The is a
Class III Railroad operating in southwestern
New England . It was chartered in
1983 to operate a short section of ex-
New York, New Haven And Hartford Railroad in northwestern
Connecticut , and has since expanded north and south, as well as west into
New York State .
The was also a company chartered in
1836 and acquired by the New Haven in
1892 . It followed much the same route as the current company, but did not run west into New York.
The was chartered in May
1836 to build a line from
Bridgeport, Connecticut north to the
Massachusetts state line, along the
Housatonic River valley. On
February 19 ,
1840 , regular service began from Bridgeport to
New Milford , and on
December 1 ,
1842 it opened to the state line.
On the other side of the line, the was incorporated
April 13 ,
1837 to continue the line north to
West Stockbridge , where it would connect to the West Stockbridge Railroad (see below) and the never-built
Lee And Hudson Railroad . Construction began in February
1841 , and it was completed on
December 1 ,
1842 , the same day the line in Connecticut opened. The Housatonic Railroad leased the Berkshire Railroad on
January 1 ,
1843 .
The was chartered in
1831 and incorporated
April 5 ,
1836 to run from
West Stockbridge west to
State Line , where it would continue to the
Hudson River in
New York State as the
Hudson And Berkshire Railroad . The line opened on
August 10 ,
1838 . On
February 6 ,
1844 the Berkshire Railroad (then leased to the Housatonic) leased the West Stockbridge and
Hudson And Berkshire Railroad s. On
November 21 ,
1854 the
Western Railroad bought the Hudson and Berkshire, which became a branch from the Western's line (later the
Boston And Albany Railroad ) from
Chatham to
Hudson , and was abandoned east of Hudson. The West Stockbridge Railroad stayed part of the Housatonic system.
The final section of main line was incorporated
March 20 ,
1847 as the . This line split from the original main line at
Van Deusenville in
Great Barrington and ran east and north to
Pittsfield . The full line opened on
January 1 ,
1850 under operation of the Housatonic, and was formally leased
January 25 .
For a time the Housatonic operated the
Pittsfield And North Adams Railroad , running north from the
Western Railroad east of Pittsfield to
North Adams , but it was returned to the
Boston And Albany Railroad , the successor to the Western, in the early
1870s .
The
Danbury And Norwalk Railroad opened in
1852 from
Danbury south to
Norwalk . The
New York, Housatonic And Northern Railroad was chartered in
1863 to run from
White Plains, New York northeast via Danbury to
Brookfield, Connecticut on the Housatonic. It was only built north of Danbury, and on
May 1 ,
1874 the Housatonic leased and opened it. On
May 6 ,
1881 the Housatonic outright bought it, and on
July 27 ,
1887 the Housatonic leased the Danbury and Norwalk, by then including branches to
Ridgefield and
Hawleyville (the latter on the Housatonic's main line) and a southern extension to
Wilson Point .
In the meantime, the
New Haven And Derby Railroad was chartered in
1864 to run from
New Haven west to
Derby, Connecticut and north to
Ansonia , planned as part of the route over the never-built
Hudson Highland Suspension Bridge . It opened in
1871 . On
November 14 ,
1888 a 3.79-mile (6.10 km) extension from
Derby Junction to a point in
Shelton was opened. The rest of the extension, 9.79 mi (15.76 km) from that point to the Housatonic Railroad at
Botsford , was built by the Housatonic and opened on
November 28 . On
July 9 ,
1889 the Housatonic leased the New Haven and Derby.
On
July 1 ,
1892 the
New York, New Haven And Hartford Railroad leased the Housatonic, forming the .
By the end of the New Haven's life, the Housatonic's original main line had been abandoned south of
Botsford , where the old New Haven branch ran only east to
Derby . The main line was also gone between
Brookfield and
Hawleyville , with traffic using the branch to Danbury and old
New York And New England Railroad . The Danbury and Norwalk was still in use, but most branches, including the original main line to
State Line, Massachusetts , were gone.
On
January 1 ,
1969 the New Haven was merged into
Penn Central , which named the lines as follows:
The last passenger train ran over the route on
April 30 ,
1971 , the day before
Amtrak took over Penn Central's passenger operations. By
1974 the middle section was abandoned, between
Boardman Bridge in
New Milford and
Canaan, Connecticut , and was not made part of
Conrail on
April 1 ,
1976 , instead being bought by the
State Of Connecticut . In
1982 the
Boston And Maine Railroad bought the line north of Canaan, renaming it the . Conrail continued to operate the line south of New Milford, and the old
Danbury And Norwalk Railroad was conveyed to the
Metro-North Commuter Railroad on January 1, 1983, becoming their
Danbury Branch .
A new was chartered in
1983 by
John Hanlon, Jr. to lease 34 miles of the former line, from
Boardman Bridge in
New Milford north to
Canaan, Connecticut , from the
State Of Connecticut .
Excursion Train s began operating between Canaan and just south of
Cornwall Bridge (at Belsprings Siding) in November
1984 . The rest of the line, south into New Milford, was made serviceable in
1989 , giving the company two connections - the
Boston And Maine Railroad (
Guilford Rail System ) in Canaan and
Conrail in New Milford. In April the Housatonic began to serve
Becton, Dickinson And Company , a
Plastics plant in Canaan, but almost immediately the line was severed at
Falls Village by a
Washout , not repaired until 14 months later.
The was
Incorporated In Delaware on
January 2 ,
1991 as a
Holding Company for the railroad's properties, including the newly-formed '''Danbury Terminal Railroad''' (an operating company) and '''Maybrook Properties''' (a land-owning company). That month the Housatonic bought the connecting Guilford trackage (Canaan Running Track) north to
Pittsfield, Massachusetts , where it obtained another interchange with
Conrail .
In December
1992 the Danbury Terminal Railroad acquired trackage and rights belonging to
Conrail in southwestern Connecticut and southeastern New York. Maybrook Properties bought the former New Haven line (then the
Danbury Secondary Track ) from
Beacon, New York (MP 0.0) east to
Hopewell Junction (MP 12.8) (former
Newburg, Dutchess And Connecticut Railroad ), Hopewell Junction (MP 42.9) east to
Derby, Connecticut (MP 104.8) (former
Hartford, Providence And Fishkill Railroad , Housatonic Railroad and branch to Derby). The Danbury Terminal operated this Maybrook Properties-owned trackage. The Danbury Terminal also obtained Conrail's former
Trackage Rights to serve freight on the
Metro-North Commuter Railroad 's
Harlem Line from
White Plains (MP 22.0) to
Dover Plains (MP 76.6), and north to
Wassaic (MP 81.6) over trackage still owned by the
New York And Harlem Railroad and leased to Conrail, crossing the east-west line at
Dykemans . Finally, it obtained
Overhead Trackage Rights over Metro-North's
Waterbury Branch from the east end of this line at Derby (MP 8.9) south to
Devon, Connecticut (MP 0.0) (operated for freight by the
Providence And Worcester Railroad ). The Housatonic also acquired the final part of the main line, from New Milford south to the east-west line at
Berkshire Junction near
Danbury . With this acquisition, the Housatonic gained a much expanded system and several new customers. These new acquisitions were first operated
January 2 ,
1993 .
On
December 31 ,
1996 the Danbury Terminal Railroad was merged into the Housatonic Railroad.
