Housatonic Railroad (1836)

Housatonic Railroad

Canaan Union Depot, a preserved Housatonic Railroad train station
Overview
Current operator	Housatonic Railroad (current company) Providence and Worcester Railroad (overhead trackage rights)
Dates of operation	1840–1892
Successor	New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad
Technical
Track gauge	4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge

The Housatonic Railroad was a railroad in the U.S. states of Connecticut and Massachusetts, chartered in 1836. Opened between Bridgeport, Connecticut, and New Milford, Connecticut, in 1840, it was completed to a connection with the Western Railroad in West Stockbridge, Massachusetts, in 1842. Branches were later built to Pittsfield, Massachusetts, Danbury, Connecticut, and Derby, Connecticut, the latter as part of the Housatonic Railroad's purchase of the New Haven and Derby Railroad in 1887.

The Housatonic Railroad was leased by the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad in 1892, which abandoned several portions from 1940 onwards. Control passed to Penn Central at the end of 1968, followed by Conrail in 1976; the latter abandoned much of the Housatonic Railroad main line and sold the northern portion to the Boston and Maine Railroad in 1982 (succeeded by Guilford Transportation Industries in 1984). A new Housatonic Railroad was formed in 1984 and revived the abandoned portion of the original Housatonic; in 1991 and 1992 it purchased the remainder from Guilford and Conrail respectively.