Railroad Museum of New England facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Railroad Museum of New England
Terminus	Thomaston, Connecticut
Commercial operations
Built by	Naugatuck Railroad
Original gauge	4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Preserved operations
Owned by	RMNE
Operated by	Naugatuck Railroad
Reporting mark	NAUG
Length	4.6 mi (7.4 km)
Preserved gauge	4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Commercial history
Opened	1849
Preservation history
Headquarters	Thomaston, Connecticut
Website
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The Railroad Museum of New England is a cool place in Thomaston, Connecticut, where you can learn all about trains! It's also known as RMNE. The museum runs fun train rides and even freight trains on a special track between Waterville and Torrington.

The museum got its current name in 1987. Before that, it was called the Connecticut Valley Railroad Museum, which started in the mid-1960s. RMNE has one of the biggest collections of old, historic trains in New England. They've been working to save and share railroad history since the 1960s!

History of the Museum

How It Started

The Connecticut Valley Railroad Museum (CVRM) and an earlier group called the Connecticut Valley Railroad Association (CVRA) were busy in the late 1960s. They organized exciting steam train trips all over Connecticut. These groups were super important in helping to open the Valley Railroad in Essex, Connecticut in 1971.

The volunteers from CVRA, a non-profit group, teamed up with the Valley Railroad. This partnership gave their growing collection of old trains a permanent home. In return, the volunteers helped keep the Valley Railroad's trains running and in good shape.

Through the 1980s, the museum added more trains to its collection. They fixed them up and sometimes even ran them on the Valley Railroad. By the end of the 1980s, it became clear that the CVRA needed its own place. This would allow them to keep saving old trains and grow their collection even more.

Finding a New Home

The volunteers really wanted to stay in Connecticut. It was a good central spot for most of their active members. In 1993, a big railroad company called Conrail sold off its local train operations. This left an old train yard in Danbury, Connecticut empty. This yard had a turntable (a spinning platform for turning trains around) and a spot where a roundhouse (a building for storing and fixing trains) used to be. It also had active train tracks and regular passenger service.

However, the museum decided not to move there. They couldn't be sure they would be able to run regular train trips, which they felt was super important for the museum to survive. Instead, the Danbury Railway Museum started there in 1994.

Another place they thought about was an old train yard in Willimantic, Connecticut. This spot had lots of room, but almost nothing was left of the original train buildings. While active train tracks ran nearby, the museum couldn't get permission to run their own trips there. So, the Connecticut Eastern Railroad Museum was started at that location in 1995.

The Naugatuck Railroad Rides Again

The Thomaston train station in 2020

In early 1995, the Railroad Museum of New England got an amazing chance! They were offered the opportunity to use an old train line from Waterbury to Torrington. This line was owned by the Connecticut Department of Transportation (CDOT).

In June 1995, RMNE created a "new" Naugatuck Railroad Company. This was exactly 150 years after the original Naugatuck Railroad started in 1845! They worked with CDOT to get the new railroad ready for train rides in 1996.

All their hard work paid off in September 1996. The new Naugatuck Railroad began running fun, scenic train trips. These trips covered about 19.6 miles of the old Naugatuck Railroad tracks, which first opened way back in September 1849.

The museum's main office is at the historic Thomaston station. This station was built in 1881 and was last used by passengers in 1958. It was left empty for many years and was even set on fire by vandals in 1993. The museum took ownership of the station in 1996. With help from a local bank, they replaced the roof in 1997. Since then, volunteers have been working hard to fix up and restore the building to how it looked in the mid-1900s.

You can take tourist train rides several days a week from May to December. These trips start from the Thomaston Station. The ride lasts about 75 minutes and covers about 18 miles between Thomaston Dam and Waterville. Sometimes, special short trips run to East Litchfield and Torrington.

The museum also runs special event trains during the fall and winter months.

RMNE has a huge collection of over 60 full-sized trains and train cars. Many of these trains have a history from New England railroads. You can see equipment from famous lines like the New Haven, Boston & Maine, and Maine Central. They also have smaller items, like old signals and railroad records.

Volunteers are the heart of the museum! They operate the trains and keep the locomotives (engines) and other rolling stock (train cars) in great shape.

Train Collection

The Railroad Museum of New England has a large collection of different types of trains. Here are some of the cool ones you might see:

Steam Locomotives

Steam locomotives are old-fashioned trains that run on steam power.

NAUG #	Image	Style	Built	Builder	Status	Notes
103		2-6-2	1925	Baldwin	Being restored	This locomotive was acquired in 1987. In 2023, the museum announced plans to get it running again!
1246		4-6-2	1946	Montreal Locomotive Works	Stored	This train used to belong to a museum called Steamtown.

Diesel Locomotives

Diesel locomotives are more modern trains that use diesel engines.

Passenger Cars Used on Excursions

These are the cars you might ride in when you take a trip on the Naugatuck Railroad!

Two pieces of former Boston and Maine Railroad equipment – caboose C-472 and locomotive 1109 – at Thomaston in 2020