March Photo Worth A Thousand Words

After all the prior postings about New York and Connecticut, I thought this shot of a true landmark was worthy of note. How many of us have seen it as we battle traffic through Waterbury on I-84? Many of us know it is the clock tower at the Waterbury train station just north of the highway. Some of us may have been fearing for our lives as we dodged the other cars and not had a chance to really look at the tower though it isn't difficult to spot.

After years of passing this large landmark, several of my railfan adventures actually led to leaving the highway to poke around. I never did it alone but having a navigator and some extra security made the detour more likely. This was among the last photos of 12/28/2005 adventures. The McGuiness painted SLE unit and train are to my left. The Wheelman and I chased it up from Ansonia.

Having spent a couple of years in CT as a youth I was familiar with this landmark already. In the late 1960' and very early 1970's this town was bustling with industry, though I suppose it was on the wane. It was the home of Timex; you know, the watch that "takes a licking and keeps on ticking" according to all the TV commercials featuring assorted stunts to test a watch. I grew up believing that clock tower was a Timex clock. Maybe that was part of it's original inspiration. Anyway, as you know, Timex pretty much produces everything overseas now. About all that is left now is a museum called the Timexpo Museum.

Despite the impact of time keeping devices, Waterbury is known locally as "The Brass City" because it's foundries used to produce every conceivable object made of brass. Other products were made in the city too but that's the important one. Foundries still litter the landscape though the surviving buildings often have other uses now. The Wikipedia articles had lots of neat details that were new to me. This also explains the extensive, but now largely idle, rail yards in the area. The depot in the photo is also large because it used to be quite important to local commerce. Now it is a terminus for Metro-North's Waterbury Line. Railfans could find some odd power on this line including FP10's, FL9's and those new Brookville BL20-GH gensets.

Behind the station area, the remainder of the building is the home of Waterbury's local daily newspaper. This is curious to us now because it is (or was, judging by the health of newspapers these days) a customer for rail shipped newsprint. In the photo, but obscured by the big tree, are two MMA box cars, at the time newly painted maroon from the Derby shops. The B&M, now Pan Am took over some old New Haven RR lines in the area from Conrail. They switch the industries of the area. So, you can imagine the long journey (time-wise) that those cars made from Maine or Quebec with their cargo. But that's a whole can of worms I'd rather not go into.

That's enough tangents for this one. "A Thousand Words" comes from the old saying, not my intentions.

BC