View source for Maybrook Line

{{refimprove|date=November 2015}}
{{Infobox rail line
| name                            = Maybrook Line
| image                           = {{maplink-road|from=Dutchess County Railroad.map}}
| caption                         = Map of the Dutchess County Railroad and subsequent realignments
| type                            = [[Freight rail|Freight]], other non-revenue
| system                          = [[Metro-North Railroad|Metro-North]], [[Housatonic Railroad]]
| status                          = Metro-North (west of Hudson River): out-of-Service; Housatonic (east of Hudson River): active freight
| locale                          = [[Orange County, New York|Orange]], [[Ulster County, New York|Ulster]], [[Dutchess County, New York|Dutchess]], and [[Putnam County, New York|Putnam]] counties in [[New York State]]; [[Fairfield County, Connecticut|Fairfield]] and [[New Haven County, Connecticut|New Haven]] counties in [[Connecticut]]
| start                           = [[Campbell Hall, NY]]
| end                             = [[Derby, CT]]
| stations                        = 0
| routes                          = 
| daily_ridership                 = 0
| open                            = 1889<ref name=swanberg/>
| close                           = 
| owner                           = [[New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad]], [[Conrail]]
| character                       = 
| stock                           = 
| linelength                      = 
| tracklength                     = 
| tracks                          = 
| gauge                           = {{track gauge|ussg}}
| electrification                 = 
| speed                           = 
| elevation                       = 
| map                             = {{Maybrook Line map}}
}}

The '''Maybrook Line''' was a line of the [[New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad]] which connected with its [[Waterbury Branch]] in [[Derby, Connecticut]], and its [[Maybrook Yard]] in [[Maybrook, New York]], where it interchanged with other carriers. It was the main east-west freight route of the New Haven until its merger with the [[Penn Central]] in 1969.<ref>{{cite book |last=Lynch |first=Peter E. |title=New Haven Railroad |year=2003 |publisher=Voyageur Press |location=St. Paul, MN |isbn=0-7603-1441-1 |page=75 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-_f7ayjKtDoC&pg=PA75 |accessdate=December 18, 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=The Maybrook Line And Its Rise and Fall |first=Kate Stone |last=Lombardi |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1995/02/05/nyregion/the-maybrook-line-and-its-rise-and-fall.html |newspaper=The New York Times |date=February 5, 1995 |accessdate=December 18, 2011}}</ref>

==History==
[[File:Hopewell Depot 124.JPG|thumb|left|Hopewell Depot]]After the [[New York and New England Railroad]] succeeded merging with the [[Newburgh, Dutchess and Connecticut Railroad]] at [[Hopewell Junction]] en route to the [[Beacon (CNE station)|Fishkill Ferry station]], they sought to expand traffic onto the newly built [[Poughkeepsie Railroad Bridge]] in order to move goods to the other side of the Hudson River, and the [[Central New England Railway]] was perfectly willing to provide a connection. The CNE line was originally chartered as the '''Dutchess County Railroad''' in 1889 and ran southeast from the bridge to Hopewell Junction, and was operational on May 8, 1892. The line was absorbed by the CNE in 1907, and eventually merged into the New Haven Railroad in 1927. Passenger service was phased out beginning in the 1930s, the same decade the New Haven Railroad faced crippling bankruptcy. Later financial troubles in the 1950s and 1960s led to its eventual acquisition by [[Penn Central Railroad]] in 1969.

Upon taking ownership, the Penn Central began discouraging connecting traffic on the line that paralleled Penn Central routes for the rest of its journey to prevent it from being short-hauled. After 1971 only one train in each direction (for the [[Erie Lackawanna]]) traversed the full line.<ref name=swanberg>{{Citation | last = Swanberg | first = J.W. | title = Railroad Blueprint: Maybrook, New York| journal = Trains Magazine |date=January 2005 | pages = 50–59}}</ref>

While the Penn Central did not connect with the old New Haven on the west side of the line, it came close. For a short time in 1969 and 1970, Penn Central ran a daily train between [[Cedar Hill Yard]] in [[New Haven, Connecticut]] and [[Potomac Yard]] in [[Alexandria, Virginia]], by way of the [[Lehigh and Hudson River Railway]], which connected with a former [[Pennsylvania Railroad]] line in [[Belvidere, New Jersey]], 72 miles south of the old interchange with the [[New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad | New Haven]] at [[Maybrook Yard]] in [[Maybrook, New York]]. The service ended in a dispute over haulage charges and the traffic was diverted to the longer all Penn Central route through [[Selkirk, New York]]. Ironically, the only reason the [[Lehigh and Hudson River]] was not part of the Penn Central was because Penn Central predecessor, the [[Pennsylvania Railroad]], had prevented the [[New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad|New Haven]] from acquiring it in 1905.<ref name=swanberg/>

Through service over the line ended abruptly on May 8,1974 when the [[Poughkeepsie Bridge]] burned and was not repaired.<ref name=swanberg/>

The portion of the line west of [[Hopewell Junction, New York]], has been abandoned and now forms part of the [[Dutchess Rail Trail]]. The remainder of the line is owned in [[New York (state)|New York]] by [[Metro-North Railroad|Metro-North]]. In late 2020, the line east of Hopewell Junction was in disrepair and missing some track. The right of way now has a rail trail on it; it is named the Maybrook Trail and is part of the Empire State Trail joining with the Dutchess Rail Trail. In [[Connecticut]] the remainder of the line is owned by the [[Housatonic Railroad]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Metro-North Works On East-West Axis |first=Kate Stone |last=Lombardi |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1995/02/05/nyregion/metro-north-works-on-east-west-axis.html |newspaper=The New York Times |date=February 5, 1995 |accessdate=December 18, 2011}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Beacon Line]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{Portal|Railways}}
*[https://penneyandkc.wordpress.com/maybrook-yard/ THE MAYBROOK BIRTH (1888) AND DEATH (1974) (penneyandkc.wordpress.com)]
*[http://hopewelldepot.org/index.php/section-blog/39-depot/63-timeline Hopewell Depot Restoration Corporation Timeline]


[[Category:Connecticut railroads]]
[[Category:New York (state) railroads]]
[[Category:Defunct New York (state) railroads]]
[[Category:Metro-North Railroad]]
[[Category:New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad lines]]
[[Category:Transportation in Fairfield County, Connecticut]]
[[Category:Railway lines opened in 1889]]
[[Category:Closed railway lines in the United States]]