South Manchester Railroad

[1] The incorporation of the railroad occurred on 30 May 1866,[2] and three years later, the Cheney brothers (known at the time for their success in the silk industry) finished construction.

[3] When finished, the two-mile-long railroad was the only line in the United States to be owned by a family rather than a company.

Some of the workers also used the rail as a way to get to the mills for a low fare, but most lived in houses located on the property.

[5] The train also ran on Sundays taking people to the Catholic church at the north end and the schedule was irregular, depending on the time the priest set for masses.

[8] After a passenger had left the train near the Hilliard street bridge at the North End, he walked off the trestle and fell onto the road beneath.

[6] A musician got once entangled in the double bass, when the coach, in which he and some of his colleagues were riding, derailed, because a wheel had come off the train.

On another occasion, a man flagged the train at Middle Turnpike and asked that Richard O. Cheney should be notified that his bull had escaped from his meadow and was on someone else's property.