Newburgh, Dutchess and Connecticut Railroad
The Newburgh, Dutchess and Connecticut Railroad (also affectionately known as the "Never Did and Couldn't") was built as the Dutchess and Columbia Railroad under the guidance of George H. Brown of Millbrook. The grand idea was to construct a line to ferry material across the Hudson River from the Erie Railroad at Newburgh and carry it into Connecticut, while also serving the farms and quarries of Dutchess County.
The D&C was sold on August 5, 1876 and reorganized January 25, 1877 as the Newburgh, Dutchess and Connecticut Railroad. To tap the Pennsylvania coal traffic, the D&C built a ferry terminal at Dutchess Junction. In addition to hosting a number of brickyards, "at the peak of operations, Dutchess Junction was a thriving town with a train station that served two railroads, the ND&C Railroad and the New York Central & Hudson River Railroad. There was also a ferry and freight dock for Hudson River boat traffic. The ND&C Railroad repair shops were located at Dutchess Junction. Workers lived in tenement houses owned by the railroad. Descriptions of the ND&C facilities include a locomotive repair shop, a carpenter shop, brass foundry, paint shop, car repair and build shop, coal and water facilities plus a turntable with a roundhouse and train yard. Adjacent to the ND&C Railroad property was a brick manufacturing company. Dutchess Junction was a bustling, active community."
Railroad cars were transferred across the Hudson River to connect with the Erie Railroad in Newburgh. There was also passenger and general freight service using Hudson River steamboats and barges. Stations along the line were built from the same set of plans and looked alike. Standard station colors were yellow with brown trim around the windows and doors. Station roofs were made of slate to combat the ever-present danger of fire from sparks from locomotive smokestacks.
A steamboat shuttled freight and passengers back and forth across the river to and from Newburgh. Loads of coal from the Delaware and Hudson Canal came down the river from Rondout Landing near Kingston, New York and were transferred from barges to train cars at the long dock. In 1888, the Poughkeepsie Railroad Bridge opened, making the car float operation less useful. In 1905 the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad acquired the ND&C, and in 1907 merged it into the Central New England Railway, part of the NYNH&H system. In 1916 the line to Dutchess Junction was abandoned, leaving only the line into Beacon at the south end.
The first main line abandonment was from Shekomeko (about halfway from Pine Plains to Millerton) east to Millerton, in 1925. In 1935 came the abandonment of the part from Shekomeko west to Pine Plains. In 1938 both remaining sections north of Hopewell Junction were abandoned - from the junction north to Pine Plains and from Millerton east to the Connecticut state line.
The New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad was merged into Penn Central in 1969; by then the former ND&C was known as the Beacon Secondary Track. After the Poughkeepsie Bridge closed in 1974, the former Dutchess County Railroad was abandoned west of Hopewell Junction, and the former ND&C, as well as the former New York and New England Railroad (then the Maybrook Line), became the Danbury Secondary Track. Conrail acquired Penn Central in 1976, including the remaining part of the HD&C. The remaining part of the line from Hopewell Junction to Beacon is now owned by the Metro-North Railroad as part of its Beacon Line.
