2020-11-16, Trolley and Railroad Routes, Cheshire and Prospect, CT

 On 2020-11-16, I visited an abandoned trolley route, and also an abandoned railroad route, on the border between Cheshire and Prospect.  Here's a link to an interactive map I made on which I put location numbers that I will refer to below. http://arcg.is/a81bH . 

Below is a static screenshot of the interactive map.



1.  Where I parked in the main Mixville Park parking lot in Cheshire, CT.

2.  I walked from the parking lot to the top of a sledding slope.



3.  I walked along a path on the old trolley route to Notch Road where there was still a bridge over Notch Road that used to take the trollies over Notch Road.  On www.OpenStreetMap.org, there is a route visible on some platforms that is named, "Waterbury-Cheshire Trolley Line."


3.  About 100 feet north of Notch Road, the trolley route crosses Mountain Brook.


3.  Mountain Brook.


3.  David Reik with Mountain Brook.


4.  A cut through the rock on the trolley path.


5.  The trail along the trolley route left the trolley route and turned northerly.  It kept going northerly from the point where I turned around.

6.  I followed a path off the trolley route over to what was labelled as a railroad route on www.openstreetmap.org.  The name on www.openstreetmap.org is "Meriden Waterbury & Connecticut River Railroad."

Near 4.  I followed the railroad path westerly to Plank Road, and easterly to the end of an embankment that occurred near 4.  On LIDAR, one of the layers you can turn off and on on my interactive map, you can see that, at one time, there were some sort of structures that apparently supported the railroad tracks through a wet area.


Near 4.  Here's a screenshot from the interactive map with the LIDAR layer turned on.  I put in an "A" to show the trolley route, and a "B" where I took the picture above.




7.  Someone had been maintaining the trail on the trolley route.


8.  I followed the trolley route to here, where the trolley route went over a brook and continued easterly towards Mixville Road.


9  To follow the trolley route southerly from here, where the trolley route crosses a brook, I had to use a set of trails that allowed me to get around houses that had been built on the trolley route.


9.

Some links to more information

https://archives.rep-am.com/2014/05/04/tracking-the-mwcr/

http://www.vizettes.com/kt/ct-rr-maps/ct-1893.htm

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fb/Trolley-Trips-Through-New-England.pdf

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XBby_dX8zgc

https://bridgehunter.com/category/railroad/cheshire-street-railway/

David Reik

Comments

  1. enossifiedMay 4, 2025 at 10:27 AM

    What a blast from the past! As a kid, I spent many hours riding my bike along the trolley route in Cheshire, part of which crossed the street I lived on (Robin Lane). From my house, I used to walk to Dodd Jr. High School along the route. The ride from the Notch Road bridge to Plank Road with the stream waterfalls was a favorite of mine. I did a loop starting from my house, down Rte. 70 towards Waterbury, then turned on to Notch Road, which back then still connected to 70. Then up Notch Road to the bridge, drag my bike up the berm and ride through the woods until reaching Plank Road, then ride to Summit Road and descend a long, fast hill to Route 70 at the I-84 interchange, and then back home on 70, much of which was downhill.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

2022-6-30, Compounce Ridge Trail, Bristol, Southington, CT

Image
 On 2022-6-30, I hiked a section of the Tunxis Compounce Ridge Trail, starting at the northern end of the trail.  Except for the road section, I hiked the entire section to the intersection with the Compounce Cascade Trail.  This section of the trail appeared to have been neglected for a few years. I made an interactive map with location numbers showing where the pictures below were taken.  Here's a link to the interactive map:  https://arcg.is/9maXb  .  Here's a static screenshot of the interactive map. 1.  I parked in a commuter parking lot.  This is looking back at the parking lot along the trail through a stand of mugwort. Near 1.  I found a lot of poison ivy at various places along the trail I hiked. Near 1.  I crawled under this blow-down.  2.  A blow-down. 3.  A blow-down. 4.  Overgrown. Near 4.  A blow-down. 5.  Multi-flora rose growing in the trail. Near 5.  A very overgrown section. Near ...
Read more

2022-6-5, Metacomet Trail, East Granby, CT.

Image
On 2022-6-5, I hiked a section of the Metacomet Trail in East Granby, from CT-189 to Holcomb Street. I made an interactive map of my route --- my GPS track is shown in pink.  I put in location numbers to show where the pictures below were taken.  Here is a screenshot of the southern part of the map. Here's a screenshot of the northern part of the map. Here's a link to the interactive map, where you can zoom in and out, and turn on and off various layers. https://arcg.is/1aDPiq 4.  The view of Tariffville Gorge. 6.  I don't think there was ever a structure connected with this chimney. 8.  A large Striped Maple leaf. 9.  Carolina Rose (Rosa carolina), I think.  A wild native rose. 11.  Evidence of some recent mowing of plants in the sunlit power cut. 12.  The first blow-down I came to.  This was about 100 feet south of the cemetery. 12.  The cemetery.  As I recall, the three grave stones are reproductions of the original grave st...
Read more

2021-11-18, Oak Ledges Preserve, Portland, CT

Image
 On 2021-11-18, I visited Oak Ledges Preserve in Portland, CT.  On 2021-11-19, I went back to the area and visited Helen Carlson Wildlife Sanctuary, also in Portland, CT, and a small part of Meshomasic State Forest.  I made an interactive map with location numbers.  Here's a link to the interactive map:  https://arcg.is/b0OHb  .  I'll put in a static screenshot of the interactive map. 1.  I parked in a small pull-off (maybe three cars could fit).  A map created by the Middlesex Land Trust was displayed. 1.  The preserve is owned by the Middlesex Land Trust. 2.  Rocks along the trail which had orange blazes. 3.  I followed the orange trail to the northwest corner of the preserve.  The Middlesex Land Trust map labels this rock a glacial erratic. 3.  I managed to get to the top of the rock. 4.  I explored an interior, unblazed trail.  I think this is one of the three species in the genus Dendrolycopodium found ...
Read more