Exploring Tariffville RR Remnants

 On a whim I decided to get back into exploring abandoned railroads and headed up to Tariffville, CT. I've mountain biked nearby at Cowles Park and knew it was a scenic area.

1893 Topo Maps

At the start of what is known as the Tariffvlle Gorge,  I discovered the remnants of an abandoned road bridge.

I then stopped in at the Cracker Barrel Pub and had a wonderful sandwich and beer. The pub even had some local railroad photos!

Further down the street was the entrance to the town park where you can see the remnants of the old RR bridge. The maps below show the abandoned route of that line that went up to Springfield, MA

The piers are still standing!

The view from across the river:

I drove southwesterly hoping to check out the other bridge across the river but any access to that stretch of the river was blocked by swanky homes and private property.

I proceeded on to the Hoskins section of Simsbury and did manage to find where the ROW joined the New Haven line.

Curiosity got the best of me so I decided to head home via Mountain Road in Tariffville only to  discover it dead ended and a section has been set aside as a trail!

So I drove back and drove to the other side of it. It looks like a great place to hike so I'll be back at some point for sure.

Lastly, I stopped by the bike trail which apparently was the old ROW of the Connecticut Western Railroad. Gonna have to ride this in the spring!

Heading home I stopped by the end of the former Connecticut Western Railroad that still is active. It is known as the Griffin Spur as there are a lot of industrial warehouses and distribution centers just south in Bloomfield.

The Connecticut Western Railroad

The Connecticut Western Railroad was chartered June 25, 1868 to run from Hartford, Connecticut, west to the New York state line, where it would meet the Dutchess & Columbia Railroad just east of Millerton, New York. The line was completed December 21, 1871; the previous month the company had leased the easternmost section of the D&C to gain access to the New York & Harlem Railroad at Millerton. The only branch was a short one in Connecticut, south into Collinsville, which would not be completed until December, 1874. The Connecticut Western became bankrupt on April 27, 1880, (no doubt in part due to the train wreck mentioned below)and on March 31, 1881 it was reorganized as the Hartford & Connecticut Western Railroad.

Over a period of time a large number of railroads east of the Hudson and in northwestern Connecticut were incorporated together with the formation of the Central New England Railway (CNE) in 1899.

Tariffville Train Wreck

Did you know that one of  the deadliest train crashes in CT history happened in Tariffville? On January 15, 1878, around 10:00 PM, a passenger train returning from Hartford crossed the wooden bridge spanning the Farmington River at Tariffville. Suddenly one of the bridge spans collapsed, dropping two locomotives, one baggage car and three passenger coaches into the icy river. The wreck claimed 13 lives and injured more than 70, some severely. 

The great Tariffville Train Wreck, January 14, 1878
Thomas J. Dodd Research Center, University of Connecticut Libraries

Central New England Railway: 1899-1927

The original Connecticut Western had from the start been interested in building a branch from Tariffville, Connecticut, to Springfield, Massachusetts and the CNE finally began it in 1899. 

The branch opened on September 12, 1902 and passenger trains began to run on March 9, 1903. Although the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad (NH) acquired financial control of CNE that same year, CNE was allowed to continue to operate separately.  Source

Progress on the Maybrook Trailway

While up in Lake Carmel, NY working on a recording project, I drove over toward Patterson to check out the countryside, Being a bit of a railroad hound I sniffed out construction on the old Maybrook line and discovered it is being made into a combo of both rail and trail! Details on the project in the Further Info section at the bottom of this post.

 (Click pics to enlarge)

History

Formally owned by the  Central New England Railway, the Maybrook Line was assimilated into  New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad in 1927 to connect its Waterbury Branch in Derby, Connecticut to its Maybrook Yard in Maybrook, New York, where it interchanged with other carriers. It was the main east-west freight route of the New Haven until its merger with the Penn Central in 1969.  Metro-North acquired the line, which runs from Danbury, Connecticut, to Beacon, NY in 1994 for $4.2 million.

The historical topo map below illustrates the Maybrook Line on the left. At this point in time it was owned by the Central New England Railway.  The former New York and Harlem line is on the right.

Status - March 2020

1- Route 311 overpass

I drove over to Patterson and got lucky! - A MetroNorth train pulled into the station.

Patterson, NY

A couple of Google Street Views to illustrate the progress...

2- Google Street View .>

3- Google Street View >

Status Update

The 23 miles between Brewster and Hopewell Junction opened in 2021, and is one of several trails that make up the Empire State Trail across New York State. Traillink > | Flicker Photos >

Further Info

Railroad History:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maybrook_Line

Rail-Trail Details

https://maybrooktrailway.org/
https://maybrooktrailway.org/resources/
https://maybrooktrailway.org/construction-updates/

Hibernia RR Bridge Abutment

I took Monday off from work and my original intention when traveled back the CT from the Capital District was to ride the Albany Helderberg Rail Trail. It's an abandoned stretch of former D&H tracks converted to a rail trail.

Albany Helderberg Rail Trail

When I got to where it begins in Albany, it was incredibly nasty cold, very windy and overcast so I opted to ride it at another time.

At the start of the trail (in South Albany)

A dispenser for sun block (yellow) and a bike tool stand- how nice!

Hibernia Bridge

Traveling south on the Taconic, I decided to revisited the Hibernia Bridge abutments on Wappinger Creek. Although it is much more overgrown since my previous visit in 2015 (link), now there is a wood chip pathway and a lovely bench at the abutment. Not sure if it was built by a neighbor or the town but its nice to know the ancient stonework gets appreciated.

The abutment

The Bridge back in its heyday

Retracing the ND&C

After riding the Harlem Valley Rail Trail and visiting the Copake Iron Works earlier in the day, I decided--while in the area--to try to sniff out traces of the old Newburgh, Dutchess and Connecticut Railroad (a.k.a Central New England Railway) that headed west out of Millerton.

It wasn't that easy! Much has been obscured by the ravages of nature or deep in the woods, inaccessible without a hike over private property.

 Nevertheless, I was happily able to spot a bit of the ROW along RT 199.

I climbed up the hill to photograph the abandoned ROW both looking down(southeast) and up (northwest)

...and was more than amply rewarded by finding this spot!

I will definitely be back up at some point to bike ride this (above) and of course look for more vestiges of the line in the area.

Further Info

• Newburgh, Dutchess and Connecticut Railroad  (Wikipedia)
• CNE/ND&C between Pine Plains and Millerton (Bernie Rudberg)