Mile 153: Danbury, Connecticut

This first map is my standard map of where each station is relative to its surrounding stations. I piece together 1890s USGS 15 minute maps to do these



This next map is from the 2021 7.5 minute USGS Danbury quadrangle. I'm at a much smaller scale on this map than the first, zoomed into a single neighborhood of Danbury. The point of including this map is to show the post 1903 track layout at Danbury.


The history of the railroads at Danbury is complex- the version that has helped me understand the most is Joseph Brennan's description here. It explains that the NY&NE comes into the town on the same right of way as the Housatonic line from the complicated junction south of Brookfield. At White Street, it meets the 1903 Danbury Union Station, today known as the Danbury Railway Museum.

The White Street location is built at the intersection of the NY&NE (heading from Hawleyville to Brewester and beyond) and the D&N section of the Housatonic, which heads into Danbury from Norwalk, loops around the Danbury Yard, and runs onto the NY&NE main heading east. There are track connections back to the southbound D&N (today's Metro North Danbury branch,) and the loop track and a part of the Danbury Yard are used to store Metro North trains during off peak hours. The Subway Nut has a good description of the Metro North operations here. Brennan explains that the loop track was created to give an easy connection between the Housatonic's D&N branch and its Berkshire branch, which separates to the north east of Danbury at Brookfield.

In the mid 1990s, Metro North moved its station to a new structure built on the loop track. The Danbury Railway Museum took over the 1903 structure and brought it back to life. Today it controls the old station and about 3/4 of the old railyard, including the depot, turntable, and more than 15 storage tracks. They helped rehabilitate a blighted asset in the center of town and run a world-class musuem that has become a safe harbor of last resort for interesting rolling stock facing the scrapper.

Like Willimantic's Connecticut Eastern Railway Museum, a joy of the Danbury Yard is the mixed use: there are museum tracks, but there are also active passenger and freight tracks. The two loop tracks in particular run right through the center of the museum grounds and Metro North sometimes parks its more interesting trains, like its heritage units, on these tracks.

The NY&NE  in this region is part of the former NYNH&H Maybrook line, a principal freight route before the destruction of the Poughkeepsie Bridge in the 1970s. It is still actively served by today's Housatonic Railroad, and several modern freight cars have been observed on the line in this vicinity. Its path by the station is simple: the two northern tracks of the 4 tracks coming from the east go by a platform along the north edge of the station and continue west across White Street.

The purpose of this page is not to pretend to be a comprehensive description of the museum's collection- there are a lot more neat things to see there. The goal here is just to describe the layout of Danbury Union Station and Danbury Yard, as they relate to the HP&F/NY&NE, and to identify any trains, museum, Metro North, or freight, that happen to be in the shot. I highly encourage visiting this museum as often as possible.

As always, photos run from Providence to the Hudson, that is, the first photos are the easternmost photos on site and we work our way to the west.

Click on the thumbnail for the full resolution image

	A 1924 ticket from Danbury to Hartford via Waterbury on the NY&NE, then part of the New Haven Railroad. It is an interesting 2 part ticket, with printing on front and back. It was issued to a family member of an employee. Photo 1/4
	A 1924 ticket from Danbury to Hartford via Waterbury on the NY&NE, then part of the New Haven Railroad. It is an interesting 2 part ticket, with printing on front and back. It was issued to a family member of an employee. Photo 2/4
	A 1924 ticket from Hartford to Danbury via Waterbury on the NY&NE. It's clever how this little booklet is designed: this is a carbon copy of the first page, but FROM and TO are switched to make this a ticket for the return trip. Photo 3/4
	A 1924 ticket from Hartford to Danbury via Waterbury on the NY&NE. It's clever how this little booklet is designed: this is a carbon copy of the first page, but FROM and TO are switched to make this a ticket for the return trip. Photo 4/4
	A ticket to ride the Danbury Railway Museum "Railyard Local." To my knowledge there are only four places along the HP&F/NY&NE that the public can legally ride the rails. From east to west they are: Amtrak/MBTA from Atwell Ave to Arlington; in the Willimantic Yard on a pump car at the Connecticut Eastern Railroad Museum; along the Metro North Waterbury Line between Waterbury and Bank St Junction, and here (7/2022.)
	Looking east towards the end of Danbury Yard (and Waterbury) at the location the yard local drops you. This is as far east in the yard as the public is allowed to go, and only via taking this short train ride. At left we see the yard local itself (on this day in July 2022 it consisted of "New Haven" RS1 0673 (built 1948) and Reading Company coach RDG 1547 (built 1925.) At right is New Haven RS-11 1402 (built 1956.) ) Behind the RS-11 you can see the museum's protective fencing (7/2022.)
	A closer look at New Haven RS-11 1402 (built 1956.) The fenceline of the museum is clearly visible- behind the long hood is the eastern end of the museum. Behind the short hood is the southern fenceline of the museum- just outside of this is the other connection between the NY&NE/Maybrook Line and the D&N/Metro North Danbury Line. The loop track via the 1903 station allows northbound D&N trains to access the eastbound Maybrook Line,  whereas this one allows westbound Maybrook trains to access the southbound D&N (7/2022.)
	A look at the turntable in the Danbury Yard as it was undergoing maintenence in the summer of 2022. On the other side of the turntable are Metro North Baggage Car MNCW 057, Pullman Tonawanda Valley (built 1929,) and 44 ton Electric Boat locomotive "Carol" (built 1945.) (7/2022.)
	Looking west from the east end of Danbury Yard. This was taken at the place that the railyard local drops you. The photo is a remarkable view of the collection in the DRM part of the yard, the Metro North part of the yard, and the mainline. From left to right, these are: on the first track, Canadian National FPA 6786 (built 1959.) The second track has CDOT SPV-2000 1001 (built 1980) leading New Haven Pullman-Standard MU Lounge NH 5111 (built 1954) and Metro North M2 Cosmopolitan MNCR 8706 (built 1975.) I can't identify the car on the fourth track. The fifth track has Metro North F10 413 (built 11/1946) leading Metro North ACMU MNCR 1128 (built 1962,) Metro North ACMU MNCR 1171 (built 1965,) and Canadian National Caboose CN 79462 (built 1971.) The sixth track appears to contain New Haven RDC-1 NH 32 (built 1953) and the seventh has RS-3m CDOT 605 (built 1952.) Moving into the Metro North controlled part of the yard, we have an empty first track, Metro North P32AC-DM 202 (built 1995) on the second track and Metro North BL20GH 112 (built 2008.) Both locomotives are at the head of trains consisting of Shoreliner coaches. Continuing outward, the inner loop track appears unoccupied, but the outer loop has Metro North P32AC-DM 207 leading another train of Shoreliner coaches. Note these tracks and the two right of them (the Maybrook Line/ NY&NE tracks that continue across White Street towards Brewster) pass under the remenants of the electric catenary sytem that once existed here (7/2022.)
	Electric Boat 44 ton locomotive "Carol." This is kind of a cruddy photo but it shows the relationship between the previous two: in the turntable photo, Carol can be seen on the other side of the turntable, and there's a reflection in the window here of Metro North Locomotive 202, which is on one of the Metro North yard tracks in the photo just above. (7/2022.)
	This is the view out the window of Reading Company coach RDG 1547 (built 1925,) serving as the passenger car on the Railyard Local. Outside we see Metro North P32AC-DM 202 (built 1995) and a Shoreliner coach on the second track of the Metro North part of the yard (7/2022.)
	A view of the "railyard local" train that takes you to the far end of the yard. This is looking east towards Waterbury. On this day in July 2022 it consisted of "New Haven" RS1 0673 (built 1948) and Reading Company coach RDG 1547 (built 1925.)  Note the Shoreliner coach visible behind the Reading coach (7/2022.)
	This is as far east as the public is allowed to walk without riding the Railyard Local. In the distance, on Metro North storage tracks, we see CDOT P32AC-DM 229 (built 9/2001) and a Shoreliner coach. On a museum storage track in the foreground are Reading Company boxcar RDG 18828 (built 7/1971,) Metro North hopper/sander MNCW 390 (build date unknown, but 391 was built 3/1958,) and tank car NATX 12811 (built 1967.) (7/2003.)
	Looking back west along the museum platform closest to the NY&NE/Maybrook Line. At far left, RSC-2 VLIX 1513 (built 1949) leads Conrail FlexiFlo hopper NYC 80019 (built 5/1966.) On the second track left of the platform we see Maine Central Caboose MEC 664 (built 1940,) tank car NATX 12811 (built 1967,) Pennsylvania hopper PRR 666573 (built 1960,) an unidentified flatcar, New Haven gondola NH 60521 (built 1937,) and an unidentified boxcar. On the nearest track to the platform are Metro North Flatcar MNCW 011 and Pullman Tonawanda Valley (built 1929.) At the far end of the platform we see the loop tracks in front of the 1903 depot/museum, with Metro North P32AC-DM 221 (built 7/2001) standing in the station. At far right we see another train of Shoreliner coaches standing on the outer loop track, with CDOT 6203 "The Danbury Hatter" (built 1983) and MNCR 6316 (built 1996-2002) (1/2024.)
	A view of the west end of the yard, showing the exit back to the museum in the 1903 station. Parked on the platform is DAPCO DC7 rail flaw detection vehicle. Between the museum and the yard we see the two loop tracks, the private crossing between the yard and museum, and the platform canopy. Shoreliner coaches 6311 and 6456 (built 1996-2002) are stored on the outer loop track next to the museum platform (7/2022.)
	At the east end of the platform between the east-west NY&NE/Maybrook Line  and the loop track, We are facing east towards Waterbury and Providence; a train of Shoreliner coaches including 6153 (built 1983) is standing on the outer loop track. On the northern of the two Maybrook line tracks is a string of modern gondolas with Oak Ridge Waste and Recycling of CT OAKX 0124 (no info on this car, but sister car built 5/2022) in focus. Note the caternary towers of the former New Haven electrification (1/2024.)
	Looking west down the platform along the NY&NE/Maybrook Line. This is looking towards Mill Plain and Brewster. A train of Shoreliner coaches is also clearly visible platformed on the outer loop track, with CDOT 6203 "The Danbury Hatter" (built 1983) closest to the camera. (1/2024.)
	A view of the platform along the loop track. Metro North locomotive 219, a P32AC-DM (built 7/2001) is platformed (7/2022.)
	Metro North locomotive P32AC-DM 208 (built 1998) in the Metro North Heritage livery stands on the loop platform. This is looking south towards South Norwalk. In the background are Maine Central Caboose 661 (built 1940) and Sperry Rail Service Flaw Detection Car 135 (built 1928) (7/2023.)
	Looking back up the loop platform towards Waterbury and Hartford. We see another nice shot of the heritage livery and the Metro North 40th anniversary logo on locomotive P32AC-DM 208 (built 1998). There's another train ahead of this one on the loop track, and the coach closest to us is Shoreliner 6209 (1983) (7/2023.)
	Inside the station, looking back west towards Waterbury at the spot where the loop platform and NY&NE/Maybrook Line platforms join. On the loop track we see CDOT 6203 "The Danbury Hatter" (built 1983) and on the northern Maybrook Line track we see Oak Ridge Waste and Recycling of CT OAKX 0124 (no info on this car, but sister car built 5/2022) (1/2024.)
	Looking down the NY&NE/Maybrook line platform at the 1903 depot towards Mill Plain and Brewster. Note the mile 77 marker and the stop signs before the crossing (1/2024.)
	Looking back up the NY&NE/Maybrook line platform towards Waterbury. Oak Ridge Waste and Recycling of CT OAKX 0124 (no info on this car, but sister car built 5/2022) and a train of Shoreliner Coaches are visible in the distance (1/2024.)
	Looking from the NY&NE platforms across White Street towards Mill Plain and Brewster (1/2024.)
	A view of the front of the 1903 Danbury Union Station/ Danbury Railway Museum. Metro North locomotive 219, a P32AC-DM (built 7/2001) is platformed on the loop track (7/2022.)

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(c) 2016-2024 Timothy M Dowd. Last Modified @ 00:54 EST on 2024-02-06
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