New Canaan Branch Discussion

What do you all think of extending some of the Stamford locals weekdays off peak and weekends to New Canaan and giving the New Canaan branch direct service to Manhattan(and other places south) 7 days a week?

Pros: More direct service to/from Manhattan, one train is used instead of two, one seat ride
Cons: All local service off peak

The New Haven Line has a shortage of equipment as it is and in off peak
hours a two or three car train is usually enough on the New Canaan
Branch but many more cars are needed between Stamford and New York
where there is extremely heavy ridership. Another reason that this would
not work very well is because a good number of the locals to Stamford go
into the yard for servicing. Often the toilets are dumped among other
things so for that, this would not work out. I think there are one or two
locals that do operate to or from the New Canaan Branch so it certainally
has been thought of.
In addition, I think most of the people on the Branch would prefer a
express to or from Stamford even if it means a change at that point.
Noel Weaver

Noel Weaver wrote:The New Haven Line has a shortage of equipment as it is and in off peak
hours a two or three car train is usually enough on the New Canaan
Branch but many more cars are needed between Stamford and New York
where there is extremely heavy ridership. Another reason that this would
not work very well is because a good number of the locals to Stamford go
into the yard for servicing. Often the toilets are dumped among other
things so for that, this would not work out. I think there are one or two
locals that do operate to or from the New Canaan Branch so it certainally
has been thought of.
In addition, I think most of the people on the Branch would prefer a
express to or from Stamford even if it means a change at that point.
Noel Weaver

You are right Noel. Plus, the New Canaan dink connects with the Express and Local at Stamford on an hourly basis. The AM trains that run through to New Canaan going west is 1707, 1711, 1723, 1731, 1735 and 1741. Going the other way, you have 1710, which is a local to Stamford and New Canaan and then you have 1712, which starts out of New York as a deadhead and connects with 1512 at Stamford and goes on as 1712 to New Canaan.

I'm pretty sure that the reverse-peak through trains to/from New Canaan serve the purpose of providing equipment moreso than they provide the purpose of giving riders a one seat ride. I know that the NC shuttle that turned into the 5:30PM local to GCT happens at a point where Stamford yard is 100% empty. Likewise the 7:10AM local to New Canaan provides the dink equipment....I know from personal experience of commuting to Stamford on the 7:29AM express train (which also, at least from what I've seen, as I've taken practically EVERY reverse peak train at some point, is the busiest non-peak New Haven line train of the day) that everybody going to New Canaan just takes this train and makes the across the platform transfer to the local at Stamford, as it is held for this connection.

When did the stop sign at the end of the New Cannan branch dissapear? I recall it seeing in The Ice Storm and it was there until at least 2002-03. By 2006, it had vanished.

The Highway Department wanted it back, it was put there as gag by a crew member after a train in snow went thru bumping block.

There have been several instances of the bumping block being knocked over in snow storms. You don't realize until its too late what a steep downhill grade the tracks are as you approach the east end of the platform. By then, you've got less than half a car legnth to stop the train. Even though you're only doing 10 MPH, it is quite difficult.

This is off the wire, it happened an hour ago. D/

"CT--Train Accident,0082
Commuter train strikes truck on New Canaan rail line
Eds: NewsNow.
NEW CANAAN, Conn. (AP) -- A Metro-North train has struck a truck at a crossing, shutting down the commuter railroad's New Canaan branch.
Metro-North spokesman Dan Brucker says the collision occurred at 9:11 a.m. Monday at the Crescent Street crossing in New Canaan........"

AP-ES-12-31-07 1000EST

and according to my mom, a train smacked a grade crossing gate in Glenbrook at about 9 this morning.

She said there seemed to be something wrong with the gate, as it didn't start to come down until the bell had been ringing for a while, and then came down cockeyed. Very strange - maybe it had been damaged before?

Sorry, no pics.

Train #6710 struck a van that tried to drive around the gates at Cresent Street. No injuries were reported and damage to both the train and van were not too bad.

Yesterdy (8/4) New Canaan to Stamford train #1751 struck a car at Riverbend South Drive in springdale. This is the only crossing on the NC branch without crossing gates. No injuries were reported and damage to the train was minor. Service was disrupted for about two hours and busses were used for a couple of trips. Although this crossing is a private road that leads to a college I still wonder why any crossing these days isn't required to have gates? There is the endless arguing about who will pay for them and private VS public roads and the issue of travel density. If there were gates at this crossing, this incident would most likely not have happened. Think of all the money spent of busses and all the inconvenience to the passengers. Spending the money to improve safety at a crossing is a better investment than settling lawsuits and having to pay bus companies.

Stamford Advocate

Metro North Railroad will use buses Monday and Tuesday on the New Canaan branch during off peak hours to allow workers to clear four diseased trees at risk of falling onto catenary wires.
The buses will replace trains from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. and run on the ordinary timetable, according to the railroad.

I went to New Canaan last week. I had a good time although the layover at New Canaan was short (less than 15 minutes). It was a nice ride.

Here's the photos from New Canaan. I took some at GCT as well but that's a little OT.









Enjoy!

New Canaan is one of my favorite stations, since I'm a fan of the film and book The Ice Storm. The end of the line looks different without the stop sign.

Great photos. I like the New Canaan Station. I grew up not to far from there. When they renovated the station they raised it up about four feet and filled in the grade to bring it to platform level. They really did a nice job. Too bad your layover wasnt longer its a nice town to walk around in and shop and grab a bite to eat.