In the 19th century, three active rail lines passed through Willimantic: the Central Vermont Railway in 1849, running from New London in the south northward to Vermont, the Hartford, Providence and Fishkill Railroad (later purchased by the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad) in 1849, running east-to-west, and finally a line of the New York and New England Railroad, running from Boston in the northeast towards New York via Middletown and New Haven in the southwest, in 1872, which also was acquired by the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad. Willimantic was one of only a handful of stops between Boston and New York on the high-speed "White Train" of the 1890s. At its peak, the passenger rail system ran forty trains a day through Willimantic. The NH operated the Nutmeg and several unnamed local trains on an east-west route from Waterbury, through Hartford and Willimantic, and on east to Boston. These rail services ended in 1955 after a bridge was flooded out by Hurricane Diane.