North Bloomfield Greenway and the Farmington Canal Trail

Today I was jonesin' for a railroad-related trek so I headed up to Tariffville with my road bike to ride a couple of rail trails. 

North Bloomfield Greenway

This short 3 mile trail starts where the still active railroad ends in North Bloomfield and ends up right in Tariffville. The weather was sunny and a bit hot but it was a pleasant ride. Much of the trail follows the old Connecticut Western Railroad.

The Ride

Start

Slight descent 

Former Carpet Mill

End

Return

Railroad Remnant

Railraoad History

The Connecticut Western Railroad ran from Hartford, Connecticut, west to the New York state line, where it connected with the Dutchess & Columbia Railroad near Millerton, New York. The line was completed in 1871, with a branch line to Collinsville completed in 1874. It later became part of the Central New England Railway (CNE). 

The CNE was later absorbed by the vast New York, New Haven and Hartford railroad system and the line through Tariffville was abandoned at a later date.

Lunch

After a wonderful burger and beer at the Cracker Barrel Punb in Tarriffvile, I ventured a bit west to ride a section of the Farmington Canal trail.

Farmington Canal Trail

It was getting pretty hot and humid but I rode from Hoskins to Avon and back (13 miles round trip). There were lots of folks on the trail--hiking and biking and thankfully the section south of Simsbury had a canopy of trees to provide a bit of shade.

Like most rail trails' it was pretty flat!

The Ride

Start

Ensign-Bickford Company Sign
An interesting place
- See Links Below -

Yep - thee was a Nike missile site here!

Nice shady section

End of the line

Related Info

The Farmington Canal Heritage Trail was built on former New Haven and Northampton Company (NH&N) railbed, which was constructed along the route of the Farmington Canal in Connecticut. It was later absorbed by the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad.

I rode a section of the southern part back in 2021.  Post >

• About the Trail
• History of the Trail
• Ensign-Bickford Company
• Ensign-Bickford Company (History)

Collinsville - West of the River!

The weather wasn't too cold today so I headed up to Collinsville to sniff out the railroad ROW west of the river. 

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 I started my trek at the Calvary Cemetery.

Unbeknownst to me,  I took the hard way in - crossing the former rr cut and practically bushwhacking through the woods to get to the river's edge.

Finally. making my way up to the embankment I was able to capture a few nice photos of the piers and the cut.

Looking north on the embankment

Dang - there was an easier way in!

The cut is pretty grown over by now...

Nice view looking back across the river

I continued northward from the cemetery and snapped a couple more photos of the cut.

There's a well-trod path thats leads to the..

...ROW. I will return in the warmer months to mountain bike this!

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I then next drove up Torrington Ave and stopped at the single-lane Town Bridge. It a little hard to see (even in foliage-free winter) but the ROW rock cut was visible.

ROW (looking northward)

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Once back in Collinsville - I photographed the piers once more and of course stopped at the former station for a beer!

 Here's a Lidar map of that area: