The Danbury Railroad Museum is a Railroad Museum that housed in the former Union Station on the east end of downtown Danbury, Connecticut.
History[]
It was established in the mid-1990s following the closure of the station by the Metro-North Railroad in favor of a new station nearby, and primarily focuses on the history of railroading in southern New England and neighboring New York. In addition to the former station building, the museum has a collection of heritage railcars in the neighboring rail yard it shares with Metro-North.
By the 1880s, the three railroads that served the city — the Danbury and Norwalk, Housatonic and New York and New England — had built small, separate stations for their lines in the vicinity of the current building. Later in that decade, economic difficulties led to them all becoming part of the New York, New Haven and Hartford, leading it to be known locally as the Consolidated Road. Citizens began asking the new owner to consolidate its three stations into one as early as 1894, two years after the last merger.
In 1901, the Consolidated realigned the tracks and built the new station where the New York & New England's passenger depot had been. A. Malkin's design combined a basic Richardsonian Romanesque structure with some Colonial Revival details, like the small panes in the windows. It was said to be the largest station on the New Haven's New York Division.
Today the museum has 550 members and 60 pieces of equipment.
Collection[]
Locomotives:
- Amtrak #917 - EMD AEM-7
- Boston & Maine #1455 - ALCO 2-6-0 "Mogul"
- Canadian National #6786 - MLW FPA-4
- Canadian National #6867 - MLW FPB-4
- Connecticut DOT #605 - ALCO/EMD RS-3m
- Electric Boat Carol - GE 44-Tonner
- Electric Boat Diane - GE 44-Tonner
- Long Island #617 - Former ALCO FA-1
- Metro-North #413 - EMD F-10
- New Haven #0673 - ALCO RS-1
- New Haven #1402 - ALCO RS-11
- New Haven #2006 - EMD FL-9
- New York Central #2013 - EMD FL-9
- Pfizer #1 - EMD SW-8
- VLIX #1513 - ALCO RSC-2
Trivia[]
- The Museum is going to be planned on moving former NYC S-1 and T-3a electric locomotives in 2023, and they have about three months to raise approximately $125,000 and move them to their new home in Connecticut, according to the project manager.
- It is architecturally distinctive, with Colonial Revival touches on a Richardsonian Romanesque structure. Alfred Hitchcock filmed station scenes for "Strangers on a Train" on its distinctive curved platform.
- The turntable which was owned by the museum was restored in 1998.
- Since 2005 it has been a regular stop on the Railyard Local.