Brass, Chases, Scovill, Waterbury Tool, Farrell,
Plume & Atwood and many others, they are all gone and will never return.
As far as Waterbury getting industry to replace the above, it is not likely
that they were ever get heavy industry of the nature of the above.
As for trains, I remember the through trains to New York and Boston as
well, there were two through trains between Waterbury and Boston right
up till the 1955 floods.
Whaterever is left around Waterbury is mostly small industry, with a small
number of employees, mostly non union and will never be able to fill the
shoes of the departed large industries. As for the Brass Mill Mall or what-
ever they call it, will it every fill the shoes of the Scovill plant that it
replaced? NEVER!!!!
I have old NHRR records here when there were two and three switchers
around the clock in Waterbury and a good number of through freight trains
too going to Hartford, Maybrook, Bridgeport, Cedar Hill and probably other
places too. Without the heavy industry not only in Waterbury but all over
Connecticut and New England, these trains, too, will never again return.
I stopped in Waterbury this past summer in my travels and it was sad to
see today compared with the 1950's.
Noel Weaver