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Danbury & Norwalk Railroad Company

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In 1835 a rail charter was granted by the Connecticut Legislature to an enterprise known as the "Fairfield County Railroad." The charter was established only to build a railroad between Danbury and Long Island Sound. The charter grantees, however, had much greater plans as the name implied, believing there was opportunity to link industrial towns by rail along the Housatonic River and eventually to push further north into Massachusetts.

Professor Alexander C. Twining conducted the first survey for a rail route in 1835. He surveyed three alternative routes. Twining eventually recommended a route that is similar to the route the Danbury Branch travels today. This survey was as far as it went for the Fairfield County Railroad until 1850.

Raising the necessary construction funds, $230,000, proved difficult for the size of the population the rail line was to serve. But by 1850 the charter was renewed and renamed the Danbury & Norwalk Railroad. Work began quickly on the new 23 mile line.

Better technology provided the impetus for the rail investment, which was now up to a cost of $330,000. Work proceeded on the line despite financial and technical problems over the next two years. In 1852, when the D&N started operation , a one-way trip took 75 minutes using Hinkley Steam Engines named "The Danbury" and "The Norwalk."

By the 1870's, The D&N was competing against several other companies including the New York, New Haven & Hartford and the Housatonic Railroad. The D&N sought an advantage in freight traffic by building a rail and ferry connection at Wilson's Point in South Norwalk in 1882. That extension of the transportation system allowed for an excellent intermodal connection between steamships and freight cars ready to move goods inland or ship raw materials like ice to New York City.

The Wilson Point extension proved to be very profitable for the D&N and made that Railroad an attractive business partner for other rail lines including the Housatonic Railroad and the New York, New Haven & Hartford.

The Housatonic seemed the most natural fit, as their service somewhat overlapped with the D&N. In 1886 a deal was struck between the D&N and the Housatonic Railroad, the Housatonic Railroad arranged a 99 year lease with the D&N. This was advantageous to both companies as the competition among railroads was intense at this time in the late nineteenth century. The D&N became the "Danbury and Norwalk Division of the Housatonic Railroad.” Soon after the lease was finalized plans began for the integration of operations and trackage of the D&N and Housatonic lines.

The key places for the interchanges were Danbury and Hawleyville in Newtown. The double track and loop system that still stands today on Downtown Danbury's White Street was developed during this time. Freight traffic was able to bypass Danbury, passing through Hawleyville and then into Brookfield.

"The Consolidated" (the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad, also referred to as "The New Haven") then muscled its' way to a lease arrangement with the Housatonic Railroad in 1892. The company threatened to build a line parallel to the Housatonic's New Haven-Derby line so the Housatonic submitted.

The Consolidated also marginalized the Wilson’s Point docks for freight shipments but was offering more passenger train service on the Danbury Branch, 10 trips a day in 1904. Overall, the Consolidated’s acquisition the D&N from the Housatonic Railroad proved to be a success.

From the 1890’s "The New Haven" vastly improved it’s rail infrastructure. The company electrified it’s lines along the shore to Stamford by 1907, but did not electrify the Danbury Branch until 1925.

The company acquired many unprofitable short lines railroads in it’s quest to dominate rail service in the Northeast in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Due to poor internal economics service on the Danbury Branch was cut to five round trips a day by 1934.

The Danbury Branch then did well during WWII when fuel was rationed, but the New Haven never fully recovered financially from the decade of the depression when it declared bankruptcy. The company "de-electrified" the Danbury Branch in 1961, taking down the catenary wire, and began using FL-9 dual diesel electric locomotives.

Control of the Danbury Branch was again changed in 1968 when the New York Central and Pennsylvania Railroads were merged. The Penn Central reluctantly acquired the New Haven in 1968. Only two years later, in 1970, the Penn Central was also in bankruptcy court.

We are currently offering the following pieces from the Danbury & Norwalk Railroad Company:





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