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I grew up in Watertown, Connecticut and remember in my earlier days watching trains run up thru town along the old Naugatuck Valley Line that ran north next to the Naugatuck River. The last train to come thru town was on February 7th, 1974. I was 7 yrs old and remember it like it was yesterday. It was a local freight pulled by Penn Central #9354 (I found out detail info later in life when I began researching the road). It was a cold snowy day and we had the day off from school due to the snow. Me and a few friends were sled riding near one of the 3 tressles in town and I remember seeing the snow flying off the tracks as the engine plowed its way through. I still to this day remember the engineer waving to us, he was an older man with a full beard, kinda looked like Santa Claus. Later that year, they ripped out the 3 tressles. A bunch of years after, when I was in my teens, I was into chasing the local fire department to calls and taking pictures before I was old enough to join. One night, they got a call for a structure fire in the old train depot in town. I remember standing there, watching the building burn to the ground. The building was standing on property that was bought by a local contractor to build a strip mall on. The story about the fire that was circulating at the time was that the contractor could not tear down the old depot because it was a registered historic landmark. He had repeatedly tried to get the building condemmed for demolition but was stpped by the local historic society. Very mysteriously one night, the depot building, which was in poor shape to begin with, caught fire, along with another old building almost 75 feet away on the property that was a feed and grain store (also protected as a historic landmark). Rumor had it that the contractor figured if he couldn't tear them down, then he'sd burn em. Supposedly, he hired a few local punks to do the deed (this info is from actual fire dept. records) but it was never proven, and to this day, no arrests were made, but the strip mall was built. I am currently building an HO scale layout of the old line that went through Watertown. Much of the land along the old tracks hasn't changed much in 30 yrs, and what isn't there anymore is pretty much in my head from memories of walking the tracks as a kid and watching the old trains coming in and out of the depot. I do have a few old pics of the depot and the last train if anyone wants to see them. Thinking back now about that rail line and the old depot and grain store saddens me to know that my children will never get to see them, all because of something called "progress".
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