Entry to Railroad History Pages

Click on images for larger Map. At present the images are reduced in size resulting in lack of detail....

The above image is the New York, New Haven, and Hartford Railroad showing the system when at its 'peak'.

The above image is the Central New England Railroad showing the system when at its 'peak'. It was later absorbed into the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad.

This section is in constant update....

NorthWest Connecticut had several railroad lines. Only the line from Danbury area to Massachusetts (north-south) and Waterbury to Torrington (north-south) still exist. The latter gets no traffic. Old Railroad 'rights of way' can be very interesting places to explore and hike. One must have a concern for 'trespassing' but some sections might be open for a hike.

One of many peoples favorite lines was the Central New England Railroad as most prefer to still call it. Most was abandoned around 1930 and tracks were sold as scrap to Japan in the mid-30's.

There was also a line to New Hartford.

There was also a line to Watertown.

There was the Shepaug Railroad from Danbury area to Litchfield which gave up the ghost approx. late 1940's.

CLICK HERE FOR PAGE RELATING TO THE SHEPAUG RAILROAD

There was the New York and New England Railroad that skirted Litchfield County.

There was the Lee and New Haven Railroad but this is a BIG unknown. Projected from Lee, Massachusetts to New Hartford, Connecticut area. It is said 'some sections' were graded but tracks never laid. One might still catch sections of the old ROW in the woods along where the line went.

click for larger image...remember NO DRINKING !!!!!

Two old photo's of the station at Taconic, Ct. The one to the right if one looks close shows the tracks to the right that was the Chapinville Branch that went north from the Taconic Station. It is doubtful any photo of this Railroad line exists. Its main purpose was to service the Iron Furnace at Chapinville. Many railroad branches existed to serve industry but the Chapinville line was LONG ENOUGH to be classified as more than just an 'industrial spur'. TRIVIA: The Taconic Station was prior called 'Chapinville' was was not located on the 'Chapinville Branch'.

The last image is the Ore Hill station prior to abandonment of the line. At one time Ore Hill was center of a massive 'Iron Furnace' industry. The prior image is the Twin Lakes station.

An obscure Passenger Train in history would have been the 'Mountain Express'. Boston to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Routed via 'less popular railroads' and via mostly rural areas it must have been a unique unusual? trip ? It even traveled on the Boston and Maine Railroad on one of their 'obscure' routes. (commonly known as Central Massachusetts Railroad)

An update to above comments: That was the "Harrisburg Day Express". It ran for a few years in the 1890s. Route in Mass. was the Central Mass., or more accurately the B&M Southern Division at the time, Boston to Northampton, then over the New Haven Canal Line through Westfield and to the CNE main line in CT. There was some joint control over some of the participating railroads; the Reading was involved somehow. It was one of many Poughkeepsie Bridge services offered in and out of New England.

CREDITS: We give credit to any source IF KNOWN. We have taken photocopies for decades and source is often lost. I 'batch' copyright images, etc. to make it more difficult for somebody to 'wholesale' use a whole website (download) without at least a little work....