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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 "The finalphase of the NYC rebuilding at Fishkill Landing" |
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Northbound NYC train near Fishkill Landing. Beacon Historical Society collection The Hudson line which became part of the NYC had been in operation for nearly 20 years when the first east-west railroad was built. The Dutchess & Columbia connected to the Hudson line at Dutchess Junction in 1868. In 1881 the NY&NE built a connecting track and ferry service at Fishkill Landing just north of Dutchess Junction. This NYC train is along the shore of the Hudson River between those two points. Fishkill Landing became part of Beacon in 1913. |
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Fishkill Landing was built on trestles and fill. Beacon Historical Society collection The shoreline at Fishkill Landing changed shape many times when the railroads needed more room. The lettering on the tender of this engine says “Walsh Construction Company, Davenport Iowa”. Most of the train cars are NY Central. |
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Bridge over Fishkill Creek. Beacon Historical Society collection Here is the Walsh Construction Company crew working on the bridge over Fishkill Creek. The creek was the dividing line between Fishkill Landing and Dutchess Junction. In the background you can see what appears to be a cliff at the edge of the NYC main line. This was the fill leading up to a bridge over the main built by the BH&E RR that went bankrupt in 1870. That bridge and a trestle over the bay was to be the access to a deep water port on Dennings Point which is behind the locomotive to the right. Dutchess Junction was just beyond the BH&E fill and bridge. |
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The Hudson line south of Fishkill Landing. Beacon Historical Society collection |
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The Hudson line south of Fishkill Landing Beacon Historical Society collection |
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South end of the tunnel at Breakneck Ridge. Art Church collection When this photo was taken there were only two tracks and no road tunnel. This looks like a very dangerous road crossing with almost no visibility to the north through the tunnel. This tunnel was one of the obstacles that slowed the construction of this line in the late 1840's. There was no room to go around the cliff because it drops into deep water in the Hudson River at left. |
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Tunnel at Breakneck Ridge. Beacon Historical Society collection The story says that Breakneck Ridge got it’s name because of a farmer’s stray bull that fell down the cliff and broke his neck. You can see a bit of the Hudson River at far left. |
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Twentieth Century Limited Wreck 13 March 1912 Richard Teed collection The Hudson River seems to be frozen over. There are people walking on the ice. |
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NYC rotary snowplow. Beacon Historical Society collection When clearing the Hudson Line the plows could conveniently throw the snow in the river in many places. |
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NYC tunnel ice breaker. Beacon Historical Society collection This modified hopper car was used on the Hudson Line to break ice that formed around the tunnel ports along the river. In warm weather you could often find it parked south of Beacon. |
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NYC Niagara pulling a passenger train. Beacon Historical Society collection This train is southbound at Beacon. You can see the road bridge over the tracks in the background. At left is the former NY&NE ferry yard that later was occupied by the CNE and the New Haven. See the specifications for this locomotive. |
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ALCO PA and PB at Beacon. Beacon Historical Society collection A New York Central ALCO PA and PB are charging past Beacon on the way north and west. The National Biscuit Company building at left was the carton printing plant for Nabisco products. That building today is a museum of modern art in Beacon. The tracks at right were the CNE and New Haven which crossed over the NYC main on a bridge to Fishkill and the Maybrook line connection at Hopewell Junction. These tracks are still in use by MTA Metro North and AMTRAK. |
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New York Central
20th Century Limited along the Hudson Bruce Wolfe collection, courtesy of Bernie Rudberg In 1947 a trio of EMD E units are powering the 20th Century Limited southbound along the banks of the Hudson River. This train had just thundered through Beacon and was heading for the engine change at Harmon. Since these diesel engines were not welcome under the streets of Manhattan, an electric engine would pull the limited the rest of the way into Grand Central Terminal. |
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Join the
Central New England Railway 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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Dutchess Junction in 1950. Lee Beaujon collection When the CNE took over operation of the ND&C RR they began a program of abandonment. Among the first things to go in 1907 were the ND&C shop facilities at Dutchess Junction. In 1916 the passenger service stopped. Over the year the rest of Dutchess Junction followed. By 1950 all that was left was a lonely passenger shelter. Today even that shelter is gone. AMTRAK and Metro North riders might glance up from their newspaper to see only woodland and maybe a few bricks as the train thunders past what was Dutchess Junction. In the distance along the tracks you can see the bridge over Fishkill Creek. Beyond that short bridge is the Fishkill Landing section of the City of Beacon. In the left distance across the bay is Dennings Point. |
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Dutchess Junction today. Austin McEntee colletion You can still find some weathered concrete and a few bricks where Dutchess Junction used to be. |
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The Hudson Line south of Beacon. Austin McEntee collection The Hudson Line is no longer a four track main. AMTRAK and Metro North make do with two tracks. At left is Bannerman’s castle on Polopel Island. At one time the castle housed a collection of war relics and surplus ammunition. The City of Newburgh is along the river bank in the distance. Dutchess Junction and Beacon are out of view around the bend to the right. |
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Join the
New York & New England/Central New England Forum
at RAILROAD.NET |
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Beacon station in the 1980's Jim Moseman collection In this photo there is no sign of the stations and platforms built in 1915. In the background is the outline of the Beacon Newburgh bridge which drove the ferry out of business in 1963. |
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Beacon station today. B Rudberg photo In 2005 the passenger ferry service has been revived and seems to be doing well with commuters who take the Metro North trains to New York City. |
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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) | |
| 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 |
| REFERENCE SECTION |
| The CNE from Wikipedia |
| The NY Central Railroad from Wikipedia |
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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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Metro-North Railroad is seeking a developer to partner with in a transit-oriented development project at Beacon Station in
Dutchess County, N.Y., on the Upper Hudson Line.
Metro-North plans to create a destination that serves as a “gateway” to Beacon, reclaim the riverfront and link the riverfront to downtown Beacon. The station master plan calls for building a parking garage with landscaped rooftop garden elements, an intermodal plaza, and an expanded and improved train station. The Beacon station is one of the fastest growing in the Metro-North system, according to the agency. Since 1998, peak ridership has grown 34 percent and off-peak ridership, 60 percent. The station currently serves 2,100 passengers daily; ridership is expected to grow another 60 percent by 2020. |
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Railroads On The Rebound |
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Over the last 50+ years, railroads have changed a lot. Now they are about to change again.
It is all about a combination of economic factors and climate factors. Since 1950 , railroads have consolidated. Freight moved from a "box car mentality" to a "unit train,mentality". Passenger went from a robust business to a "caretaker" arrangement called AMTRAK. This happened as everybody could drive for free on the Interstate Highway System or fly on an airline system where the government subsidized both airlines and airports. In the meantime, railroad express and railroad post offices went "down the tubes". The old Post Office Department and the Railway Express Agency could not adjust to the new way. UPS and Fex Ex could. |
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Carbon Calculator
What's the most environmentally-friendly way to transport goods? The answer is freight rail. The EPA estimates that every ton-mile of freight that moves by rail instead of by highway reduces greenhouse emissions by two-thirds. But what does that really mean? Our easy-to-use carbon calculator will estimate the amount of carbon dioxide that can be prevented from entering our environment just by using freight rail instead of trucks. We'll even tell you how many seedlings you'd need to plant to have the same effect. |
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WIKIPEDIA: the free-content encyclopedia that anyone can edit. WIKIPEDIA contains several articles of interest to the New York Central historian or fan: New York Central Railroad List of New York Central Railroad precursors List of defunct United States railroads Grand Central Terminal List of New York railroads List of Indiana railroads List of Michigan railroads List of Massachusetts railroads List of Ohio Railroads List of Pennsylvania railroads List of West Virginia Railroads United States railroads Amtrak Penn Central Northeast Corridor Some of these articles have been developed by our staff researchers K.C. Jones. and Penney Vanderbilt Any connection to Casey Jones....America's Railroad Legend is purely coincidental. |
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