Formation and construction The
Boston, Norwich and New London Railroad was chartered by the
Connecticut General Assembly in May 1832, with charter authority to build a railroad from
Norwich, Connecticut, towards both
Boston and
Long Island Sound. Described by contemporary press as "extremely liberal", the charter did not specify a route, leaving the paths to both destinations up to the discretion of the company. Connecting to either the
Boston and Worcester Railroad in
Worcester, Massachusetts, or the
Boston and Providence Railroad in
Providence, Rhode Island, was also authorized. In 1833, the
Worcester and Norwich Railroad was chartered in Massachusetts, with the authority to build the Massachusetts portion of the line. The Connecticut and Massachusetts companies were merged in June 1836 as the Norwich and Worcester Railroad. Construction of the Norwich and Worcester Railroad commenced in November 1835 from Norwich, and the company ran its first trains from Norwich to
Plainfield, Connecticut, in September 1839. Construction reached Worcester in November of that year, but the balance of the line was not opened until March 9, 1840. However, the upper portion of the river iced over in winter, interfering with steamship operations. In December 1843, the railroad opened a extension southward along the east bank of the Thames to
Allyn's Point in
Ledyard, allowing year-round ship connections. Continued railroad building brought new connections and business to the Norwich and Worcester. By 1841, the
Western Railroad (Worcester to
Springfield, Massachusetts) had begun construction, and a survey was completed for the
Worcester and Nashua Railroad (Worcester to
Nashua, New Hampshire). Another connecting line under construction was the
Long Island Rail Road (LIRR); when completed, the Norwich and Worcester estimated that an eleven-hour journey would be possible between Boston and New York, via a steamship connection from Norwich to the LIRR terminus at
Greenport, New York. Attempts to build a further extension to Long Island Sound at
Groton were defeated by interference from the
New London Northern Railroad, operator of a parallel line across the Thames River. However, the two railroads did complete a short connecting track along the Norwich waterfront and over the
Yantic River in February 1854. The N&W obtained
trackage rights over the New London Northern's line to
New London to run its passenger trains to the port there. The N&W ended this arrangement in November 1855, but revived it in April 1859. The first N&W
roundhouse and car shops were located in downtown Norwich, adjacent to the passenger station. They were supplemented in 1868 by a new facility in the
Greeneville section of Norwich.
Lease and successors The Norwich and Worcester Railroad was leased in 1869 by the
Boston, Hartford and Erie Railroad, which in 1875 became the New York and New England Railroad (NY&NE). The initial lease was at an unusually high annual rate of ten percent of the stock value; the struggling NY&NE cancelled the lease in 1884 and re-leased it at eight percent. The New London Northern and the N&W initially continued to use their separate stations in Norwich; not until 1892 did local criticism and a state order prompt the construction of a
union station. The company strung trolley wire over the line between Taftville and
Central Village for use by streetcars, connecting its
existing streetcar lines in eastern Connecticut. Hourly streetcar service between Norwich and Central Village began on June 17, 1907, sharing the tracks with steam trains. The streetcar service became part of New Haven subsidiary
Connecticut Company in 1910, and was among its lines leased by the
Shore Line Electric Railway from 1913 to 1920. In 1918, daily service included 17 streetcars in each direction, five northbound and four southbound passenger trains, and a northbound freight train. The streetcar service ended on December 1, 1925. The Washington, D.C.–Maine
East Wind was routed via Hartford and Putnam from 1953 to 1955, using the line between Putnam and Worcester. The line was not included in the initial
Amtrak system; the New London–Worcester service ended on April 30, 1971 – the day before Amtrak took over intercity passenger service in the country. The short connector in Norwich, freight-only since 1899, was abandoned in 1966. The New Haven was succeeded by
Penn Central Transportation Company at the end of 1968, and the order to continue operations transferred as well. In contrast, the Norwich and Worcester had no train crews nor trains, but insisted it could secure funding to run its own railroad. Conrail's Final System Plan, prepared by the
United States Railway Association (USRA), divided the Norwich and Worcester main line into two segments – the southern portion between Groton and Plainfield, with heavier rail traffic, would be included in Conrail, while the remainder of the line would instead go to the Providence and Worcester.
Providence and Worcester Railroad operations The remains of the downtown Norwich shops, including the foundations of roundhouses built in 1860 and 1889, were found in 1998 during surveys prior to construction of a then-planned transportation center. By 2015, the P&W ran weekday local freights between Groton and Plainfield, plus a daily through freight between Plainfield and Worcester. P&W also operates a train between Plainfield and
Cedar Hill Yard in
New Haven, Connecticut. Facilities at Plainfield include a locomotive paint shop and a maintenance facility for repairing P&W trucks. == Station listing ==