Expected that entire line will be opened this month
In all probability the Hartford-Middletown trolley line will be opened to the public all the way through to Middletown by Memorial Day, if not sooner. W.H. White, who has had charge of the construction of the lower half of the line since April 10, said yesterday that his men were at work stringing the overhead wires and that the work so far as was necessary for the operation of the road would be completed within a very few days, although it would probably be a couple of months before the final work, such as fencing, putting in cattle guards and the finishing grinding, was done. Mr. White said that his understanding was that the running time between here and Middletown would be one hour, and that express cars would be run from City Hall to Jordan Lane in Wethersfield.
It has not been fully decided whether the present cars will be used when the line is finished or whether a car having a heavier flange will be used. If the heavier flange car is used, it will be necessary to change cars somewhere between the city line and Middletown, as only the lighter flange can be run on the grooved rails in use in this city. It is said that the patronage on the line so far has been very good and, in all probability, when the line is operated through to Middletown the traffic will be very heavy during the summer months and possibly there will be a half-hour schedule.
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Below are some images taken from Connecticut History Online.
The above photograph shows a trolley in Middletown in about 1910. The building is the Customs House (I think it's the corner of Main and Court Streets). The building was torn down in 1916.
The above picture shows a trolley on Main Street in 1888 (Benjamin Harrison, running for President on the Republican ticket, had a campaign banner hanging).
The map above is from 1928, showing the existing trolley lines which connected to Middletown.
Thanks for the archival article and photos, fishmuscle. The last time we drove our car up Main Street, I asked my kids to imagine street cars running on tracks up & down the street - they thought that was pretty cool.
ReplyDeleteOn a related note, I recently read Kathleen Hubbard's Middletown (Arcadia Publishing), and it, too, has some street car pics.
Perhaps even more striking is the lost and once seemingly quite attractive Water Street, now Rt 9. It was another street right on the river, parallel to Main. It is a real pity that we can't stroll down to a quiet river bank from our downtown. If only there were money to bury Rt 9 in a tunnel.