Midway

In 2012, my son, Aidan and I were researching the remains of a historic building associated with the Central Vermont (CV) railroad in New London, Connecticut. I last saw the roundhouse used to store steam locomotives when I lived in the city in the late 80's. The Central Vermont Roundhouse burned down in 2002, just before Aidan was born. Years later he was homeschooled, and part of his history lesson involved what a friend calls "urban exploration."



Central Vermont Rail Yard                           Edward J. Ozog

Searching the site Aidan and I found tracks, railroad spikes, coal, a lot of what we affectionately called "train junk." In the picture above on the left, Aidan is standing in front of a brick structure known as the "flammable paint shed." The right image from 1956 is from the same angle and shows the turntable, steam engine CV467 (2-8-0) and a coal hopper in the distance. The crumbling brick building is the last structure standing at the site. Online searching led us to a gentleman named, John Paganoni, who built an extraordinarily detailed model of the New London CV Roundhouse. We exchanged many emails about railroad history. One day, Mr. Paganoni asked,

"Do you know where the Midway Roundhouse is located? I read in a book that it was near the town of Groton."

Midway Engine House Circa 1911

Groton is mostly known for submarines due to the defense contractor Electric Boat and the Naval Submarine Base. I wasn't aware that there was anything associated with the railroad industry in Groton. I knew of Midway Pizza, a local Italian restaurant. There was also a neighborhood circled by a road called Midway Oval. Electric Boat had a facility called "Midway" in the same area.

Aidan and I dove into an online search which unearthed a lot of information about the Midway rail yard. It was build in 1904 as a refueling stop for steam engines. The location and name was derived from the fact that it was mid way between Boston and New York City. The large facility had a 20 stall roundhouse with a 95 foot turntable, a coal hopper, and sand depot. Sand is still used today for traction on the rails. The facility closed after a decade of decline. The buildings were razed in 1939 after more powerful steam engines made the stop in Midway unnecessary.



Map of Midway

Although we found a lot of information online, we didn't discover any maps that would have helped us locate the facility. Aidan and I visited the public library in Groton to look for any information on railroads in the area. A very helpful person found a 1981 article about the Midway rail yard in the Shoreliner, a magazine about the history of the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad. The article included a hand drawn map from 1935 which yielded only one key geographic feature, a body of water called Poquonnock River.

Aidan and I returned to the internet to orientate our copy of the map to any of the number of available online charts. Before long we determined that the Midway facility was located at Bluff Point State Park. We also discovered that a small land bridge that led to nowhere near the parking lot at the state park was the original railroad bed dating back to 1858. It was rerouted to its present position when the Groton Airport was built in 1929.

Old Rail Bed at Groton Airport

In the image above the land bridge is marked by the left arrow. Midway is located at the lower left, just below Bluff Point State Park. The blue line across the airport is the old railroad bed. The arrow on the right identifies the existing rail line. We discovered an aerial view online which clearly showed the remains of the Midway facility. In the image below the arrow marks the outline of the Midway roundhouse.

Remains of the Midway Roundhouse

My wife, Christine, and I recalled exploring the area years earlier and found many of the features identified on the map. At the time we hadn't a clue what any of the structures were.

Tracks Inside the Roundhouse

Now, my son and I had unearthed an answer for Mr. Paganoni. A few days later we explored the site and discovered rails that were once inside the roundhouse and piles of fine sand dotted with lumps of coal which were destined to power steam engines plying the east coast in the 1920's.



Sand and Coal

In a newspaper article from 1939, we read that when a roundhouse was demolished workers often left tools in the pits, used by mechanics to access the underside of the engines. It was an act of respect as they laid the implements of their trade to rest. Aidan and I spent three summers excavating a pit by hand, hoping to find those tools left so many years ago. We found numerous artifacts including, bottles, boots, bits of newspaper, plates and eating utensils. We got down three feet before the pit flooded. The smallest things that Aidan and I discovered were historically significant to us. One of the interesting things we unearthed was a bottle embossed with the following inscription,

FEDERAL LAW FORBIDS THE SALE OR RE-USE OF THIS BOTTLE

Markings on the bottom of the bottle indicate that it was made by the Brockway Glass Company in 1942 at the plant located in Ada, Oklahoma. After the repeal of Prohibition in 1933, some legislators wanted to hamper bootlegging by making it illegal to reuse empty glass bottles. The inscription appeared on all liquor bottles sold in the United States between 1935 and 1964.

In 2015 Midway was designated a State Archaeological Preserve which halted any further investigation on our part. I'm glad someone is looking into the site for historical significance. Aidan is a senior in high school now so he no longer has time for urban exploration. Occasionally, I visit Midway and wander among the ruins and think of the time when I stumbled upon the site with my wife while we were dating, when I rediscovered it with our boys years later, and when people lived and loved a life long ago working for the railroad.

Editor’s Note: Originally published on February 9, 2017, this post marked the halfway point for the Year of the Blog.