RE: Central New England

Have some questions to ask about the CNE.

1.) I was told that Maybrook, NY was the western terminus of the CNE, if this is the case, looking at my steam powered video's railroad atlas, what would be the eastern terminus? Hartford CT?

2.) Why the new haven abandon much of the CNE in the 30's?

RE: Central New Englandd

In regard to your CNE questions:

1. Hartford was the eastern end of the CNE

2. When the New Haven purchased the CNE they really were only interested in the Poughkeepsie Bridge and the connections at Maybrook. The rest of the CNE generated only a moderate amount of traffic and most of the stations on the CNE were also served by north/south branches of the New Haven.

The New Haven actually severed the CNE connection to the Poughkeepsie Bridge in 1932. Most of the remainder was abandoned in the 1930's due to lack of traffic and the Depression.

RE: Central New England

It was in July, 1938 that the major portions of the CNE east of Poughkeepsie in Dutchess and Columbia Counties, N.Y. was abandoned. Also, around the same time, most of the trackage within Connecticut was also abandoned although much of it hadn't had any service since the mid 1920's. From what I have heard, the New Haven didn't expect to get permission to abandon as much trackage as they had petitioned for within New York State and they were pleasantly surprised when the ICC gave them virtually everything that they had asked for.

RE: Central New EnglandSarge Just to confuse the issue...

On January 1st, 1927 the Central New England Railway was merged into the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad. However, prior to that, the following rail entities were part and parcel to the New Haven's Western Gateway and connecting lines:

Central New England Railway Company

Philadelphia, Reading and New England Railroad Company

Poughkeepsie and Bridge Company

Central New England and Western Railroad Company

Hudson River Connecting Railroad Company

Poughkeepsie and Connecticut Railroad Company

Hartford and Connecticut Western Railroad Company

Connecticut Western Railroad Company

Rhinebeck and Connecticut Railroad Company

East Granby and Suffield Railroad Company

Dutchess County Railroad Company

Newburgh, Dutchess and Connecticut Railroad Company

One took over another, and merged with another, etc., etc., or had trackage rights, or leased the company, until it all became one while others disappeared. The entire issue was the subject of a three-volume book now long out of print and extremely hard to find. As with most New Haven Railroad subjects, there is no simple answer to a seemingly simple question.

RE: Central New England

I just purchased a copy of "Twenty-Five Years on the ND&C" by Bernard Rudberg (very interesting book) and it lists in the references a three-volume set on the CNE by Robert W. Nimke. Any idea what the title is and when it was published?

RE: Central New England

Bob Nimke's three volume history of the Central New England Railway and all of it's predecessors came out in 1995/1996. There were just 500 copies of each volume printed and they were distributed exclusively by the author himself. Recently a set came up for sale on eBay and brought in about $325.00 for their owner.

RE: Central New England

The L-1 2-10-2s:

Weren't they originally ordered by the CNE? Did they ever operate over the CNE?

RE: Central New England

The L1's were ordered by the New Haven, but the NH leased the Maybrook line up to Danbury to the CNE to operate.along with the L1's. There must have been some money to be made with this arrangement. The crews went on to Cedar Hill..

RE: Central New England

Biggest problem with the northern route of the CNE was the presence of major grades and the light rail and general construction. There was not too much on line business especially in Connecticut.