December 1, 1842, the Housatonic Railroad was completed to the Massachusetts-Connecticut state line. The Berkshire Railroad was opened up at this time between that point and West Stockbridge. The West Stockbridge Railroad was built from West Stockbridge to State Line Mass. and was opened April 10, 1844. Both of these roads became part of the Housatonic Railroad. 'The Stockbridge and Pittsfield Railroad was opened between Van Deusenville and Pittsfield on Dec. 24, 1849. The Housatonic operated this road under perpetual lease.

The New York Housatonic and Northern Railroad, Danbury to Brookfield Jct., conveyed to William H. Barnum, as Trustee for the Housatonic, May 6, 1881. This portion of the road is part of the route over which New York-Pittsfield express trains have been running for well over half a century.

The Danbury and Norwalk Railroad between Danbury and South Norwalk opened February 22, 1852 and was leased to the Housatonic Railroad July 21, 1887. This has been a busy piece of railroad. July 1882, this road was extended South Norwalk to Wilson Point.

The Ridgefield branch, Branchville to Ridgefield opened July 1, 1870.

The Hawleyville Branch, Bethel to Hawleyville, was opened July 1872 and was abandoned June 6, 1911 and with the exception of the portion of the Meriden, Waterbury and Connecticut River Railroad, between Westfield, Conn., and Cromwell, this was the first portion of railroad abandoned on Lines West.

The New Haven and Derby Railroad was opened New Haven to Ansonia (or, Derby Jct.,) August 5, 1871. The Railroad YMCA on South Orange Street, New Haven, was formerly the New Haven and Derby Depot. This building was later moved 50 feet to its present location.

The New Haven and Derby engine house was located at West Street, New Haven.

November 14, 1888, the New Haven and Derby opened an extension, Derby Jct. to a point in Huntington, 3.79 miles.

November 28, 1888 the Housatonic Railroad opened a branch from Botsford to connect with New Haven and Derby extension, 9.79 miles. Old timers used to refer to this portion of the road as the extension and at that time freight trains were run from New Haven to Wilson Point via Botsford, Hawleyville and Bethel.

The New Haven and Derby Railroad was leased to the Housatonic Railroad July 9, 1889 and the Housatonic Railroad was leased to the New York, New Haven and Hartford September 10, including the Danbury and Norwalk and the New Haven and Derby Railroads. Passenger trains of the former Housatonic Railroad, known for many years as the Berkshire Division, were run to the Union Station, New Haven.

Around 1913, the Berkshire was double-tracked from Berkshire Jct. to New Milford.

Mr. Mellen, who was President of the road, had plans to make many improvements north of New Milford; he also had a line surveyed from State Line, Mass., to a point on the Rutland, planning to install through service over this route to Montreal, but for some reason the plan was dropped, and a few years later the line from Berkshire Jct. to New Milford was restored to single track operation.

In an interesting newspaper account of Mr. Fred Tanners' (conductor) railroad career of 56 years, it states that a passenger train left State Line at 9:00 a.m. arriving at Bridgeport at 3:00 p.m. in the 1860's. A stop was made at Merwensville for dinner, the conductor was required to sit at the head of the table whether or not he ate. When he arose, it was a signal for passengers to get back on the train. The old hotel still stands beside the tracks of the railroad.

There was still standing, in West Stockbridge, as late as 1916, a building which served as the first roundhouse in Massachusetts. It was built when West Stockbridge was the eastern terminal of the Hudson and West Stockbridge Railroad.

The Berkshire is noted for its beautiful scenery, running in sight of the clean Housatonic River much of the way. Then there are many interesting things to see, among them Lover's Leap near where Still River empties into the Housatonic River about three miles south of New Milford. Still River is one of the few rivers that runs north. After passing through the fine towns of New Milford and Kent, you can see Kent Falls on the right. These falls are unusual in that they don't fall directly, but plunge down a perfect rock stairway. Then come the Cornwalls. Cornwall Bridge Station is one of the most picturesque country stations that can be found anywhere. It is located close to the river and at this point the valley is narrow and with the wide river and the mountains on both sides, making a beautiful picture. On Canaan station, there is a locomotive weather vane which has been there since the 70's. One day in the 1920's, two men were sent up from Danbury to take it down. Just as they had it down on the platform, Mr. Ed Finonery, the agent, happened to come along and saw it. He took off his hat, spit, put his hat on, spit again, and wanted to know who told the men to take it down. They told him they had orders to bring it to Danbury where it was to be cleaned up and placed in the Superintendent's office. Ed told them that the weather vane didn't belong to the railroad, it belonged to the town of Canaan and it would have to be put back. The men, however, took it to Danbury as ordered, but in three days they brought it back and put it in its former place and it is still there.

After passing Housatonic, we soon come to the famous curve south of Glendale, then into Stockbridge; from here a fine view of the old man of the mountain may be had. Then past the marble quarries at Lee and on to Lenox, which was known as the summer home of millionaires. The New York-Pittsfield express, which ran Saturday afternoon only, was called the Millionaire's Express. The morning express out of New York and the afternoon express out of Pittsfield in the early 1900's were known as the Lenox Express.

Soon after leaving Lenox, we arrive in the busy and attractive city of Pittsfield, the end of the line, being thoroughly rested after our ride through this beautiful country in streamlined, air-conditioned cars.

Besides the New York-Pittsfield express, another famous train was the Milk Train, locally known as the Big Milk. This train ran from Pittsfield to Bridgeport, picking up and loading milk as far as Newtown, arriving in Bridgeport with from 25 to 30 carloads every day. From there, the train ran to New York. After the creameries at Hawleyville and Newtown closed, the milk train ran to New York via Danbury and South Norwalk.

The creameries up the Berkshire are now closed and the Big Milk is just a memory .

The Berkshire is about the only piece of railroad on the system that has passenger train competition. The Harlem Railroad, Chatham to New York, has many stations on its line only a few miles west of the stations on the Berkshire. At one time the Berkshire had a large percentage of the New York travel, but with automobiles coming into common use, many people from towns on the Berkshire drove over to nearby stations on the Harlem Railroad. This went on for some time and a good part of the New York travel went over to the Harlem. In 1935-6, the New Haven decided to promote business to and from Berkshire County and a concerted effort was made to recapture the traffic which had left the Berkshire and had gone to the Harlem Division of the New York Central from Hillsdale, N. Y. With the cooperation of the business interests, hotels and recreational centers, the Passenger Department's promotional program resulted in increasing the New York-Berkshire County traffic and recapturing the traffic which was moving on the Harlem Division.

We can't leave the Berkshires without saying a few words in memory of the famous pies and other good things we had to eat in the lunch room in Canaan station. They were remembered by people from all parts of, the country. It is said that once an, European Ambassador stopped there and ate some of the famous pies and when he returned to Europe, he wrote a poem about them. It gives us a feeling of sadness to learn that the famous lunch room is no more.

The large frog that has been sitting in a pond near Lenox since long before the railroad was built, is still on the job, as the story is told about an engineer who was running engine number 10. Quite often his train was late and it is said that when his train went by, the frog would croak No. 10 late again.

For many years, the Housatonic R. R. shops were located in Falls Village, but soon after the Housatonic was leased to the New York, New Haven and Hartford, these shops were closed and the repair work transferred to New Haven Shops.

The Berkshire is now part of the New Haven Division, and with its connections with the Boston & Albany at Pittsfield and State Line, makes an important outlet to points west.