Beacon Line - History

History

The Beacon Line consists of parts of two former railroads:

• The Beacon Secondary Track, formerly known as the Newburgh, Dutchess and Connecticut Railroad, which runs from a connection south of Beacon, NY on the Hudson Line at the former Dutchess Junction to Hopewell Junction

• The Maybrook Line, or Maybrook Branch, which runs from Hopewell Junction to Danbury, Connecticut, where it joins the Danbury Branch. The Beacon Line is considered to end at the Danbury Branch; however, the portion in Connecticut is owned by the Housatonic Railroad, although Metro-North may move trains over that portion.

The Maybrook Line was the main east-west freight service of the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad, which became part of the Penn Central system in 1969, and subsequently Conrail in 1976. Service was originally from Maybrook, New York in Orange County via the Poughkeepse Railroad Bridge through Hopewell Junction, where it connected to the Hudson Line via the Beacon Secondary. It continued to a connection with the Waterbury Branch in Derby, Connecticut. The Housatonic Railroad owns and operates the portion between Danbury and Derby, which is the last remaining portion of the Maybrook which sees active freight use.

The portion west of Hopewell Junction to Maybrook was placed out of service in 1974 when a fire damaged the Poughkeepsie Bridge. Penn Central diverted traffic to the lightly used Beacon Secondary and upgraded it. Freight traffic abruptly halted when Conrail rerouted freight bound for New England to Springfield, MA via the Boston Line, and then south to New Haven, CT. Infrequent freight service continued for a short while but there is currently no freight service on the line.

The refurbished bridge is now a New York State Park, Walkway Over The Hudson. The remainder of the Beacon Line has also been placed out of service in a cost-saving measure.