NDC Railroad between Hopewell Junction and Millbrook

	Central New England Railway Home Page This page is an overview of the entire railway in Connecticut and New York.
Central New England Railway in New York State This page is an overview of the railway as it existed in New York State.
Central New England Railway in Hopewell Junction This page is about the CNE in the Hopewell Junction area.
Central New England Railway's Great Bridge at Poughkeepsie This page is about the CNE' bridge at Poughkeepsie.
The Rhinebeck & Connecticut This page is about the Rhinebeck & Connecticut which became part of the Central New England Railway.
The Railroads of Pine Plains Pine Plains was the intersection of three railroads, all of which became part of the Central New England Railway.
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.
Connecticut Connection A trip along the Central New England Railway (CNE) from Canaan, Connecticut to the New York State Line.
Maybrook Yard The major freight yard where the CNE connected with other railroads was at Maybrook.
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.
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.
P&E in the Poughkeepsie Area Part of the The Central New England Railway (CNE) was the Poughkeepsie & Eastern (P&E)
P&E North of Poughkeepsie Area Part of the The Central New England Railway (CNE) was the Poughkeepsie & Eastern (P&E)
Poughkeepsie & Connecticut One of the railroads that formed the Central New England Railway was the Poughkeepsie & Connecticut.
The Central New England in Connecticut A great WebSite from Tim Dowd on the remains of the CNE in Connecticut
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 "Hopewell Junction to Millbrook"

Hopewell Junction depot in the late 1930's

You can see just a bit of the double track Maybrook Line at the right edge of this picture.

Under the floor of Hopewell Junction Depot

When restoration work began on the Hopewell Junction Depot we found a section of old RR rail holding up part of the floor. There was also a mysterious round hole about 6 inches across in the floor. We later found the purpose of the hole. In the crawl space underneath was a large pile of empty beer bottles.

Visitors at the Hopewell Junction yard.

In November 2003 this short train was parked in the Hopewell Junction yard. A bit of research turned up the fact that it is leased to a company that is burying fiber optic communication lines along the roadbed of the former Maybrook Line. In the distance at right you can see some bright orange fiber optic cable reels.

USGS map of Hopewell Junction and Clove Branch before the 1898 abandonment.

The railroad branching off to the right is not labeled correctly. The name should be the Clove Branch RR not Clove Valley. This short 4 mile line was built to haul iron ore out of the mines at Sylvan Lake. It was later extended an additional 4 miles through Beekman to an iron furnace in Clove Valley. After the iron ore business moved to the Great Lakes area, the Clove Branch RR was abandoned and torn out in 1898.

Clove Branch depot.

This rather fuzzy photo is the only one I have found so far of the Clove Branch depot. If anybody has a better photo, I would certainly like to see it and copy it for my history files.

Clove Branch RR building still in use in Beekman.

Sylvan Lake to Clove Valley map. This extension of the Clove Branch RR was built after the failure of the NYB&M in 1873. The ND&C RR was formed in 1877 and one of their first projects was to use leftover NYB&M materials to build the extension to an iron furnace in Clove Valley.

“General Schultze” at Sylvan Lake.

This double ended locomotive was purchased new to replace the wrecked “Washington” for hauling iron ore out of the Sylvan Lake mines.

Clove Branch RR abutment.

More than 100 years after abandonment, you can still find evidence of the Clove Branch RR. This spot is along Recreation Road near a large housing development.

Clove Branch hiking trail.

A part of the Clove Branch RR is still in use as a hiking trail. Recreation Road is just off the right edge of this picture.

Clove Valley Creamery.

This small creamery operation in Clove Valley was a converted farm house.

Clove Valley Furnace ruins.

The remains of the Clove Valley iron furnace are in the yard of a private home on Furnace Road in Clove Valley. The Clove Branch RR tracks ended on the high ground behind the ruins.

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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.

Arthursburg Station 1932.

Between Hopewell Junction and Millbrook, the ND&C tracks ran close to route 82. The road at left is what route 82 used to look like. This station was a couple hundred yards south of the intersection of Arthursburg Road..

Milk stand at Arthursburg.

The dairy business was a big part of ND&C operations. Farmers would put milk in 10 gallon cans and bring the cans to a railroad pickup point. Trains would collect the cans and haul them to a local creamery for bottling and shipping to New York City. This stand was located in Arthursburg along the ND&C tracks. You can see part of route 82 behind the stand.

This USGS map was drawn before the current route 82 was built. You can see that the road and the train tracks were not strictly parallel. When the new route 82 was built it followed very near the train tracks and was much straighter than the farm roads on this map.

The original LaGrange station burned and was replaced with insurance money in 1904. The 1904 station building is still in use as a private home.

Billings Station.

This view is looking south along the ND&C tracks at Billings. The bridge in the background has been replaced by route 55. Route 82 is just off the left side of the picture. Foundations of these buildings are now on the property of a heating oil business.

ND&C RR roadbed in Billings.

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Map of Moores Mill and Verbank

Moores Mills in 1932.

Moores Mills station.

ND&C station at Moores Mills.

Verbank in 1932.

Verbank station.

Verbank station and freight house.

Postcard view of Verbank.

Verbank freight house.

The Verbank freight house is still in use today as storage space for an appliance business.

USGS map of Oak Summit and Millbrook in 1899.

The original name of Oak Summit was Coffins Corner, for the Coffin family in the area.

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