The New Canaan Railroad - a Connecticut Branch Line

Credits & Recommended Links

Railroad's Impact on American Society

1916, often referred to as the Golden Age of Railroading, was the year when railroads reached their apex in the United States. Ninety-eight percent of all intercity passenger and 77% of all intercity freight traffic was shipped by rail. Almost every family in America had a father, brother, uncle, or cousin working for the railroad. Almost no one in American lived beyond the sound of a locomotive's whistle.

Sadly, railroad ridership declined considerably during the 1960s. A major reason for this was the creation of the Interstate highway system by President Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1957. America's railroads—if given proper attention and resources, offer an economically and ecologically valid alternative to our current over-dependence on the automobile. Read more >

Credits and Further Info

Historical Topographical Maps

Maptech collection of historic USGS topographic maps
http://historical.maptech.com/

Current Topographical Maps

Topozone
http://www.topozone.com

Historical Maps

New Haven Railroad - historical map
http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/nh/nh-map.gif

Danbury Railways
http://homepage.mac.com/housatonic/map.htm

Metro North

http://as0.mta.info

Connecticut Train Museums

The Shore Line Trolley Museum
http://www.bera.org/

The Danbury Railway Museum
http://www.danbury.org/drm/

Connecticut Eastern Railroad Museum
http://www.cteastrrmuseum.org/

The Railroad Museum of New England
http://www.rmne.org/

Recommended Books (History and Railroads)

Springdale Remembered: 1640-1949
(The history of a section of Stamford, Connecticut)
by Rosemary H. Burns
Published by the Stamford Historical Society, 1982

Recommend books containing information relating to the history of Stamford, Connecticut ...
http://www.stamfordhistory.org/bookstor.htm

Other Railroad Museums / Web Sites

National Railroad Museum
National Railroad Museum

Historical Photos

The Library of Congress Railroad Map Collection
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/gmdhtml/rrhtml/

Steam & Electric Locomotives of the New Haven Railroad Digital Collection
http://railroads.uconn.edu/locomotives/

Fred Otto Makowsky collection
http://railroads.uconn.edu/locomotives/aboutfred.htm

George Elwood Online Collection
http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/nh/nh.html

Existing Railroad Stations in New York State
http://ny.existingstations.com/

Great Railroad Stations
http://www.trainweb.org/rshs/great_railroad_stations.htm

Stamford Historical Society
http://www.stamfordhistory.org/ph_1200.htm

Stamford History
http://www.cslib.org/stamford/


New England Railroad History

TylerCityStation
http://www.tylercitystation.info/
An amazingly well-researched site featuring photos and historical details on all of Connecticut train stations

Trolley Towns CT
http://www.bera.org/ttowns.html

Railtec - Richard Stowe
http://www.railtec.org/

The New Haven Railroad Historical and Technical Association http://www.nhrhta.org/

A Brief History Lines West
(of The New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad Co. )
By Philip C. Blakeslee
historical maps included

http://www.catskillarchive.com/rrextra/abnere2.Html