Connecticut Railroading and Railfanning In "The Centennial State"

Connecticut railroading has been around since the industry’s infancy during the first half of the 19th century. While the Constitution State has never had many miles of railroad it has held its importance in the Northeastern rail system throughout the years. Today, Connecticut railroading is best known for its passenger rail network, notably Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor including Metro-North and Shore Line East, which also play important parts in keeping commuters heading to and from the workplace.

Connecticut railroading has its beginnings in 1838 when the Hartford & New Haven (a future part of the New York, New Haven & Hartford) completed its line between Meriden and New Haven, Connecticut. The H&NH would go on to merge with the New York & New Haven in 1872 to form the now classic New Haven system. While the Central Vermont Railway, a part of the Canadian National, also has trackage in the state it would be the New Haven that dominated much of Connecticut’s rail network.

The New Haven Railroad would continue to expand its system purchasing other smaller lines, eventually stretching out across most of Connecticut, Rhode Island, and southern Massachusetts (along with serving NYC, of course, it reached cities such as Poughkeepsie, Pittsfield, Waterbury, Worcester, New Bedford, and the southeastern corner coastline of Massachusetts along Nantucket Sound).

The New Haven’s strength was in its ability to haul thousands of passengers and commuters along its high speed main line between New York and Boston (which continues to this day), and points in between. While the railroad did have a presence in hauling freight, especially during the early 20th century and prior, when the Northeast was heavily industrialized, it also had a very strong passenger/commuter market because of the fact that it offered the only direct Boston-New York rail connection (and it naturally marketed this quite heavily).

While the New Haven Railroad did have a few bankruptcies over the years it did well through the first part of the 20th century. In terms of freight the biggest problem for the railroad was the fact that it served markets extremely close to together, the result of which was short-haul freight, something not very profitable (typically, the longer haul, the more profitable).

Following the 1948 takeover of the company by Frederic Dumaine and Patrick McGinnis, the New Haven Railroad had little hope of ever remaining profitable again. Under their “pencil pusher” leadership they slashed costs wherever possible (taking this to extremes whereby it hurt the company more than it helped), cut down the work force laying off even the most veteran workers, and began deferring maintenance to save costs. Such tactics typically only work for a short period of time and it did not take the deferred maintenance and other “cost savings” ideas long to begin to affect the railroad in a negative way.

In 1956 the New Haven directors had had enough of the McGinnis and Dumaine leadership and replaced them with George Alpert. However, along with the failed ideas of the previous leadership, a freight and passenger market that was drying up, and a Northeast rail market that was too heavily populated to support all of the railroads in place Alpert had a very hard time keeping the railroad profitable and the New Haven went bankrupt in 1961.

This was essentially the end for the New Haven. Seeing no future means of profitability the directors of the New Haven felt merger was the only option and began looking at such an idea. With the Penn Central merger itself looming just ahead between the Pennsylvania and New York Central the ICC decided that it would be best for the NH to be included into the merger as well.

At one time, when the Northeast was a bustling heavy industrial center, Connecticut railroading boasted over 1,000 mile of trackage. Today, that has been cut in half and while the New Haven disappeared into the Penn Central debacle, and later Conrail, much of its trackage in Connecticut remains and its importance is growing as passenger and commuter rail is becoming an ever-more attractive transportation option.

For a more in-depth look at Connecticut's rail mileage over the years please refer to the table below.

Today, the Connecticut railroading freight system is handled by Canadian National, CSX, Providence & Worcester, Connecticut Southern, and the Housatonic Railroad. As for passenger and commuter rail systems outside of Amtrak, this has fallen mostly onto the shoulders of the State of Connecticut, which is another one of the top states in promoting the service. Its services include that of Metro-North (which honors its rail heritage and has painted several locomotives in a New Haven inspired livery) and Shore Line East (which parallels I-95 and gives commuters another option over driving).

Aside from the state’s passenger and freight rail network it also is home to several railroad museums. These include the Connecticut Antique Machinery Association, Connecticut Eastern Railroad Museum, Connecticut Trolley Museum, Danbury Railway Museum, Essex Steam Train, Naugatuck Railroad, Shore Line Trolley Museum, and SoNo Switch Tower Museum.

All in all, whether you are interested in seeing freight railroading, passenger trains, or just a visit to one of the state’s many museums, Connecticut railroading has a little bit of everything to offer.