Shepaug, Litchfield and Northern Railroad: Difference between revisions

{{Infobox SG rail | gauge={{Track gauge|ussg|allk=on}}

| length = {{convert|32.28|mi|0|abbr=on}}<ref name="earlpleasants">{{cite web|url=http://www.earlpleasants.com/search_1.asp|title=Earl PLeasant's Railroad History Database|accessdate=2008-04-29|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20151104155926/http://www.earlpleasants.com/search_1.asp|archivedate=2015-11-04}}</ref>

The '''Shepaug, Litchfield and Northern Railroad''' was a short independent [[Rail transport|railroad]] in western [[Connecticut]] that was chartered as the '''Shepaug Valley Railroad''' in 1868 and operated from 1872 to 1891 when it was taken over by the [[Housatonic Railroad]].<ref name="nytimes1">{{cite journal|title=The Housatonic gets the Shepaug|journal=[[The New York Times]]|date=1891-02-10}}</ref> In 1898, the Housatonic operation was asummedassumed by the [[New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad|New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad]] (NH). As the Litchfield Division of the NH, the line was operated until abandonment in 1948. Much of the line remains as a [[rail trail]].

"Shepaug" in the railroad's name derived from the name of the [[Shepaug River]], thatfollowed by most of the line followed, which in turn was a [[Mohegan]] name that meant "rocky water".<ref name="roxbury">{{cite web|url=http://www.roxburyct.com/|title=Home (Roxbury, CT homepage)|accessdate=2008-05-01}}</ref>

The railroad was chartered in 1866 or 1868 and opened for operation on December 7, 1871, as the Shepaug Valley Railroad.<ref name="earlpleasants"/><ref name="dilliston"/> J. Deming Perkins was the company's first president. Henry R. Colt was the treasurer and Edwin McNeill was the superintendent.<ref name="dilliston"/> Regular service to Litchfield started by January 11, 1872.<ref name="dilliston"/> Due to the expense of building and maintaining the line through rocky rural terrain the railroad suffered

|journal=The Lure of the Litchfield Hills magazineMagazine|date=June 1949

In addition to passenger traffic, the railroad shipped freight. [[Gail Borden]]'s condensed milk business had started operation in the [[Burrville, Connecticut|Burrville]] section of Torrington in the 1860s. Thanks to strongStrong sales during the [[American Civil War|civilCivil warWar]] that business was quite profitable and was lookingled to expandexpansion in the 1870s. A new Borden creamery was built and

In 1872, the railroad reached an agreement with the [[Danbury and Norwalk Railroad]] to operate trains on that company's newly constructed {{convert|6|mi|km|singadj=on}} [[Danbury and Norwalk Railroad#Hawleyville Branch|Hawleyville Branch]] to [[Bethel, Connecticut|Bethel]]. Eventually the SL&N would run trains from Litchfield down to South Norwalk for connection with the New Haven or to Wilson's Point for ferry service connection to either New York or to [[Oyster Bay (hamlet), New York|Oyster Bay]] on [[Long Island]].<ref name="cornwall">{{cite book|title=In the Shore Line's Shadow: The Six Lives of the Danbury and Norwalk Railroad|last=Cornwall|first=L. Peter|publisher=Flying Yankee Enterprises|year=1987|isbn=0-9615574-4-3}}</ref>

The Shepaug was renowned for its labyrinthine route. It was said that the line took {{convert|32|mi|km}} of track to travel a distance of only {{convert|18|mi|km}} as the crow flies. A {{convert|235|ft|abbr=on}} long curved tunnel was cut through rock southwest of Washington Depot that still exists along a hiking trail.<ref name="barnhill">{{cite web

|accessdate=2008-05-12}}</ref> There were reputed to be 192 curves along the line from Litchfield to Hawleyville or, about six per mile.

In 1889, a branch of the line from New Preston was extendedplanned{{nicg|date=November 2014}} {{convert|4|mi|spell=in}} to [[Lake Waramaug State Park|Lake Wauramaug]].<ref name="nytimes2"/> This line would have carried vacationing passengers in the summer time and also helped to distribute ice from icehouses throughout the year.<ref name="nytimes2">{{cite journal|title=Extending the Shepaug|url=httphttps://querytimesmachine.nytimes.com/memtimesmachine/archive-free1889/07/30/100963755.pdf?res=F60A11FD3B5413738DDDA90B94DF405B8984F0D3|journal=[[The New York Times]]|date=1889-07-30|accessdate=2012-05-13}}</ref>

In 1892, the NYNH&H leased the Hawleyville-Bethel branch to the Shepaug.<ref name="vacation"/>

Stations and flag stops along the line from northeast to southwest with distances from Hawleyville included the following:<ref name="vacation"/>

| StartStop of branch toserving [[Lake Waramaug State Park|Lake Wauramaug]]

In 1889 architect [[Ehrick Rossiter]] (1854-1941) who was, an 1871 graduate of [[The Gunnery]] in [[Washington, Connecticut]], purchased {{convert|100|acre|ha}} along the Shepaug River to save it from logging. The area included several miles of SL&N tracks. In 1893 philanthropists Edward I. and Mary Lawrence McLane Van Ingen built Holiday House south of Washington Depot following plans drawn up by Rossiter. Holiday House served as a country hotel or retreat for young working women from [[New York City]]. It was a non sectarian effort run by [[St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church, New York]] (then on 42nd street).<ref name="bader"/> Although Holiday House stopped operating as a retreat by 1918 and was torn down shortly thereafter, vestiges of it including stone walkways and stone foundations for a pedestrian suspension bridge that allowed train passengers to disembark and make their way to the retreat still stand in the Steep Rock revervation.<ref name="bader">{{cite book

|accessdate=2008-05-12 |archiveurl = httphttps://web.archive.org/web/20080416114054/http://www.steeprockassoc.org/History.html <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archivedate = 2008-04-16}}</ref>

[[Category:VisitorTourist attractions in Litchfield County, Connecticut]]

[[Category:TunnelsRailroad tunnels in Connecticut]]