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See our poster and brochure about a fan trip on the New Haven RR in 1937.
It ran from NY City to Bridgeport, Danbury, Poughkeepsie, Maybrook, and
Campbell Hall to Warwick NY. The brochure contains a description of the
route including the big bridge in Pok plus a map.
The fare was $3.50 round trip.
How much would you pay to ride that trip today ? |
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ALCO F units at Hopewell Junction Jack Shufelt collection These ALCO F units are under the route 82 overpass in Hopewell Junction on the Maybrook Line. There are no leaves on the trees so it must be winter. From the angle of the sun it must be late afternoon. With two B units this, photo was taken well after these units were introduced in 1947. Early units had only one B unit. Later units generally had two B units in the consist with the purchase of more B units in 1951. The green paint also indicates 1951 or later up to about 1959 when the paint was again changed to the “McGinnis” color scheme. These units stopped running on the Maybrook Line in 1964 when 30 of them were traded in for new GE and ALCO locomotives. Click Here or on picture above to see more about Hopewell Junction. |
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Central New England Railway Home Page This page is an overview of the entire railway in Connecticut and New York. |
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Central New England Railway in New York State This page is an overview of the railway as it existed in New York State. |
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Central New England Railway in Hopewell Junction This page is about the CNE in the Hopewell Junction area. |
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Central New England Railway's Great Bridge at Poughkeepsie This page is about the CNE' bridge at Poughkeepsie. |
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The Rhinebeck & Connecticut This page is about the Rhinebeck & Connecticut which became part of the Central New England Railway. |
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The Railroads of Pine Plains Pine Plains was the intersection of three railroads, all of which became part of the Central New England Railway. |
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Newburgh, Dutchess and Connecticut Railroad One of the railroads that formed the Central New England Railway was the Newburgh, Dutchess and Connecticut. The CNE / ND&C from Dutchess Jct to Matteawan. The CNE / ND&C Glenham to Hopewell Jct. The CNE / ND&C from Hopewell Jct to Millbrook. The CNE / ND&C from Bangall to Pine Plains. The CNE / ND&C from Pine Plains to Millerton. |
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Connecticut Connection A trip along the Central New England Railway (CNE) from Canaan, Connecticut to the New York State Line. |
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Maybrook Yard The major freight yard where the CNE connected with other railroads was at Maybrook. |
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The Maybrook Line across Dutchess County The "Maybrook Line" was important to New England before the advent of Penn Central and before the Poughkeepsie Bridge burned. |
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The Poughkeepsie Bridge after the 1974 Fire The "Maybrook Line" lost its importance with Penn Central. See the effects of this fire on Eastern Railroading. |
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P&E in the Poughkeepsie Area Part of the The Central New England Railway (CNE) was the Poughkeepsie & Eastern (P&E) |
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P&E North of Poughkeepsie Area Part of the The Central New England Railway (CNE) was the Poughkeepsie & Eastern (P&E) |
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Poughkeepsie & Connecticut One of the railroads that formed the Central New England Railway was the Poughkeepsie & Connecticut. |
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The Central New England in Connecticut A great WebSite from Tim Dowd on the remains of the CNE in Connecticut |
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Fishkill Landing The Newburgh, Dutchess and Connecticut Railroad became part of the CNE. The New York Central ran from New York City to Albany and beyond through the Hudson Valley. The two roads met at Fishkill Landing. The first phase of the NYC rebuilding at Fishkill Landing starting in 1913. The second phase of the NYC rebuilding in 1914 and 1915. New York Central in the Fishkill Landing Area. |
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| Bernie Rudberg's CNE in New York State |
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Building the railroad in 1868 Collection of P. McLachlan Courtesy of J. W. Swanberg Building a railroad in the 1860's involved lots of manual labor and real horsepower. This scene was part of the construction of the D&C RR in 1868. After a section had been completed, more ties and rails could be hauled to the site by train. Even so the construction of new track was mainly done with sweat and horses and mules. It takes many cart loads of rock and dirt to dig a cut like the one in this photo. |
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D&C RR Locomotive Washington Collection of J. W. Swanberg Washington was built by Breese, Kneeland & Company in 1856 for the East Tennessee & Virginia RR but they defaulted on payment so she was sold to Hampshire & Hamden RR in Massachusetts. The D&C RR bought her used in 1869 for $4000. She was delivered by barge to Dutchess Junction on 15 February 1869. Washington was a wood burner and was never converted to burning coal. This was the engine that George Brown and Roswell Judson used on the night of their midnight ride to Hopewell Junction to reclaim the railroad from the failing BH&E. Later, the Washington toiled for many years on the Clove Branch RR hauling iron ore out of the mine at Sylvan Lake. Washington was not really powerful enough for that service so she was advertised for sale in 1881. The ND&C RR people were shopping for a replacement when the Washington was wrecked at Sylvan Lake on 19 March 1883. The replacement engine was named “General Schultze” for the president of the railroad. Washington was sold for scrap value in 1884. |
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Along Came the New York & New England NY&NE engine #42 The New York & New England RR completed the rail line from Connecticut through Poughquag and Stormville to make Hopewell into Hopewell Junction. That line opened for traffic in December 1881 and later became part of the CNE and the New Haven RR Maybrook Line. Engine #42 was typical of the NY&NE equipment that rolled through Hopewell Junction from 1881 to 1895. In that year the name changed to New England RR. These engines were notorious for starting grass fires along the line from spark out of their smokestacks. |
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ND&C RR Locomotive #6 J. W. Swanberg collection This is a typical locomotive that would be seen on the ND&C RR through Hopewell Junction in the early years of the railroads. This particular engine was built by the Brooks Locomotive Works in July 1873. With a 4-4-0 wheel arrangement, she was called the “American” type. Out of a total of fifteen engines owned over the years the ND&C RR had eleven engines of this type by five different builders. ND&C RR #6 started out as part of the short-lived NYB&M Railway which failed in 1873 shortly after the purchase. The ND&C RR leased the engine from the trustees of the NYB&M and finally bought her in 1888 for $1000. She received an overhaul in Schenectady in 1883 and was rebuilt at the ND&C RR Dutchess Junction shops in 1888. When the CNE Rwy took over the ND&C in 1905, this engine became CNE #215. The end came when she was sold for $500 scrap value in December 1912 after 39 years of faithful service. |
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Clove Branch RR locomotive “General Schultze” at Sylvan Lake Stickels collection This engine was purchased in 1883 as a replacement for the wrecked locomotive Washington. It was named General Schultze for the president of the railroad. Notice that it has pilots and headlights on both ends so it could be used in either direction without needing a turntable. General Schultze hauled iron ore out of the mine at Sylvan Lake until the mine closed in the summer of 1896. The Clove Branch RR struggled on with a few customers at Clove Valley but finally was abandoned and the tracks were removed in 1898. After the tracks were taken out there was a brief period of hauling iron ore with horses and wagons but this too faded away. Stations such as Beekman and Sylvan Lake were at one time destined to be stops on the main line from New York City to Montreal Canada but that dream was gone. From 1898 the weeds and bushes reclaimed the Clove Branch. More recently housing developments have been built over the old roadbed but if you know where to look you can still find places where General Schultze once labored with trainloads of iron ore. |
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Photo from the collection of the East Fishkill Historical Society. This is what Hopewell Junction depot looked like about 1905. This is the oldest depot photo that we have found. Unofficial record show that the depot was built in 1873. The depot was in the original location at the corner of Bridge Street and Railroad Avenue just across the street from the front door of the Hopewell Inn. The Bordens creamery was to the left of this photo. Notice that the depot had arched top doors. Later photos show the doors with squared off tops. In the ND&C RR record books there are letters regarding replacing the round top doors with newer square top doors. There is still one of the original arched top doors on the depot we are currently restoring. The other four doors are the newer squared off type. This photo also shows two chimneys, one on each end. Later, after the depot had been moved, the photos show only one chimney. Somewhere in the moving, one chimney was lost. In the present depot there are still marks and part of a wall frame where the second chimney used to be. There is no foundation under where that chimney would have been so it probably was never rebuilt after the move. |
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Join the
Abandoned Railroads Forum
The Central New England Railway (CNE) was a railroad across northern Connecticut and west across the Hudson River in New York. It eventually became part of the Poughkeepsie Bridge Route (an alliance between railroads for a passenger route from Washington to Boston) and later a line of the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad. |
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Join the
New York & New England/Central New England Forum
at RAILROAD.NET |
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Fly Along the Central New England Railway! If you have "GOOGLE EARTH" installed on your computer, you can "fly" along the routes of the Central New England Railway with the "PLACEMARK" below: (Click to get GOOGLE EARTH) Talk to us about help using Google Earth© for your business presentations! | |
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Canaan, Connecticut to State Line, New York Hopewell Junction to Maybrook, New York ND&C Pine Plains to Millbrook The Rhinebeck & Connecticut The Central New England Railway | |
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We will be adding more routes Because many of the locations on our tour have varying "resolutions" of the pictures, you may need to stop the tour and adjust the height you are viewing. On several locations, you may also stop the tour and click on the placemark icon for more information. Tell us where you want to fly and give us any of your comments |
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The Great Poughkeepsie Bridge Click here to see more about the great Poughkeepsie Bridge. |
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From the collection of the late Austin McEntee This view from the Poughkeepsie waterfront shows the barges in the river for the construction of the piers for the big RR bridge. Part of the bridge structure can be seen over the City of Poughkeepsie at far right. |
Cheese Pound Cake Bread Pudding Cake |
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About Our President About Our Company About Small Business |
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Shipping Information Terms of Sale |
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| In 1882 the then Hartford & Connecticut Western (successor to the Connecticut Western in 1881) bought the Rhinebeck & Connecticut RR that operated between Rhinecliff, NY and Boston Corners, NY. The R&C originally had a lease arrangement with the Poughkeepsie & Eastern (known in 1882 as the Poughkeepsie, Hartford & Boston) to operate between Boston Corners and State Line so that they could connect with the Connecticut Western. When the H&CW bought the R&C, they also negotiated to buy the section between Boston Corners and State Line so as to give them a through route of their own all the way to the Hudson River. Pennsylvania coal coming up to Kingston on the D&H Canal was the main reason the H&CW wanted a route to the Hudson River. The H&CW began to call their route "The Rhinebeck Line" and did start out with at least one through train in each direction between Hartford and Rhinecliff. In addition to this train, there were still two other trains operating in each direction between Hartford and Millerton. The big thing, though, at this time was that these trains were now only taking three hours to make the 68 miles rather than four hours when the line was first opened. The Rhinebeck Line, however, seems to have been downgraded in 1886 as a through passenger route because a timetable from that year indicates one must change in Canaan in order to travel between Rhinecliff and Hartford. |
| REFERENCE SECTION |
| The CNE from Wikipedia |
| Maybrook Line Track Chart |
| ND&C Track Chart |
| Rhinebeck & Connecticut Track Chart |
| P&E North from Poughkeepsie Track Chart |
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The New Haven Railroad Historical and Technical Association has created a great map of the New Haven Railroad at its greatest extent. Click below to see it. 
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| Several New York Central Harlem line timetables from the 1904-10 time period that show through cars, generally parlors exchanged at Boston Corners as well as Millerton. these cars originated in Grand Central. The tts are I believe all summer issues. I am not sure if these services were run year round. |
| Hopewell Junction |
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New passenger car for the
ND&C RR in April 1900 J. W. Swanberg collection This elegant new passenger car was built to order for the ND&C RR by the Jackson & Sharp Company in Wilmington Delaware and delivered on 26 April 1900. Specifications included such items as mahogany woodwork, double thick French Plate Glass, Pantasote window shades, Brussels carpet, brass lamps and, most important, non-upsettable cuspidors. The total price was $5800 delivered to Dutchess Junction. This car was used in passenger service on the line from Dutchess Junction through Fishkill, Hopewell Junction Millbrook, Pine Plains and Millerton. |
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Railroad workers in 1906 George Bailey collection The label on this photo says they are RR workers but most of them look too young and well dressed for that line of work. In addition, the building behind them does not look like the Hopewell Junction roundhouse. In any case it is a look at some of the fashions of 1906. |
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Engine #808 waiting at Hopewell Junction George Bailey collection |
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Railroad Avenue 1905 Postcard view of Hopewell Junction about 1905. In this photo the depot is in the original location near the corner of Railroad Avenue and Bridge Street which is route 376. The white building at left is the Hopewell Inn which is still in operation as a tavern. The large white building behind the depot at right was the Bordens Creamery which opened in the spring of 1901. There are several 40 quart milk cans on a platform between the tracks. In the center distance, just left of the box car, you can see the passenger shelter that was built at the rail crossing. That shelter served the trains on the Maybrook Line. To better serve both rail lines, not long after this photo was taken, the depot was moved to the other side of the creamery where the rail crossing was located. Notice that there seems to be a group of children waiting on the depot platform at right. That may be a large family or perhaps a school group out on a field trip. |
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Postcard View of Railroad Avenue in Hopewell Junction about 1910. Stickels collection The large building left of center is now the Hopewell Inn. The building farther to the left is now Geeks Place with route 376 making a sharp turn between the buildings. At far right is the Bordens Creamery while the depot, freight house and tower are in the distance. Note the old car parked in front of the store at left. |
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Hopewell Junction train yard about 1910 By 191 the railroads of Hopewell Junction were controlled by the New Haven Railroad. Many of the trains were lettered CNE (Central New England) Railway. The CNE was financed and controlled by the NH until it was absorbed completely into the NH in 1927. The large white building at left was the Bordens Creamery which opened in 1901. The Hopewell Junction depot had been on this side of the creamery until it was moved to the rail crossing sometime between 1901 and 1908. Note that the creamery has one smoke stack. A second was added later. Also there are no dormer windows on the roof of the creamery. Three were added later. In the center you may notice three boys sitting on a pile of railroad ties and just watching trains. At the time this photo was taken, airplanes and cars were a rare sight and there was no radio or television but trains could be a source of entertainment every day of the week. From the looks of this photo there was plenty of train traffic to watch. |
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| Click here to see more about Hopewell Junction |
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