The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-01-08
RAILROAD REMINIscHNcEs.

Beginnings of a%C0nnecticut Railr0ad-CeI1-
 bration at the Breaking Of Ground in
 Greenville- First Passenger Gar to Wor-
 cester, and the Company Which It Car
 ried. s@
 Mr. William Tubbs of North Washington street sends the Norwich Bulletin the fol- lowing interesting Communication,
 have read several short articles in The Bulletin, giving some account of breaking ground for the Norwich and Worcester railroad, and they not giving much nor very correct information, thougbts' as l be- d to ropd ae was also in the first passenger car over the road, that l could give the present genera tion q very correct account of one Of the largest celebrations that 1aEssever seen in
 Ground was broken in Gfeenevllle, No vember IS, 1885, between the street and the Chelsea paper mill. Daniel Webster was to deliver an address at the grounds and there was coach and9 -four horses sHnt to Boston to bring him on, but he was 80 unwell at the time that he did net come. There were cester, Boston, New Haven; Hartford and
 A LENGTHY PROCESSION.
 ,,,1 There was pr9cession s fopsa on nrana nies, Colonel Gnnton "A Johess chief mar sa setchell IT, Captain apt I Theoaors fs Albsrtson, Charles A. Convefse, orderly. sergeant.
 Then follows the Norwich LagM Infantry: John 2. Cox captstn; M llllaM, splcer Fl, and l. Tfarv Wlam i s Gs Ipan s NGggsg Hsns Allen and Ollves P. Wattles. leutenants, and the GrlswoIl Rifle company and Grls | wold Artillery companyr.,fn fne military cRda and WSee e's the mtary na ns l0d ground, the rear of the procession had not | left Franklin Square. tsf AL'ys :
 | When the military reaehed the ground gers Ts lolea and speaEef Isp When @ te precessen I i had all arrived on the grounds, the speak ing commenced, There were q few short ven o aspsas SreaEsg asa e 1 THE FIRST BLOW
 | The late John Breed took of his coat S Snd wth polished pick stfssk the first wheelbarrows and the others, with their quickly, digging quite q hole, When they snd ety had dn @ ner furnished by the railroad ht the hotels. panies took dinner .at the City hotel. on l Very soon after that the first section of | Greeneville. es3ssss
 constructor of the road came to me with | ] wood pattern of 2 spike, and told me to as as could with q hammer oniy He picked out one of them and sent # to England for the spikes to bo made likelit The track was also made in England. The locomotive house, machine shops, and nd, cafShouse were s out beyona S s ts % M e of n EsEE iss FksT H5a f nasS tes sHH ES sf HS T tf NsoSHgf
 The first sang eagine,s name 1s wss Norwich It the same time They carried the track up the road as fast as they laid sits The track was laid and finished from Terry street to m tsa month aa It's isss 5 common. This train carrieh ghe officers, stockholders and Invited gpesfs. The off eompsny, com ar A Theoders ra ASerts@ captain, ns Converse, Con f iieutenaats tS essoM them t, to Worcester. We accepted, anas were about When h0Urs we arpRsd gGRs at we escort ed the officers to the Worcester house, where we all toek dinner at3 3ths expense military ,onicersa Invited us Into another ter which we left ,s ,for home.
 zines, Norwich; Worcester. Webster and Hancock. An editorial In The Bulletin, No vember ls stated ' that the passWengsr W trains ain were running In MaTcn 1S4us NO they ulu, were running over the road syhr6ugh the winter of 1899 and ls4o Dudley, B. Chap.
 THE OLD STEAMBOAT HANDING. The steamboats landed at that time on the west side of Central wharf and passen gers were conveyed from FeTfg street in stages to the boats The prespM wharf was enlarged, the freight depot built, and the track extended todt in 1S40. When finished all passenger trains ran into and out of il until after the road was extended to Allyn's Point
 I commenced business in cempany with my brother-in- law, Richmond 9Granston, in a machine and blacksmith shopAlp Franklin street in 1887, and In October, 1s39 the road wanted him to go as their master me gineer in Norwich. and be lderided to go The road bought our machine shop tools and came to Bath street and built a shop on the lot l sold to Dearing br0thers.
 FORGING FOR THE ROAD.
 1889, and did all the forging for the roat till the next spring had flames Sweet B. F. Brewster of Franklin street and my brother. We forged scrapers and hangers to go on the four locomotives to scrape the snow from the track for there were no snow trucks they ever had, and they keep tn, same pattern yet In the spring of 1S4( they built blacksmith shop, and my man MT Sweet. was their first blacksmith.
 | l continued to work for them more ol less until the road was extended to Allyni Point. N
 Of the Norwich military company of ove fifty members, which did escort duty on tn, occasion of the trial trip to Worcester thert are now living as far as l know only fou persons: Colonel Charles A, Converse Q Norwich, Edwin Roath of Preston. W. Min ard of Philadelphia; and William Tubbs, tn,