The Danbury and Harlem Traction Company was an unfinished electric rapid-transit

interurban The Interurban (or radial railway in Europe and Canada) is a type of electric railway, with streetcar-like electric self-propelled rail cars which run within and between cities or towns. They were very prevalent in North America between 1900 a ...

railroad connecting

Danbury, Connecticut Danbury is a city in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States, located approximately northeast of New York City. Danbury's population as of 2022 was 87,642. It is the seventh largest city in Connecticut. Danbury is nicknamed the "Hat City ...

, with the

New York Central Railroad The New York Central Railroad was a railroad primarily operating in the Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The railroad primarily connected greater New York and Boston in the east with Chicago and St. Louis in the Midw ...

station at

Goldens Bridge, New York Goldens Bridge is a Hamlet (New York), hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) in the administrative divisions of New York#Town, town of Lewisboro, New York, Lewisboro in Westchester County, New York, United States. The population was 1,630 at th ...

, on the

Harlem Line The Metro-North Railroad Harlem Line, originally chartered as the New York and Harlem Railroad, is an commuter rail line running north from New York City to Wassaic, in eastern Dutchess County. The lower from Grand Central Terminal to Southea ...

History

The company was established in 1901 as the consolidation of the ''Danbury and Goldens Bridge Street Railway of Connecticut'' and the ''Goldens Bridge Electric Railway of New York'', and set out to build from Danbury. The motivation was to provide a faster passenger route to New York than that offered by the

Danbury Branch The Danbury Branch is a diesel branch of the Metro-North Railroad New Haven Line from downtown Norwalk, Connecticut north to Danbury, mostly single-tracked. It opened in 1852 as the Danbury and Norwalk Railroad. Until the early 1970s, passenger ...

of the New Haven Railroad. Construction progressed slowly. Tracks were laid from a connection with the

Danbury and Bethel Street Railway The Danbury and Bethel Street Railway was a streetcar transit operator serving the greater Danbury, Connecticut, area, originally chartered in 1886. It was one of the few trolley companies to remain independent of the Connecticut Company consolida ...

near the Danbury Fairgrounds, west through Ridgebury and eventually just across the state line to

North Salem, New York North Salem is a town in the northeastern section of Westchester County, New York, United States. It is a suburb of New York City, located approximately 50 miles north of Midtown Manhattan. The population of North Salem was 5,104 at the 2010 cens ...

, by 1901. Aside from a few test runs with cars borrowed from the Danbury and Bethel line, there is no indication that regular service was ever offered on the partially completed line. In 1902, the project was acquired by the Westchester Traction Company, and immediately investors were sought to continue construction. This extended the roadbed grade to Goldens Bridge, but no further rails were ever laid. Permission was obtained to open between Danbury and Ridgebury in 1903 and a limited service was operated, possibly by the Danbury and Bethel Street Railway, but this was short-lived. Looking to recoup some of the shareholder's investment, the company directors ordered the rails to be lifted sometime between 1910 and 1915, and the project was abandoned. Much of the line is traceable around Ridgefield, including a section called Old Trolley Road, and earthworks survive here and there.

Notes

References

* Streetcars in New York (state) Streetcar lines in Westchester County, New York Defunct New York (state) railroads Railway companies established in 1901 Railway companies disestablished in 1902 {{US-rail-company-stub