Wallingford (Amtrak Station) - History

History

The depot at Wallingford was built in 1871 by the Hartford & New Haven Railroad on the Springfield Line, and was built in a French Second Empire style similar to that of Windsor Station. The Wallingford depot is a symmetrical two story brick building divided into three components to originally include a central waiting room flanked by projecting pavilions at the north and south ends. The pavilions' corners are emphasized by large, dark colored stone quoins; for continuity of color and material palette, the stone is also used in the lintels and sills. A canopy supported by metal brackets runs around the entire structure, thereby protecting passengers from inclement weather while they wait for the arrival of the train. Curvilinear dormers punctuate the mansard roof at regular intervals. Visually, their weight is borne by pairs of fancy scrolled brackets positioned under the roof’s overhang.

The interior of the building closed as a station in 1994 and is now used for adult education and the New Haven Model Railroad Club but trains still stop there today. The line through Wallingford was doubled tracked until 1990 when the second track was removed. Today there are 15 passenger trains a day in addition to daily round-trip freight on the Springfield Line during the daytime. Wallingford Station has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1993. There are currently plans by Amtrak and the Connecticut Department of Transportation to add a new service called the New Haven-Hartford-Springfield Commuter Rail Line. ConnDOT has stated that the station building will be returned to active service or a new station built half a mile north on Parker Street to accommodate the increased number of passengers.