Lewis, Thomas R.

Thomas R. Lewis is a resident of Vernon, Connecticut, and an emeritus Professor of Geography at the University of Connecticut . He is the author of Silk Along Steel: the Story of the South Manchester Railroad (Chester, Conn.: Published for Manchester Community College Press by Pequot Press, 1976). The South Manchester Railroad was a short railroad line -- just two miles long -- built in 1869 to serve the silk mills of the Cheney Brothers Silk Manufacturing Company in Manchester, Connecticut . The line carried freight for the company as well as passengers, from the start of service in 1869 until the line was sold by the Cheneys to the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad in 1933. Passenger service ended that year and freight service ended in 1981 on what was then known as the South Manchester branch. The Cheney Brothers Silk Manufacturing Company was in business from 1838 to 1955. At its peak in the 1920s it was one of the dominant silk manufacturers in the United States .