Railroad Forums 

  • Southbury, CT- A bike ride on the Old NY&NE ROW

  • Pertaining to all railroading subjects, past and present, in New England
Pertaining to all railroading subjects, past and present, in New England

Moderators: MEC407, NHN503

 #1390869  by Ridgefielder
 
This is the great-grandaddy of all rail trails. The old NY&NE main line over Towantic Summit became pretty much redundant after the New Haven upgraded the Housatonic Railroad main and a New Haven & Derby branch into the Maybrook Line ca. 1910. The line was abandoned between Southbury and Waterbury in 1939; in 1943 the right-of-way was purchased by a local doctor named Larkin and gifted to the state for use as a bridal path. So far as I know that makes it the first official rail-to-trail conversion anywhere in the US.
Last edited by Ridgefielder on Thu Jun 30, 2016 7:10 pm, edited 1 time in total.
 #1390910  by CVRA7
 
Back around 1975 I talked with a long-retired former agent/operator who recalled working Towantic in the '20s, said his "office" was a telephone pole. He was there to block freights detoured from the Maybrook line due to a wreck - said he had a problem hooping up orders to a triple-headed train to each locomotive plus the caboose but it was going slowly. The operator was Mike Martino.