Central New England Railway

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This article is about the former railroad company that merged into the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad in 1927. For the current companies, see
standard gauge

The Central New England Railway (

Boston, and was acquired by the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad (the New Haven) in 1904. The New Haven ran the CNE as a separate company until finally merging it in 1927. The vast majority of the system was abandoned by the 1930s and 1940s. Surviving portions of the Central New England Railway are operated by the Central New England Railroad and the Housatonic Railroad
.

History

Hartford west: 1868-1889

The Connecticut Western Railroad was chartered June 25, 1868 to run from

Collinsville
, which would not be completed until December, 1874. The Connecticut Western became bankrupt on April 27, 1880, and on March 31, 1881 it was reorganized as the Hartford & Connecticut Western Railroad.

In the meantime, the

Poughkeepsie & Eastern Railroad
, which junctioned with the Connecticut Western and Dutchess and Columbia at the state line.

On July 1, 1882 the Hartford & Connecticut Western bought the

Poughkeepsie, Hartford & Boston Railroad
, the successor to the Poughkeepsie & Eastern, went bankrupt in the 1880s, and on January 26, 1884 the H&CW outright bought the line east of Boston Corners that it had operated under trackage rights.

Poughkeepsie Bridge: 1871-1899

Over the years, several plans had been made for a

Anthony's Nose to Fort Clinton, now roughly the site of the Bear Mountain Bridge
.

The proposal that was eventually built was the

Campbell Hall, New York. Maybrook/Campbell Hall soon became a major junction point for many railroads transferring cars to the CNE&W. The Delaware & New England Railroad was also formed in 1889 as a holding company to own the CNE&W and Poughkeepsie Bridge Company
.

In April 1890 the CNE&W chartered the

New York & New England Railroad (NY&NE) at the Newburgh, Dutchess and Connecticut Railroad
. The line opened May 8, 1892, giving the NY&NE a route to the bridge.

The

Pennsylvania, Poughkeepsie & Boston Railroad
. The two companies merged on August 1, 1892 to form the Philadelphia, Reading & New England Railroad (PR&NE). RDG proved unable to handle its new acquisitions, and PR&NE defaulted on its interest payments in May 1893. The final reorganization came on January 12, 1899 with the formation of the Central New England Railway (CNE).

Central New England Railway: 1899-1927

Central New England Railway lines in the Upper Hudson Valley, colored by the company that constructed each line
  Rhinebeck and Connecticut Railroad
  Poughkeepsie and Eastern Railroad
  Poughkeepsie and Connecticut Railroad
  Dutchess and Columbia Railroad
  Connecticut Western Railroad
  Hudson Connecting Railroad
  Poughkeepsie Bridge Company
  Dutchess County Railroad
  New York and New England Railroad
  New York Central Railroad (not part of the CNE)

The original Connecticut Western had from the start been interested in building a branch from

Hopewell Junction to Danbury, Connecticut
, would also be transferred to CNE.

In 1910 the Poughkeepsie & Connecticut main line was abandoned in favor of the parallel

Newburgh, Dutchess & Connecticut Railroad (also merged into the CNE in 1907) from Pine Plains southwest to Stissing
, NY. Connections were built at both ends of the abandonment.

By the early 1920s, the New York, New Haven and Hartford had acquired access to the CNE lines. However, the NYNHH made limited use of the opportunity for long-distance east-west integration of the CNE lines with the NYNHH network. Passengers wishing for making east-west trips between the Hudson Valley and eastern Connecticut or Boston would need to take a Campbell Hall - Waterbury - Hartford train, and then transfer to one of the latter two stations to a Waterbury - Hartford - Boston train.[2]

In 1921 the

Pine Plains to Connecticut
.

New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad and successors: 1927-

On January 1, 1927 CNE was finally merged into NH. The New Haven ended all passenger service on the CNE lines that year, with the exception of the segment running from

Poughkeepsie, which ran at least to January, 1932.[3][4]

CNE had the steepest grades of the various east-west routes of the NH; most bridge traffic was routed via the former NY&NE to

Hopewell Junction. In 1932 the former Rhinebeck & Connecticut Railroad was abandoned from Copake (northwest of Boston Corners) southeast to the state line, cutting the CNE in two. The NH had removed CNE tracks from Waterbury west to Southbury in 1937, a critical link in any east-west rail itinerary between the mid-Hudson Valley (Campbell Hall and Poughkeepsie) and eastern Connecticut (Willimantic).[5][failed verification
]

More abandonments came during 1938. The main line was closed from

Canaan
was closed, and in 1965 the line between Lakeville and Canaan was abandoned.

The Hartford & Connecticut Western Railroad was owned by NH through the CNE, but was not merged by the mid-1930s when NH became bankrupt. On December 31, 1937 the H&CW filed a reorganization plan. After a long reorganization, H&CW was merged into the NH on September 18, 1947 (along with the Providence, Warren and Bristol Railroad and Old Colony Railroad); by then all of the H&CW but the easternmost section had been abandoned.

At the time of the 1969 merger of the NH into

Derby. With the May 8, 1974 closure of the Poughkeepsie Bridge, the Maybrook Branch was abandoned west of Hopewell Junction. In 1976 the remaining line became part of Conrail. The Connecticut Department of Transportation later acquired it and in January 1999 the Central New England Railroad began operations on the 8.7 mile (14 km) Griffins Industrial Track. The Housatonic Railroad operates a short segment of the original CNE line in Canaan to serve a limestone quarry east of its mainline and the preserved Canaan Union Depot.[6]

References

  1. ^ Railway Equipment and Publication Company, The Official Railway Equipment Register, June 1917, p. 335
  2. ^ "New York, New Haven and Hartford, Table 21". Official Guide of the Railways. 54 (1). National Railway Publication Company. June 1921.
  3. ^ Karr, Ronald Dale (1995). The Rail Lines of Southern New England. Branch Line Press. p. 117
  4. ^ "New York, New Haven & Hartford RR, Table 72 [dated January 4]". Official Guide of the Railways. 64 (9). National Railway Publication Company. February 1932.
  5. ISBN 9780942147124
    .
  6. OCLC 1038017689
    .

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