Beacon Line Maintenance / Current Status / Background

Not realy, at time of study the ridership was just not there, when IBM and others had the big layoffs there were just not enough commuters left at the time.
As for crossing statements and as per Noel's statement you will probably never see freight trains on Maybrook again but if passenger trains were to operate the time for the gates to be down would be under 2 minutes hardly enough to cause a back up, most traffic light cycles take longer.

DutchRailnut wrote:Not realy, at time of study the ridership was just not there, when IBM and others had the big layoffs there were just not enough commuters left at the time.
As for crossing statements and as per Noel's statement you will probably never see freight trains on Maybrook again but if passenger trains were to operate the time for the gates to be down would be under 2 minutes hardly enough to cause a back up, most traffic light cycles take longer.

If the Maybook were to be reopened for Passenger trains only you would still have people complaining but you wouldn't have traffic come to a halt for ~20 minutes at a time (as you would with a 15 MPH 100 car freight train).

DutchRailnut wrote: Nowhere in USA has any rails for trails ever been reversed back to railroad,

Well! That's a broad assertion. I haven't been able to find any examples other than some politician asserting that there have been some reconversions. However, give it time.

Anyway, I think that the reason they bought it was simply the given reason: to preserve it as a right of way. Leaving the tracks down is a great way to make sure that the potential for traffic remains.

That news item which started this thread is another one of those pieces of daydreaming generated by somebody who doesn't know the first damn thing about railroading! If the writer did know anything, or had bothered to do a little rudimentary research, he/she would've discovered that to go from Danbury to GCT via the Maybrook to "Dyke," then to a connection at Brewster --- er, excuse me, "Southeast" --- will actually result in a longer trip in distance, and conceivably quite a bit longer in time than to go via the New Haven. And I haven't even figured in the time necessary for a change of direction at "Dyke."

As long as we live in a society where freedom of the press is a constitutional right, we will continue to have the unmitigated pleasure of reading stuff like this (Comment intended in good fun, and I hope will be so taken!!)

To me, this line would make an excellent alternative route to GCT. This is no different than the LIRR accessing the Montauk Branch via Hicksville.

-Trains departing Danbury bound for GCT via South Norwalk/Stamford
-Trains departing Danbury bound for GCT via Brewster/White Plains

If you ask me, restoring service just gives riders more alternatives. Yes, it may be slower than the bus, but that should come as no surprise.

Nester wrote:

Noel Weaver wrote: Crossing route 9 or route 52 or any of the other state highways that the
Beacon Branch (Hopewell-Beacon) crossed, we did it in the early 1970's
at 10 MPH with some very long trains and the cars and people waited
just like they would today,

I know you're retired, Noel, but do you get up to Dutchess County often these days? Everything west of the Taconic and south of the Mid-Hudson bridge looks more like Long Island, and has the traffic (of LI) to boot. Any long train crossing Route 9 at track speed could easily back traffic up to the I-84 interchange. There are simply too many cars running up and down the road during the day for people not to complain about a long train crawling through.

Since you would have to *way* out of the way to find an overpass, Rt.9 (along with a few other crossings) would be ripe for elimination.

Since the STB squashed any chance or HRRC interchanging at Beacon a few years ago, this is all moot for now.

I have not been in the area in question in the past two years but I live in
Fort Lauderdale, Florida and we have the Florida East Coast main line
with about 30 railroad movements five days a week (fewer on weekends)
and the FEC crosses every main east-west street in not only all of Fort
Lauderale but all of Broward County and just about all of the east coast of
Florida. They run a lot of trains and many of them are quite long. They
tie up downtown Fort Lauderdale, Hollywood, Pompany Beach, Deerfield
Beach and every other city many times a day. I think our population is
much higher than Dutchess County in the Beacon area. It is growing at
a rapid pace too.
This isn't all, go a mile or so west and you have the Tri-Rail line with 20
commuter trains each way a day, 2 Amtraks and a couple of CSX through
freights each way a day plus the Fort Lauderdale switcher to make things
interesting.
There is only one bridge over the Florida East Coast in all of Broward
County and there are not too many bridges over the Tri-Rail line either
although there are a few.
There are more railroad crossings here in Broward County than there are
on the entire Metro-North Railroad system including all of the branches.
Noel Weaver

Railfans wonder, too. I'd like them to restore service over this line so I have more trains to photograph.

-otto-

When in Poughkeepsie at the station about 10 years ago or so, I thought I saw a plan for "cross county" service to White Plains at rush hours, using the Beacon Secondary as a connector between the Upper Hudson and the Harlem.
Or am I dreaming?

Dreaming, only study was from Hopewell Jct to Brewster and on to GCT but not enough customers were there to justify the service. Service from Hopewell to Beacon would be to slow and costly to be of any use in todays commuting.

In the 'excursions' thread it is mentioned that the Beacon LIne is OOS due to bridge issues with no money to fix. That got me wondering, how often is the Beacon Line inspected? It is obviously not inspected like the Harlem/Hudson/New Haven due to its limited use. Lately I have noticed Metro North work crews on the small bridge over Route 311 in Patterson, NY. The concrete bases have a lot of pittting/scaling, and the steel work looks solid but probably has not seen paint in over 30 years.

Track inspection on Beacon line is only required prior to each move. the Beacon line is used for training if MofW operators for which MNCR has a small school in Hopewell Jct yard.
The track is listed as class 2 track but speeds are 10 mph freight and 25 mph passenger.

Railroad bridges do not need paint- at least not as often as a highway bridge. In winter, highway bridges are attacked with salt, requiring more frequent painting. Railroad bridges, not so much.

-otto-

Hi all,

I'n new here. Not an MTA employee, but a big train enthusiast. My dad used to take me for train rides on Metro North all the time when I was kid back in the '80's.

Anyway, I grew up very close to the Beacon Line in Glenham, NY and have lots of questions about this rail line that hopefully some of you can answer.

1. Until maybe 1991 or 1992, I remember regular freight trains running on this line. When and why did freight service end on this line? Recently, I was passing by the area and noticed the "flashing lights" were removed from a crossing leaving just the crossing signs only. Does this mean that no more service happens on the track?

2. After MN acquired the line, they installed a small station (similar to Mt. Pleasant station) for Glenham, NY. Is there still a plan to have passenger service on this line? Is the Glenham station even still there?

3. The Danbury Railroad Museum at one time hosted excursion trips on the Beacon Line. Are there any planned such excursions in the future? if so, how do I go about being to take an excursion ride? How much $$$?

The freight traffic use to be a round troip train between Ceder Hill New Haven and Selkirk NY, once Conrail sold it was over for the Maybrook line, or atleast the Danbury to Beacon part.

With no daily service the Crossing protection would not work anymore due to rusty rail so instead of maintaining it it was removed.

Will the line see passenger service, never say never on railroad but there is nothing in planning right now.

The DRM has no excursions planned and currently the big bridge in Brewster is out of service for train operations.
so probably other than MofW equipment moves no action is planned.

The line was bought by MTA to avoid it from being ripped up and losing the right of way, we may need the line in future but when, is the big question.

I belive it was 1990 Conrail sold the line to Housatonic RR. They wanted Conrail's property north and east on Danbury, But Conrail would only sell it in one big chunk with west of Danbury and the freight service on upper Harlem line.
The Harlem freight service died quick, with equipiment (mainly signal) compliance and union questions I think Housatonic power ran on the Harlem twice. After that a few leftover freight cars on the line were delivered by Metro North to Housatoic at Dykemans.
Housatonic did run a few cars now and then to Texaco and and IBM but that fizzled out real quick also.
Then Housatonic was going to abandon the line from the Ct/Ny state line to Beacon and as Japp said Metro North bought it to preserve right of way and move eqip. Prior to this if they wanted eqip. from one line to another they had to run down almost to NYC to change lines.

A number of years ago Housatonic had a wreck somwhere north and the track was quite damaged. So CSX brought there backed up freight deliveries to Beacon for pickup. To the best of my knowlage this is the last Housatonic ran in NY.

As for the Glenham building I am no help.

The Danbury rail museum has a web site that gives info on their activities. I can't remember it but put in a serch and it'llcome up for ya.