danbury branch

January 8, 2015

2014 in Photos – Your favorites from last year

As is customary around this time of year, it is always fun to look back on the previous year and what was popular. For the past few years I’ve counted down your favorite articles and social media posts, and today I bring you 2014 in Instagram. Instagram has quickly become the most popular social network that this site is on. While I’m often out photographing, the good majority of the photos I take never make it onto this site. The good ones, however, show up on Instagram. Here’s the top 10 favorites from 2014: Two Metro-North diesels meet near the...

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November 10, 2014

Meet TIM – Metro-North’s new credit card enabled Ticket Issuing Machine

As most of you have likely heard by now, Metro-North has begun a pilot program testing new Ticket Issuing Machines (TIMs) on the Upper Harlem Line (or as Metro-North would call it, the Wassaic “Branch”) and the Danbury Branch. The big news about these machines is that they accept credit cards – something conductors selling tickets have long been unable to do. I got a chance to check out one of these new machines, and must admit they are quite cool. Slim and light compared to the previous TIMs, these new machines are essentially tricked-out iPhones running special software. Wrapped...

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December 28, 2011

The branches of the New Haven Line, in pictures

Yesterday I featured the only outstanding New Haven Line branch station on our Tuesday Tour, Springdale. Now that the branches are complete, I thought it might be nice to post one of my favorite images from each station in a single gallery. It gives you a quick idea of what each branch is like, and a glimpse into the life of a commuter from each station. The locales photographed vary from outstanding examples of historical stations and well-known landmarks, to bare-bones, concrete platforms that are just barely stations. Each branch terminates at a historically-important station, though only one of the...

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July 26, 2011

Tuesday Tour of the New Haven Line: Wilton

With this post I’ve achieved my first significant milestone on the New Haven Line. Thankfully, it has nothing to do with having the police called on me on another rail line (has yet to happen here, but I am very much expecting it. Especially after reading this post by Jim Cameron, chairman of the CT Commuter Council). No, this milestone is the Tuesday Tour’s completion of the Danbury Branch! In the 1800’s this was the Danbury and Norwalk Railroad, but of course today it is just a small branch of Metro North’s New Haven Line. Despite growing up close to...

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July 19, 2011

Tuesday Tour of the New Haven Line: Branchville

In my endeavor to finish up the Danbury Branch on these Tuesday tours, today we’ll make a quick visit to the small station known as Branchville. Located in the Branchville section of Ridgefield, the name derives from the branch rail line that once ran through here to Ridgefield village (that branch is now a rail trail). Branchville station is located 54 miles from Grand Central Terminal, and the platform is long enough to accommodate three train cars. Branchville’s station building, completed in 1905, still stands and has been occupied since the 80’s by the Whistle Stop Bakery. The History of...

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July 12, 2011

Tuesday Tour of the New Haven Line: Redding

Before you know it, I’ll have done the complete tour of the Danbury Branch… my first little milestone as I continue to tour the New Haven Line. Today we’re visiting Redding, a little Danbury Branch station with a bit of an identity crisis. Though all schedules refer to the station as just plain old Redding, all of the station signs refer to it as West Redding. The station is just shy of 59 miles from Grand Central, and can be found in a quiet little area not far from Route 7. There isn’t too much that is noteworthy here, but...