ABANDONED TRAIN TRACKS FROM THE NY,NH and HARTFORD RAILROAD
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- Опубликовано: 1 авг 2020
- #abandoned #explore #railroad #NYNHH #traintracks
I was checking out these abandoned train tracks at a location called the historic Higganum station. Unfortunately the station is long gone and All That Remains is some track in a parking lot, but upon further investigation I found it was part of the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad.
I dug around online for a while and found a picture of the original station that once stood there, but I did not add it to the video because I'm not sure how it works with the rights to other peoples pictures.
We just walked around a little bit, checked out the beauty of the overgrown abandoned rail. There is also an abandoned rail Bridge nearby that I want to go back and check out hopefully sometime soon.
Just a short one, hope you all enjoyed it, thanks for watching and remember to get out there and DISCOVER YOUR WORLD!!
You never know what abandonment is right around the corner from where you are!!
Sorry, John D. is incorrect. This is the Valley Branch of the New Haven RR. This line was chartered and built as the Connecticut Valley Railroad and was completed on July 29th,1871. It runs from Hartford to Old Saybrook with a connection with the NH shoreline at Old Saybrook. The line was leased for 99 years by the New Haven RR. The line last saw revenue trains in 1971 when PC then Conrail took it over. Parts of this line are active today. The Essex Steam Train of the Connecticut Valley Railroad operate from Essex north to outside of East Haddam. The north end of the line is operated by a common carrier railroad today from Hartford to Middletown. The section between is still not in use. The Essex folks want to extend the Steam train north through this abandoned section to include Higganum. But as you've said it needs a lot of work. Mostly tie replacement as on the bridge and the railroad itself. How do I know this? I used to live in Wethersfield and it went through my backyard! As a kid this was a 6 day a week operation except Sundays. Second. I am a model railroader and model this line in my basement in HO scale. You can see my videos under William Shanaman or Bill Shanaman. This line is indeed historical and I would love to see it come completely back. Time will tell. Just to answer your question about that little section of track off the main line in Higganum, this was used by track crews as a speeder set out. These were the little motorized carts they used. In the bridge video the rock pilings you pointed out are indeed piling supports for an old wooden bridge that was replaced by the steel one above. As for the the other abutments closer to the river I couldn't tell you. I would guess an old wagon road. Bill Shanaman
Great info Bill!👍
Popped on the comments just to see how many times he was told about the set outs for the maintenance crews, lol.
I'm also planning a MRR in HO set in the northeast, probably upstate NY - so looking forward to checking out your channel, thanks! And Merry Christmas to you as well!
-Charlie
Thank you so much for that information. Always trying to learn more on these historic places and tracks, this is great info.
Also, I did speak with one of the local residents when I went back who told me the same thing about them wanting to repair and run the steam train through at some point oh, I think that would be awesome. Going to need a lot of work and a portion of it was completely washed out, it would be great if they did.
Thank you for your time in the reply, much appreciated
Open Eyes I did too! Asked my son though 😀
Thanks for this. I love this history of it all.
Thanks
That little piece of track at 1:51 was for a speeeder. Track inspection crews would use them and these little pieces of track would give them a place to get off the main tracks to meet a train.
We had one of these by my house, and the workers just called them "set offs".
Correcto-Mundo!
Brilliant! I am looking forward to seeing the bridge.
Me too, I'm excited. I saw a while back on Google Maps but couldn't find anywhere close to park, now that I have found this spot I'll be able to get to it
You got me to search for NYNH & H haha, not realizing it was on the description already! haha! New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad! Cool history! Fully watched and the ads, enjoyed it!
Pretty much all railroads in CT were owned by the NYNH&H. Tracing the lineage of predecessor companies can be a major time vampire.
Excellent find,Rich! I would really love,to see that bridge,over the Connecticut River! That little track,I think has something to do,with to regulate the speed,of the train! Stay safe and take care,brother! God bless!☺❤
The side track is for a inspection car called a speeder. Valley Railroad
It's so interesting that it's now completely grown over.
Rich DISCOVERIES that track off the side at the old station site is for track speeder car and the railroad line is the new haven airline 98=1898/ 06 =June
This is such a beautiful area
Hey Rich! So glad to see you!! Thank you to Mrs Rich and the littles for being patient so we can enjoy this beautiful place!! Thank you for a beautiful video!!!
Yes, they're usually pretty good with that as long as I don't take too long LOL that's why I didn't go any farther to the bridge because I know I'd get lost for about an hour and by this point everybody was itching to get going home after swimming all afternoon. I'll get back up there soon on a day off and try to get some footage of the old abandoned Bridge
Great find. I love the Valley Line. Check out the 1959 movie “It Happened to Jane” with Doris Day, Jack Lemmon and Ernie Kovacs. Many scenes were filmed in Chester and on the Valley Line as it runs along the old Route 9. It was also filmed in Plainfield, CT and at Hartford Union Station. My grandfather was an extra in a couple of scenes. Lots of railroad action, with New Haven equipment painted as the fictional Eastern & Portland RR. One scene features a pan shot of the steam train crossing a bridge in Haddam as seen from old Route 9. If you have a mountain bike, it might be fun to pedal further up the line toward Middletown.
I apologize that I missed this comment. Thank you for all of that, I will check it out. Absolutely love history, especially when I can see views of it from the past.
And I do have a mountain bike that I ride quite regularly. I will look into that and see if I can ride up there. Thank you again for that
Those rails that cross but aren’t connected is a mystery!! Thanks, it was beautiful out there!!
There he is!!! Good Sunday Morning!!
Hello there my friend!!
Rails laid in 1898
thought the 06 meant 1906
Rails were laid in 1871, replaced during a New Haven track project in 1935. The rail itself may date from 1898.
Beautiful place! Beautiful clouds! Beautiful sky! Absolutely beautiful day! I am sure you really are excited about that finds, my friend! It is amazing seeing this just by the side of a busy city! Really a beautiful area! Greenery all over! Good to catch your notification. See you around. Congrats on the ads! Keep safe always, my friend!
Nice find Rich. Hope you get chance to check out the old bridge.
This section of the Valley line is owned by CDEEP and under long-term lease to the Valley Railroad Company (Essex Steam Train). The section from Shailerville to Maromas does receive an amount of maintenance by the railroad and its volunteer affiliate the Friends of the Valley Railroad. The track is maintained in sufficient condition for hi-rail vehicles and speeders to traverse it where it is not interrupted by washout or fill-in. About 200 replacement ties were installed from this very point (Higganum Station site) to Maromas this past summer. Over the winter the volunteers have been doing brush cutting up on the northern, Maromas end of the line whenever the weather permits. Check out the FVRR at friendsvrr.org/
Pretty cool video. Thanks for sharing
Great video Rich. Would be a good area to mountain bike!
There is a lot of trails up here, there's a lot of private property signs as well. Looks like you could probably mountain bike the tracks themselves for a good portion
That's amazing Rich. It must be well old. Hope you can dig up some history on it. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks, I'm glad you enjoyed it. I absolutely love seeing history like this.
Having this RUclips channel is amazing because it gets me in touch with people that actually know the history of the things I find. There's only so much you can look up on stuff like this, sometimes you never find exactly what you're looking for. So much of this history has been lost and forgotten, but there's still a handful of people out there that know it and love to share it with us.
I have learned so much local history from all of you.
They said this track was part of the airline that once ran through the state, parts of it are still in use mainly for Freight, and there particular tracks were laid approximately 1931
@@richdiscoveries That is really interesting. It warms my heart to try and imagine how it used to be though for some times would have been very hard. Such a shame when you lose the history that could be told to the next generations. Well done Rich. Have a great weekend.
Follow those tracks south to the Essex Steam train depot, go north towards Airline road, to the old Pratt and Whitney shop. It hooks up to the old swing bridge, where Billy Joel sung "In the middle of the night" on the bridge. Middletown/ Portland. The tracks all connect in Middletown, then the tracks north Pat's Rocky Hill ferry crossing, into Hartford, by the MIRA trash to energy plant, north into Springfield/ Agawam area
That 06 could of been 1906.
Very well could have been. I don't know the exact history on these, but some people have told me The Tracks were laid around the twenties or thirties. Could be attract they had laying around for a while, could have been taken from somewhere else.
Not really sure, but either way they are extremely old and a cool piece of local history
Great Job Brother...I am absolutely obsessed with old abandoned Rails....very cool keep up the good work.... Definitely time well spent!!
BTW.... That fucking boat sounded killer!! 👍👊🏁
Thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed it. We still have a decent amount of old Rail and bridges throughout the state, but it slowly gets pulled up over the years with progress.
There was a couple of nice boats out on the water, but that one sounded spectacular. Nice V8 opened up cruising down the lake
Sounds like a v8 evinrude
That is one busy river. Looks a cool place, will check out the bridge video soon.
Yes, this River has a lot of boat traffic on it all summer long, definitely a beautiful area
Dude... every time I watch one of your videos... I learn something. So I looked up the Connecticut river... learned a little about it, then I learned about the name Connecticut... Then I searched NYNH&H, to find out that you were correct New York, New Haven and Hartford Rail Road, and I read a little about that. Keep these videos coming this stuff need to be rediscovered and not forgotten.
Thank you for that my friend, it means a lot. I never realized how many people we're so interested in history until I started watching and filming RUclips. by posting videos like this I have learned so much from the comments of people that know the history of these things.
And as for Connecticut, the Connecticut River, this whole area is enriched in ancient Indian history.
I haven't done it myself, but I have a few friends that get permission to go digging in farms and on river banks of people's properties where they find ancient Indian artifacts.
Arrowheads, tools carved out of stone, Pottery, even pipes. It's amazing to see the stuff people could make out of stone before the Industrial Age, such a beautiful artifacts
Wow that’s cool never seen a railroads name stamped on the rail !
Somebody from somewhere has kept this track remarkably free from brush and other growth. If this is, in fact, part of the old Valley Line, there have been on-again, off-again, on-again, off-again talks for YEARS of reopening the line from Essex to Middletown. Not sure where that stands now. A couple of years ago, I found a website on the subject.
Yes, when I had filmed this I had no idea what it was or what was going on with it. But since I posted it some people came into the comments with information on it. One of the volunteers involved in the historic railroad even sent me an email 2 years ago or so, whenever I posted this, about how they were working on cleaning up different parts of that line and even out by that very part.
Thank you for that information, I'll look around a little bit tonight and see if I can find the website with information on it, I'm curious to know what you're doing as well. I only rode on this Railroad once a few years back, but I try to go to the Shoreline Trolley Museum in Branford two or three times a year with my son.
Also brought him to Steamtown a couple years back, it was the first time I've ever been there and I was blown away how much stuff was there.
@@richdiscoveries
Rich,
Well, I guess I might be a little older ☹ but I can tell you that I actually lived in the Middletown area briefly in 1980-81 while I was doing some recreation therapy training. So, I, too, did some “exploring” back then.
My recollection of the Valley line was that the thing was totally overgrown with vegetation between Deep River and Middletown (actually a couple of miles south and east of Middletown as there was feldspar mine that was still shipping some loads at that time).
But from the feldspar mine to Deep River there were three- and four-inch diameter trees growing between the rails. Yikes ~ ! I was afraid this line would be dead forever.
But there is hope for a possible revival albeit a remote hope. You see, the pictures you shared look good compared with what I had remembered. Somebody cleared and cleaned up a helluva lotta brush through there at some point.
Here is some information from the State on the line:
www.middletownct.gov/DocumentCenter/View/5244/Connecticut-Valley-Railroad-TIGER-Grant-Application-2009-PDF
(Scroll down to the fourth line item on page 3).
The short set of tracks would have been for a maintenance of way cart or speeder, most had sheds over them. However, like the station it’s long gone
Get you a rail bike, and ride those rails. That would be so much fun
That would be awesome. I've seen a bunch of videos of people riding those
2:05 it looks like a speeder stop. When rail crews had small speeders tracks like that where made so the crew could take the speeder off the track and trains could pass.
The siding is possibly a spot to park a hand cart while a train passes
That's what a few people. I didn't even think of that when I was there. Thank you for the info
When was last train on these tracks
'Abandoned train bridge' sounds good to me, buddy. 👍
Should be pretty cool. It looks like it's in horrible condition on Google Maps, so not sure how much I'll be able to do of it, but either way definitely looking forward to getting out there
Wow! That looks like either 80 or 90 pound rail, probably from 1898! There've been a lot of ties probably stolen from these tracks over the years. That would explain the unusual gaps between the ties along these tracks. Overall, these tracks appear to be in reasonably good shape for an abandoned track. To get these tracks reactivated, wouldn't require that much work other than said tie replacement project. I don't know the condition of the rail bridge over the Connecticut River though, as I don't live in this "neck of the woods" so to speak. In my neck of the woods, there's abandoned train tracks of the North Shore Subdivision of the Staten Island Railroad that are in worse shape than these tracks. The abandoned tracks in my area have been abandoned since about 1991 and are just about completely overgrown, mostly a wall of trees as well as suffering washouts in many areas. In 2006, about half of this was restored for freight train activities only. East of Arlington Yard to the Staten Island Ferry terminal, that stretch remains forlorn and abandoned. I've heard a lot of talk about restoring it as a light rail in recent years. When I first came to live on Staten Island back in the late 1980s, (I briefly lived here for a short time then returned in '91) I fondly remember hearing the "wining & growling" of a 567 engined SW1200 switcher engine that was assigned to switch Staten Island. Good times.
When I was looking at them, they were overgrown, but like you said not that bad. I was wondering why because I have found much worse abandoned rail. There is a washout down the rail and it does need a lot of work. But when talking to a neighbor he said people involved with the rail Museum we're doing work in the area and trying to revive it to bring the scenic train through. Then somebody in the comments in either this video or my bridge video reached out to me and said they're involved with the museum and they are keeping up on this area. They're replacing ties and repairing tracks down the line a little ways and are going to continue through here. He did confirm that they are currently working to revive this. That would be absolutely amazing to ride a train on these old tracks along the Connecticut River.
We have an abandoned rail yard on the North Haven/ New Haven line here in Connecticut, and there's literally trees pulling the tracks from the ground. I was wondering why that wasn't happening here, and I was happy to find my answer.
But like you said, I didn't grow up far from the small still in operation section of the railyard in the eighties, and just hearing the sounds of those trains idling in the night and pulling through are great memories.
We are a select few that loves hearing those things run in the night and don't mind getting stuck behind train crossings while trying to get to work in the morning LOL
@@richdiscoveries Awesome that there's people actively working on these tracks to return this line to service. How cool that must be to one day see a train on those tracks again! Keep up the good work, and God bless. Just look out for poisen ivy though, if it has "leaves of three, leave it be".
You are like 5 min from my friends house that had an old mill back in the day. I should get you over there late fall to see.
That sounds interesting. There's definitely a lot of neat history hidden in the woods up here
This was very cool!! Bet you wise you had those attachments were you could have drove on it?? Loll
Now that would be really cool LOL.
I seen a few videos on those, they look like a blast!!
love to see that bridge !
Now that I have found a place somewhat close to park, I'm looking forward to getting out there soon.
On Google Maps it looks to be in horrible condition so not sure how much of it I'll be able to film, but should be cool either way
@@richdiscoveries will still be awesumm i'll bet tho
That boat sounds nasty 🤟🏻🤟🏻🤟🏻
There was a lot of nice boats out on the water both times I was up there. Beautiful area
That's were you parked your speeder, best wishes from the UK
Notice the ties are pretty widely spaced apart, msybs some were removed
They could have been. I talked to someone involved with the Essex steam train organization. I guess they are slowly going through this and refurbishing the line. The plan is to eventually get scenic train to run out there
Back of you in the parking lot, by the station sign it looked like an old freight depot. Turned into the house possibly.
That is very possible. When I went back to film The Bridge a little ways down I talked to the gentleman who lived in that house. Really nice guy, knew a lot about the area. I forget what he said that house originally was, but he did say that structure was there when the station was still there. Apparently a good chunk of that area was railroad property and his building was converted into a house at some point.
So some sort of freight Depot is very possible considering the train station was right next to it
RICH DISCOVERIES Cool 😎
You need a speeder to ride the old tracks. That track by the river may have had a baggage cart on it to load the train.
Shared❗
This is the old "Airline", the route from New Haven to Boston. The portion from New Haven to Portland is still in use today by the P&W, crosses Clintonville Road in North Haven and runs past, interchanges with the Tilcon CT Quarry in Wallingford.
Awesome information my friend, you always have the answers for all the questions I have when looking at Old rail related stuff. Thank you so much for your time and sharing that history with us
I believe this is the Valley Branch running from Hartford to Old Saybrook and then into Fenwick. The line has been restored and in use from Hartford to P&WA in Middletown. The Airline crosses the Connecticut River between Portland and Middletown and continues south to Cedar Hill.
@@edwardj3988 I agree with Edward. Higganum is part of the Valley Branch, who's southern end is used by the Essex Steam Train. There's been recent (within past 5 years) brush clearing and track restoration in hopes of extending the steam run further north than where it currently ends near one of the river marinas.
there's a bunch of abandoned tracks in Dutchess County on route 9 in fishkill
You say it is over grown, but it is not. Somebody is doing a lot of cutting growth back and clearing downed wood. There'd be a wall of brush with mixed in downed wood after a few years without growth inhibitor chemicals and growth removal. Gas string trimmers are a bit slow, but allow getting at growth beside the rails and can be used to swing up and get hanging in light growth from the sides. This tends to average out to form the sides of a vegetative tunnel which looks to be the case when looking over a distance along these rails. A walk behind lawnmower can be dragged backwards over the ties between the rails to cut much faster and better than string trimmers.
The Coalition for the Capital Crescent Trail in Washington D.C. and Montgomery Co. MD did "rail-trail" preparation on the existing out of service Georgetown Branch railroad tracks in 1988-93 using these techniques. There is a much high growth rate around Washington D.C. than Connecticut. We also had a lot of medium lived trees that likely started life about when the railroad was built 80 years previous dying creating huge log jams and forming vine arbors to untangle with chainsaws and then move and stack large wood rounds on the R.O.W. property lines because there is no way for volunteers to remove tons and tons of wood. You might check to see if you ever see some string trimmer line along the tracks where the string trimmer kicks out the last foot or so of line when it reaches the end of its supply as evidence of that tool being used.
were you parked on depot road? I looked on google maps, the bridge was literally right on the other side of the curve where you stopped
Yes, it was not far at all from where I was. I'm going to head back up there, park in that lot again and walk down to it soon. I didn't want to spend too much time that day, everybody was waiting for me in the car and itching to head home LOL.
I know if I want to check out that bridge, I probably would have spent an hour trying to film it from different angles oh, I absolutely love this kind of history
Rail stamping seems to suggest 98 pound per yard rail made in 1906.
side track is for parking a workmans trolley.
Yes they had down along time ago for Hand cars and that’s with that were used for beautiful historic sites I live in breathe for historic sites on the railroad.
thank you for that, always trying to learn more. And yes I feel the same, I absolutely love these beautiful historic rail locations. A lot of it has been tore up around here, but there's still a good amount tucked away in the woods just waiting to be explored
Any time you can see flange marks in the dirt , something has been on the track , but since the rail isnt shiny , its light, inthink a rail bike maybe, more likely a light speeder or putt putt
In the old days speeders were called putt putts
Oh hell yeah Rich! Buy yourself a jetboat 😁
I wish, maybe one day LOL
These people were definitely having a great time out on the water. Such a beautiful area as well
Get or make a little cart with flanges wheels so you can travel on the tracks. See more in less time. Put a cooler on it and bring along lunch and beer.
Be careful of missing sections or out of gauge rail.
Now that would be a good time. I've watched a bunch of videos of people who had made those and they look like a lot of fun. Not sure how far I'd be able to go on this line, there's a section washed out about a half a mile away.
There is talk of rebuilding this line at some point to run the Old Scenic steam train through here, that would be great if they ever did
That's a crossover. They cut that when they removed that cross line. There must have been a bridge and a line that they took out a long time ago. See if there is a usgs map showing the old ROW for that line they tore out
Makes sense if that was a historical site
They must have had 2 railroads using the station
It's a Speeder park.
For parking a Hand Cart or Speeder (inspection cart).
wow,, that cross track was so unsual,,,,,
I want to follow this line on Google Maps a little farther and see if I can find any more good spots or more bridges
@@richdiscoveries a great resource is the old aerial photos,,,,,
Surprised it hasn’t been converted to a bike trail. When that happens they’re really gone for good.
A lot of them around here have, but I think most of their time and effort went into the section that goes from New Haven all the way up through Cheshire. I believe it goes all the way up through Farmington and farther now. Over the last 20 years or so they have paved miles and miles of Trail, it's absolutely beautiful out there
👍😇
I wonder if that is rails for a railcart. A hand operated railcar? Maybe?
That rail is from June 1898
I love this video. These are the same things I like to explore, although I'm not sure what the creator thinks that backwards cap shoved down low on his forehead does for the image of his perceived level of intelligence. Anyway, thanks for sharing with us.
Its a MOW track, a Motor Car set off
Its a "set out"
Thank you for that. I'm always trying to learn more about these old tracks and historic rail
You need a rail cart
People are allowed to walk there?
They hauled all the old tracks up around here and turned the bed into walking trails.
They did that with a lot of the Rails around here as well, even portions of this very line. I do enjoy that because it gives us a chance to get out and walk these old lines and even tunnels or Bridges. But that aside, there is still tons of old abandoned rail throughout the state, I love finding it. It's such a awesome history to see and to think about the people that actually laid those tracks and ties. People that are long since forgotten that were just out making money to raise their family, families who have grown up and raised families of Their Own by now. Just pretty cool to see and think about
My town had like 5 different lines at one time. There all gone now, but you. An tell ware they were. And in town some of it became roads.
Little kid