Railroad Forums 

Discussion relating to the operations of MTA MetroNorth Railroad including west of Hudson operations and discussion of CtDOT sponsored rail operations such as Shore Line East and the Springfield to New Haven Hartford Line

Moderators: GirlOnTheTrain, nomis, FL9AC, Jeff Smith

 #213102  by vector_one75
 
Sorry if I should know, but living far away across the world, can someone tell me exactly what and where the "Beacon Line" is. I would have figured it's a line norteastward from Beacon to a junction where the Maybrook Line over the Poughkeepsie Bridge went northwestward from that junction. It is my understanding that the Poughkeepsie-to-this junction point has been out for a number of years and this is confusing me with references of the "Beacon Line" as being the "line to Maybrook" in these posts. It is my understanding that from that junction point is (or now maybe was?) a line gotten from the Penn Central by the Housatonic Railroad through Brewster to Danbury. Yet it seems these posts say that this line to Danbury is being "Trail'd". Does any part of this route still operate by Housatonic Railroad, and how far up to Poughkeepsie is any active rail by whomever and who. Is it still possible for some active railroad use from the Beacon-Junction (to Poukeepsie-Brewster route) - Brewster - Danbury - Derby - New Haven route?

Sincerely,

Vytautas B. Radzivanas
Perth, Western Australia

 #213120  by DutchRailnut
 
The Beacon line runs from Beacon to Hopewell jct, tru west Holmes , west Pawling , Brewster to Stateline.
From stateline its still called the Maybrook line by HHRC, it runs tru Danbury, Brookfield, Hawleyville, Newtown, botsford, Stephenson, to Derby Jct.
only the maybrook line of HHRC still has freight customers. the beacon line part is just a active banked single track.
One of bridges in Brewster is currently out of service.

 #213286  by Noel Weaver
 
I do not think a trail or bicycle path along the Beacon Line is a good idea.
Once something like that goes in, it generally seems to intrude on the
railroad line even though the railroad line is mostly inactive.
I wonder what the problem is with the bridge in Brewster? If it would not
be too costly, maybe it will get repaired.
As for the crossings, the protection was disabled when Conrail stopped
operating the Selkirk - Danbury job this way and the track was sold at
first to the Housatonic Railroad. They did not want to employ a signal
maintainer on a full time basis for a railroad line that was basically idle.
One more thing, yes the former Maybrook Line was once double track but
the second track came out in the late 50's. The Beacon Branch between
Hopewell Junction and Beacon was always a single track line with only
local freight operations until Penn Central took over the New Haven and
established through freight trains over the route.
Noel Weaver

 #213352  by Terminal Proceed
 
I doubt the bridge will be repaired any time soon - last i heard wsa estimate was >$ 1 million for repairs.
 #213429  by MTASUPT
 
The "original" name is the Beacon Secondary between CP58 and Hopewell Junction. (12.6 Miles) From Hopewell Junction to Derby it was the Maybrook Branch all controlled by New Haven. When NY bought the section between State line and CP58 it was named the Beacon Line. As far as the trails go, the current arrangement that was made at CP58 was a gate across the Beacon to deter access to the mainline. The reason for the dirt/ballast covering about 1/4 mile up the hill is the agreement made for the FD if they needed to access they needed the width of the trucks...

As for the siding, I am trying to remember when Conrail use to service it with PO10, I want to say something along the lines of salt cars...
 #213500  by Kurt
 
While driving on Rt 311 in Patterson, NY I noticed a fence along the Beacon line. I saw it where the line passes over RT311. I stopped and took a quick look. The fence runs straight down the middle of the ROW keeping the track on one side, and the empty track bed on the other. The fence does not go across the bridge, but does prevent people from going onto the bridge. I do not know how far the fencing goes, I didn't want to get in any trouble for tresspassing.

 #213712  by pnaw10
 
vector_one75 wrote:Sorry if I should know, but living far away across the world, can someone tell me exactly what and where the "Beacon Line" is.
This page sums it up nicely:

http://www.piercehaviland.com/rail/beacon.html

 #213788  by shlustig
 
MTA Supt is correct in that the PO-10 used to service the salt distributor at Beacon. The cars were unloaded on the river side from a track which was off the Beacon Branch / Secondary, trailing point eastbound.

The other big consignee at Beacon used to be the Biscuit (on the land side), but that closed many years earlier.

 #214279  by Maybrook fan
 
Yes there is going to be a rail with trail on the Maybrook line. Its a Putnam County deal of some sort. The fence starts at Holmes Road (closest crossing to County line) in Dutchess County and runs south/east along the rail bed . The only other Dutchess County involvement is The Town Of Pawling has agreed to let trail users park in the Old Firehouse parking lot. There is a sign and monument erected, that states it is "The Maybrook Trail Head". A path leads from there down to the tracks.

As I "Understand it" this is the 1st section to be built. It will run to somewhere down in Towners or Dykemans. Then they want to do a section from the State line to somewhere in Brewster. And then the third section will tie the 1st two together. And I have also heard that when all is done there will be a connector of somesort to the Put Division's trail.

 #217848  by District D RTC
 
Yes, the train is true, exactly as described by Maybrook fan. I can't seem to find the link to it now but one of the NYS Cycling organizations (Similar to Transportation Alternatives) has the entire story on their website. The construction on Phase 1 was 35% the last time I checked which was back in September.

Don't get me wrong, I am not advocating for it, I'm just stating the fact.

--JSW

 #218099  by Penn Central
 
DutchRailnut wrote: One of bridges in Brewster is currently out of service.
The bridge is back in service. The line is kept out of service by the track department with a Form M, not a Bulletin Order. The reason this is done is because they have to inspect the track before any train movements. As everyone knows, train movements are rare on the Beacon Line and Metro-North must consider if it is worth the cost of maintaining the track for 25/10. It could be downgraded to a lower class (either restricted speed or excepted track) but the cost to bring the standard back up would be high. Right now, there is very little return on investment with the Beacon Line.

 #290827  by L'mont
 
Interesting, anyone else have any input on the likelyhood of this every becoming a reality?

 #290844  by Clean Cab
 
I doubt if the Maybrook or as MN calls it the Beacon Line will see any kind of service in the near and distant future. I once spoke to then MN President Don Nelson and he told me that MN purchased the line to keep it from being ripped up. But he expressed no real plans for anything other than a few freight trains and special trains, but no regular service of either passenger or frieght. These days, more motor bikes traverse the line than trains do.

 #290896  by Rockingham Racer
 
If MN didn't hold out some remote possibility of using the line, why would they bother to spend money on it in the first place? I would imagine they could've spent that money elsewhere, although I've got no idea how much they paid for it. Is there, in fact, a connection at Brewster, between the two lines?
  • 1
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • 6
  • 7
  • 46