Danbury Railway Museum
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Established | 1994 |
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Location | 120 White Street, Danbury, Connecticut |
Coordinates | 41°23′52″N 73°27′02″W / 41.397842°N 73.450461°W |
Type | Railroad History |
Public transit access | Danbury HARTransit: 2, 7, 8 |
Website | danburyrail |
Union Station | |
Coordinates | 41°23′52″N 73°27′02″W / 41.39784075086171°N 73.4504619225587°W |
Area | 1.3 acres (5,300 m2) |
Built | 1902 |
Architect | A. Malkin |
Architectural style | Romanesque Revival[1] |
NRHP reference No. | 86002750 |
Added to NRHP | September 25, 1986 |
New Haven Railroad Danbury Turntable | |
Coordinates | 41°23′49.9″N 73°26′46.6″W / 41.397194°N 73.446278°W |
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Area | 3 acres (12,000 m2) |
Built | 1916 |
Architect | Nichols, Geo. P. & Bro.; American Bridge Co. |
Architectural style | Center-bearing deck girder |
NRHP reference No. | 05001048 |
Added to NRHP | September 15, 2005 |
The Danbury Railway Museum (
The station was built in 1903 by the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad in response to local pressure for a new station after the three railroads that served the city were merged into the New Haven. At the station's peak, 125 trains stopped there in a day. By 1993, that had dwindled to a few commuter trains, and the Connecticut Department of Transportation, which by then owned the neglected building, closed it in favor of a newer station on the other side of the block. Within two years the museum was formed and restored the station to its former appearance.
It is architecturally distinctive, with
Site
The museum itself is located on a 1.3-acre (0.53 ha) lot at the southeast corner of White Street and Patriot Drive, just across from
Building
The station building is a one-story L-shaped structure of
Windows vary in size and shape. Those on the east are high and small, whereas tall windows that give the impression of sidelights are along the southwest, next to the tracks. These are hints of the Colonial Revival style that was emerging at the time of the station's construction.[1]
Inside, the museum's exhibits and displays occupy the 74-by-40-foot (23 by 12 m) southern half of the building, its former waiting room. In the northern half, is the museum's gift shop and restrooms. The original ticket window and the
The facility comprises a railroad yard full of restored and unrestored railroad equipment, and the restored station house containing exhibits of photographs and railroad paraphernalia, model train layouts, an extensive reference library, and a gift shop. The station is "significant in the history of Danbury" and also as a "good example" of a turn-of-the-twentieth-century railway station building. Its architectural style of the hip-roofed station is eclectic, with exterior
Yard
Visitors can ride the "Rail Yard Local" on weekends in the summer season. The ride takes about 30–35 minutes and includes a unique ride by the passengers on the museum's operating
Some of the rolling stock in the yard, including its 1907-built 2-6-0 steam locomotive (B&M #1455[6]), two cabooses, a Budd Company self-propelled rail diesel car, and a Sperry track inspection car, are open to the visitors. The museum is an all-volunteer operation and welcomes anyone who would like to participate in any of the many facets of its operations – including operating its locomotives and self-propelled cars.
History
By the 1880s, the three railroads that served the city — the Danbury and Norwalk, Housatonic and New York and New England — had built small, separate stations for their lines in the vicinity of the current building. Later in that decade, economic difficulties led to them all becoming part of the New York, New Haven and Hartford, leading it to be known locally as the Consolidated Road. Citizens began asking the new owner to consolidate its three stations into one as early as 1894, two years after the last merger.[1]
In 1901, the Consolidated realigned the tracks and built the new station where the New York & New England's passenger depot had been. A. Malkin's design combined a basic Richardsonian Romanesque structure with some Colonial Revival details, like the small panes in the windows. It was said to be the largest station on the New Haven's New York Division.[1]
In its peak years, early in the 20th century, extant timetables suggest the station saw as many as 125 trains a day. Much of that passenger traffic was related to the city's large hatmaking industry, with workers migrating to and from jobs, and business travelers selling to or buying from the hatmakers. It was acknowledged with a neon sign on a nearby coal shed showing a
After
Metro-North closed the station, the northern terminus of the
The museum soon grew to a hundred members, and the first
The turntable was restored in 1998. Since 2005 it has been a regular stop on the Railyard Local. Today the museum has 550 members and 60 pieces of equipment.[7]
See also
- List of heritage railroads in the United States
- List of railway museums
- National Register of Historic Places listings in Fairfield County, Connecticut
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j William E. Devlin and John Herzan (January 22, 1986). "National Register of Historic Places Registration: Union Station / Danbury Passenger Station". National Park Service. and Accompanying photos, exterior and interior, one from 1918 and fifteen from 1985 and 1986
- , accessed September 2009
- ^ "NRIS Search by location". Archived from the original on 2008-09-23. Retrieved 2008-05-17.
- ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
- ^ Bruce Clouette (March 14, 2005). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination: New Haven Railroad Danbury Turntable / Danbury Railway Museum Turntable". National Park Service. and Accompanying 10 photos, from 1985 (see photo captions page 17 of text document)
- ^ "Danbury Railway Day". The Railyard Local. 6 (9). Danbury Railway Museum. September 2007.
- ^ a b c "DRM History". Danbury Railway Museum. Archived from the original on July 5, 2010. Retrieved August 5, 2010.