The Connecticut Company was the primary electric street railway company in the U.S. state of Connecticut, operating both city and rural trolleys and freight service. It was controlled by the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad (New Haven), which also controlled most steam railroads in the state. After 1936, when one of its major leases was dissolved, it continued operating streetcars and, increasingly, buses in certain Connecticut cities until 1976, when its assets were purchased by the state government.
History
Formation and expansion
In 1895, after it acquired control of the New York and New England Railroad, the New Haven controlled almost 90% of the steam railroad mileage in Connecticut. That same year, it gained control of its first street railway, the Stamford Street Railroad, on about April 1. That company, which operated local lines in the city of Stamford, was in bad shape financially, and the owners of a majority of its stocks and bonds, wishing to get rid of their investments, found a willing buyer in the New Haven. The second acquisition was also a local system, the Meriden Electric Railroad in Meriden, which the New Haven bought on October 18, 1895, from its president.
However, the next electric railway the New Haven gained control of was a long rural trolley line in eastern Connecticut. Sanderson & Porter, construction contractors, were building the People's Tramway between Danielson and Putnam, parallel to the New Haven-controlled Norwich and Worcester Railroad, and on September 18, 1899 the New Haven signed a contract with Sanderson & Porter to control the line. This agreement was modified on July 18, 1901, by which time Sanderson & Porter had gained control of the Worcester and Webster Street Railway and Webster and Dudley Street Railway in Massachusetts, and subscribed to the stock of the Thompson Tramway, which planned to connect the two segments, thus forming a continuous line between Danielson and Worcester, Massachusetts. Under the terms of this new agreement, the Thompson Tramway was renamed Worcester and Connecticut Eastern Railway on January 24, 1902, and later that year received the stocks of the three other companies, as well as the newly incorporated Danielson and Norwich Street Railway, which was to continue the line south to Norwich. The arrangement was completed on September 29, 1902, when the Worcester and Connecticut Eastern leased the two Massachusetts companies and acquired the property of the two Connecticut companies. Almost simultaneously the New Haven gained control of the line, which, after the completion of several segments in 1903, extended from Worcester south to Central Village, with branches in Connecticut from Elmville to East Killingly (where it connected with the Providence and Danielson Railway to Providence, Rhode Island) and Central Village to Moosup.
The New Haven used this new acquisition as an initial corporate shell for its electric subsidiaries, renaming it Consolidated Railway on May 18, 1904, and transferring the property of the Meriden Electric to it later that month and the stock of the Stamford Street Railroad to it in October. In the meantime, the New Haven bought control of the Fair Haven and Westville Railroad and conveyed its property to the Consolidated in late May. This company served the city of New Haven and surrounding areas, including intercity lines, in conjunction with the Connecticut Railway and Lighting Company, to Bridgeport (connecting at Woodmont) and Derby, the latter completed in late 1903. The Stamford Street Railroad also, in late 1903, opened a connection with the Greenwich Tramway, thus completing the trolley link between New Haven and the New York state line. The Wallingford Tramway was incorporated in 1903, and its unfinished property was conveyed to the Worcester and Connecticut Eastern on May 14, 1904, four days before the renaming. This company's line, from Wallingford south to the end of a Fair Haven and Westville line at Montowese, was completed by the Consolidated in late 1904, forming the final piece of a continuous electric railway route between New York City and Boston via Hartford, Springfield, and Worcester.
During the next few years, the New Haven, through the Consolidated Railway, acquired control of and later the property of many electric railways throughout the state. In order, these acquisitions were:
- Worcester and Southbridge Street Railway (Worcester to Sturbridge, Massachusetts): control May 25, 1904
- New London Street Railway (New London local lines), Norwich Street Railway (Norwich local lines), and Montville Street Railway (connection between the two): control July 30, 1904; property September 29, 1904
- Worcester and Blackstone Valley Street Railway (Worcester to Northbridge, Massachusetts): control September 22, 1904
- Middletown Street Railway (Middletown local lines and the charter of the Middletown and Meriden Traction Company to Meriden): control October 25, 1904; property November 28, 1904
- Greenwich Tramway and New York and Stamford Railway (extending the Stamford Street Railroad through Greenwich into New Rochelle, New York): control December 29, 1904; property (of the former only) September 19, 1905
- Berkshire Street Railway (long rural line in western Massachusetts): control January 18, 1905
- Springfield Street Railway (Springfield, Massachusetts local and suburban lines): control April 11, 1905
- Hartford Street Railway (Hartford local lines, including lines to Rainbow Park in Windsor, Newington, Wethersfield, East Windsor Hill, the East Hartford and Glastonbury Street Railway to South Glastonbury, and the Farmington Street Railway to Unionville): control April 3, 1905; property (except the Farmington Street Railway) September 19, 1905
- Suffield Street Railway (Suffield to Massachusetts state line, connecting with the Springfield Street Railway): control April 1905; property September 19, 1905
- Branford Lighting and Water Company (East Haven to Branford): control June 29, 1905; property September 19, 1905
- Willimantic Traction Company (Baltic, near Norwich, to Willimantic): control October 7, 1905; property December 6, 1905
- Worcester Consolidated Street Railway (Worcester, Massachusetts local and suburban lines): control in or after December 1905
- Hartford, Manchester and Rockville Tramway and Stafford Springs Street Railway (East Hartford to Stafford Springs via Rockville): control January 25, 1906; property (of the former only) March 26, 1906
- Hartford and Worcester Street Railway (franchise only): January 25, 1906
- Hartford and Middletown Street Railway (franchise only): March 13, 1906
- Torrington and Winchester Street Railway (Torrington to Winsted): control June 22, 1906
The property of the Stamford Street Railroad, control of which had been acquired in 1895, was conveyed to the Consolidated on September 26, 1905.
The effect of these transactions was to give the New Haven control of a large system of electric railways in Connecticut and Massachusetts, many of them connecting with each other. In the meantime, the United Gas Improvement Company of Philadelphia had put together its own system, including most of the mileage in Rhode Island and over one-quarter of the mileage in Connecticut, through subsidiaries Rhode Island Company and Connecticut Railway and Lighting Company. The latter owned the lines in the coastal towns between Stamford and West Haven, connecting with New Haven properties at both ends, as well as a rural line extending through the Naugatuck Valley from Stratford north to Seymour with local lines in Derby and vicinity. To the north, it controlled local and suburban lines in New Britain and Waterbury, connecting with the New Haven's lines at Newington and Mount Carmel. The Meriden, Southington and Compounce Tramway, also controlled by the United Gas Improvement Company, extended from the New Haven's local lines in Meriden to Lake Compounce, intersecting the ends of Waterbury and New Britain lines at Milldale and Southington. A continuous route between Stratford and Waterbury via Derby and Seymour was completed in 1907 by lessor Naugatuck Valley Electric Railway. The New Haven came to an agreement with the United Gas Improvement Company on December 19, 1906, whereby the Consolidated Railway leased the property of the Connecticut Railway and Lighting Company, and acquired the stock of the Meriden, Southington and Compounce Tramway, Rhode Island Company, and various power companies operating in Connecticut.
Expansion continued with the acquisition by the Consolidated Railway of control of the Waterbury and Pomperaug Valley Street Railway (Waterbury-Woodbury) on April 20, 1907 and the Thomaston Tramway (Waterbury-Thomaston) on May 29, 1907. Two days later, on May 31, the Consolidated was merged into the New Haven, and the Thomaston Tramway was renamed Connecticut Company , becoming the operator of all of the New Haven's electric railway properties formerly operated by the Consolidated. The Columbia Traction Company , which owned no railway but valuable charter privileges relating to power generation, was acquired by the New Haven on June 24 and merged with the Connecticut Company on June 30, 1909. The property of subsidiaries formerly controlled by the Consolidated was also conveyed to the New Haven for operation by the Connecticut Company, including the Meride
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