Can anyone give me a good progression of what happened to the Hartford & Connecticut Western RR? (Dates?) As near as I can tell, it may have been leased to the Central New England RR. I would then guess it was eventually absorbed by the CNE, as CNE was merged into the NYNH&H. But I have also come across some confusing mentions of H&CW, as related to Philadelphia, Reading & New England, then the Central New England & Western. Some of the stuff written on 'Net is simply poorly stated.
The H&CW RR ran from Hartford west to Millerton NY. After the Poughkeepsie bridge was built it was connected to the bridge by the Poughkeepsie and Connecticuit(this is how it is spelled in the book I have) Once the connection was made all of the "bridge route" railroads were consolidated into the Central New England and Western. It was forced into receivership by bond holders in 1891. Philadelphia capitalists affiliated with the Reading railroad bought it and renamed it the Philadelphia Reading and New England Railroad which was considered by them to be a part of the Reading Railroad System. They controlled the Central of New Jersey and the Lehigh Valley as well. In 1892 the group bought the New york and New England and also the Boston and Maine. This rapid debt laden expansion provoked the New Haven's string puller JP Morgan. He proceeded to destroy the ability of the Reading system to compete. The PR&NE went back into bankruptcy. It toiled there for years until it came under control of the Central New England in 1899. HTH Ryan
Ryan- Does it give a date for that post-bridge CNE&W consolidation? This is all so confusing, as I have found dates in my 'Net searching for H&CW into the early 1900s. Wish I could find the email address I used to have for Leroy Beaujon. I'm sure he'd have it all in small detail, as he is an avid NYNH&W/CNE fan/historian.
Work In the book I am referencing it talks of a corporate junket on the still under construction line from Cambell Hall to Hartford on June 18 1889 over the" New" central new england and western. John S Wilson was in attendance and is the first president of the cne&w.
The information in this book is said to come from records that CSX gave to the author when he inquired about any info they had pertaining to the construction of the Poughkeepsie RR bridge. When he asked they simply gave him all the records that had been sitting in a warehouse passing through multiple owners since it's construction. The bridge was abandoned and there were not rails within miles of it so they simply handed the records over to him and were happy to have the storage space back. That being said, I feel the dates and info are straight from old records of the railroads and thereby pretty accurate. It also has a loco roster of the h&cw if you are interested.
Ryan- What spurred my inquiry is in my collection is an H&CW train order. It is dated March 5, 1890, copied at Silvernails, NY. I was curious about how it aligned with my Silvernails PR&NE, CNE&W, CNE and NYNH&H flimsies. Trying to learn better what the flow was as years went by of leases, purchases, mergers, etc.
Well in another spot it mentions a lease of the H&CW for the CNE&W. I can also imagine them using the train orders of the older railroad until they ran out and then use the new ones. Railroads failed all the time in these days an I imagine they in some cases were pretty cost conscious.
Yes. They certainly did use old stationery supplies. You should have seen the shufflings of stuff post-BN merger, when they shipped NP forms to GN territory, CB&Q to the west coast and more. Quite colorful for a while in both engines and paperwork! I have uploaded my CNE&W order from Silvernails, so it can be compared with the H&CW: http://www.train-orders.com/TDX.html Will try to locate and upload my PR&NE Silvernails, soon.
Have uploaded my PR&NE order: http://www.train-orders.com/TOUR/PRNE/PRNE.html Also, I was able to re-establish contact with Leroy Beaujon. He graciously provided the following information: Hartford and Connecticut Western RR to Central New England & Western RR on July 23, 1889. CNE&W into Philadelphia, Reading & New England RR on July 28, 1892. PR&NE into Central New England Railway on January 12, 1899.
