Connecticut western news., 1911-08-10
THE OLD HOUSATONIC
Old Residents Recollections of Rail-
 roading in the 4O's.

we'll known lawyer of West Cornwall, I find he has a very retentive mind, for a man of his age, which is S2 years.
 In speaking of the recent 4th of July celebration at Canaan, he said; "This re- minds me of how 1 spent the 4th in I842, by going on an excursion from Canaan to Bridgeport, Canaan then being the northen terminus of the railroad) which was the first event of this kind on the old Housatonic line and in fact the first in this part of the country.
 "The cars were open flat ones, with uncovered wood benches about eight feet long; the brake consisted of 2x4 piece of timber stuck through the bottom of the car, which was then crowded up against the wheel. The cars were so be- decked with flags and evergreens as to make it impossible to see the engine, which was driven by Pat Tate, who will be remembered by some of the old resi- dents. The speed of this train did not exceed I2 miles per hour. The engine which bore the name 'Poquonnock, had only one driving wheel on each side and weighed only about I6 tons. It had no cab to shelter the engineer and fireman, this improvement not occurring till some time in 1873
 "Locomotives at this time were equip ped with a reversing lever on each side of the cab, the fireman having to throw her over as we'll as the engineer, when it was necessary to back up They would often get on center, when pinch bar would have to be used to start the engine.
 "They burned 4-foot cord wood sawed once in two, and so much was used that it had to be taken on about every twelve miles"
 MT. Nickerson said he sold the com pany at one time 100 cords at $2 a cord delivered at West Cornwall station. This wood was sawed the first few years by hand, employing two or three men most of the time. Later a horse power was used, the horse and power both being moved from one station to the next on the freight trains. The company at first would use nothing but pine, but later, getting heavier engines, used mixed, pine and hard wood.
 The track at this time consisted of hewed mud-sills about eight inches thick, on which were placed cross-ties which were fastened in some way to the tim bers with wooden wedges which were constantly working out, making it neces- sary to have men go over the road all the time to tighten the loose ones and place new ones where they were gone then on these ties were placed timbers 6inches square, and upon these were laid an iron strip about like the tire on the ordinary farm wagon of today. This was set back about one-half inch on timber which was chamfered, and the constant friction of the car wheel fanges roughed up the wood to such an extent that 1t was com mon thing for coals to drop from the en- zine fire box and set fire to these tim bers, s,and trains were often stopped to put out these fires.
 This iron strap rail often became loose from insecure fastening and would curl up and run up through the bottom of the cars to stare passengers in the face. These were designated as "snake heads"
 This old construction of track was changed to the present way in IS46. The first all iron rails were about the same shape as now, but not more than half as large and were I2 to I4 feet long. They used to silver badly on the edges, many times foot Or more, and it was a com mon thing to have a space of an inch or more where now joints are securely fas- tened by "fsh-plates." These open joints { made "Jordan a hard road to trabble." This track probably would not have en- dured more than few trips of the heavy trains of today. During the changing from the original to the alliron rail track, trains were entirely discontinued for sew eral months, and this change was a great undertaking for those days.
 One incident in the early history of this road which would hardly seem pos sible in these modern times, (this being before the days of telegraph, and there was only one passenger train each way day, and freight only three times each way per week.) One day the passenger train going south was to meet the north train at West Cornwall the up train did not appear, and much concern was shown as to where it could be. President Bish- oP, who by the way, was first pre- sident of the road, urged the engineer to pro- ceed, which he refused to do, showing much more caution than many auto drivers of these times. It was finally de cided to start man on horseback to see if the lost train could be found. The man rode carefully to Cornwall Bridge four miles, and found the train crew like Micawber "waiting for something to turn up.I After getting this "lightning dis patch" the train proceeded on to West Cornwall and made the pass after two or