Beacon Line

Metro-North Railroad's Beacon Line is a non-revenue line connecting all three of the railroad's main revenue lines east of the Hudson River, in order from west-to-east: the Hudson Line, Harlem Line and the Danbury Branch of the New Haven Line. It was purchased by Metro-North in 1995 from Maybrook Properties, a subsidiary of the Housatonic Railroad to preserve it for future use and for training and equipment moves. Maybrook Properties had purchased the line from Conrail after Conrail left the Danbury, CT freight market. ^[1]

History

The Beacon Line consists of parts of two former railroads:

• The Beacon Secondary Track, formerly known as the Newburgh, Dutchess and Connecticut Railroad, which runs from a connection south of Beacon, NY on the Hudson Line at the former Dutchess Junction to Hopewell Junction

• The Maybrook Line, or Maybrook Branch, which runs from Hopewell Junction to the New York/Connecticut state line. From the state line, the Maybrook Line continues to Danbury, CT, where it joins the Danbury Branch of Metro-North. The Beacon Line is generally considered to end at the Danbury Branch, however, the portion in Connecticut is owned by the Housatonic Railroad, although Metro-North may move trains over that portion.

The Maybrook Line was the main east-west freight service of the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad, which became part of the Penn Central system in 1969, and subsequently Conrail in 1976. Service was originally from Maybrook, New York in Orange County via the Poughkeepse Railroad Bridge through Hopewell Junction, where it connected to the Hudson Line via the Beacon Secondary Track. It continued to a connection with the Waterbury Branch in Derby, Connecticut. The Housatonic Railroad owns and operates the portion between Danbury and Derby, which is the last remaining portion of the Maybrook which sees active freight use.

The portion west of Hopewell Junction to Maybrook was placed out of service in 1974 when a fire damaged the Poughkeepsie Bridge. The remainder of the Beacon Line has also been placed out of service in a cost-saving measure. ^[2] Penn Central diverted traffic to the lightly used Beacon Secondary Track and upgraded it. Freight traffic abruptly halted when Conrail rerouted freight bound for New England to Springfield, MA via the Boston Line, and then south to New Haven, CT. Infrequent freight service continued for a short while but there is currently no freight service on the line. ^[3]

Route geography in New York

The Beacon Line is so-named because its western terminus is a short distance south of the Beacon station. In this Google Map it can be seen where the Beacon Line branches slightly to the west from the Hudson Line. It heads south for a short distance, then turns eastward to cross over the Hudson Line via a trestle.

Between the Hudson and Harlem lines, the Beacon runs a rather winding route, visible from many popular highways in Dutchess County. Interstate 84 crosses overhead just east of Exit 12 in Fishkill. U.S. Route 9 and NY 52 have a grade crossings with the line, also in Fishkill. In Hopewell Junction, the line has grade crossings with NY 82 and NY 376, before it passes underneath NY 82 for a second time. Motorists on the Taconic State Parkway will spot the Beacon Line crossing underneath the highway between the NY 52 exit and the Carpenter Road intersection. The next several miles are mostly rural areas, with the line going around mountains rather than tunneling through them.

In Towners, the Beacon Line finally crosses the Harlem Line (Google Map) but there is no interlocking between the two lines here. Rather, the Beacon Line turns south, running nearly parallel to the Harlem Line for a few miles as they straddle Ice Pond. Eventually, a single-track connection runs northeast from the Harlem Line to the Beacon Line. In this Google Map, the lines do not appear to touch, but switch to "Satellite" photo mode and the interlocking can be seen. The Beacon Line is the easternmost of these tracks.

Continuing south from this junction, the Beacon Line continues nearly parallel to the Harlem for a few more miles, finally turning eastward in Brewster, New York. Here, the line crosses underneath Interstate 84 once more, then underneath Interstate 684, and underneath I-84 again, all within just a couple miles. Despite the line's limited usage, grade crossings are avoided with all other roads in Brewster, thanks to underpasses or overpasses.

Route geography in Connecticut

Heading east from Brewster, the line runs almost parallel with Interstate 84, and even closer to U.S. Routes 6 and 202, which overlap here as they cross the state border into Connecticut. Shortly after the border, Routes 6 and 202 cross over the railroad, putting it right between the 6/202 concurrency and Interstate 84. A few miles further east, the line runs past the Danbury Fair Mall, before turning north and then east to the Danbury station on the Danbury Branch of the New Haven Line. In this Google Map, the Beacon Line enters from the northwest and the Danbury Branch comes in from the southeast, to the Danbury Station. As the map indicates, running a train between the Danbury Branch and the Beacon Line requires a reverse move.

Ignoring that reverse move, the line does continue on, but Metro-North does not own the tracks east of Danbury.

Current and Future Use

The Beacon Line was purchased by Metro-North so it could keep the right-of-way intact for possible future use.[1] It also serves as a route to move trains between Metro-North's various service and maintenance facilities, without the need to move trains all the way down to New York City, the only other place all three east-of-Hudson lines are connected.

However, the high cost of maintaining a rail line, especially one that does not generate revenue, is a chief reason the Beacon Line is not used very often. On a popular website frequented by Metro-North employees and fans [2], there has been discussion that certain bridges along the line are out of service, and Metro-North has not allocated funding for necessary repairs. This means trains cannot currently run the entire route from Beacon to Danbury until such repairs are made and the line passes required safety inspections.

Another reason the Beacon Line is seldom used is because it is not electrified. It also intersects all three mainlines north of the point where each line's own electrification ends. Trains that run exclusively on electricity would need to be towed by diesel-fueled engines in order to make use of the Beacon Line, a procedure that would likely take more time and money than running the trains (on their own power) down to New York City, then back up to their destination (such as the railroad's massive Croton Yard shop facility).

Many have advocated reactivating the line for passenger service. Although no such service is currently contemplated, it was one of the reasons for the purchase of the line. ^{[4] [5]} One current use of the line is as the Dutchess Rail Trail. The portion of the line which was the former Maybrook Line was double-tracked; the Beacon Secondary Track was single-tracked. Dutchess County, NY is currently attempting to acquire Right-of-way along the Beacon secondary to continue Phase III of the rail-trail project. ^[6]

Improvements

Metro-North added fiber-optics along the Beacon Line in 2007 as well as signal bungalows at many grade crossings. The current setup gives Metro-North a more advanced communications network stretching from Beacon to Dykemans. Currently Metro-North is constructing a facility along the line in Stormville to train MTA Police dogs, and train cars will be dropped off from time to time on a siding that is to be constructed.^[7]

Station Stops

Current Timetable

There is no current passenger service on the Beacon Line. The station stops listed (from west to east) are according to railroad timetable and serve as "control points". They may or may not conform to historical stops nor planned locations for any future service. Passenger service ceased in 1927. ^[8]

• Glenham, NY
• Fishkill, NY
• Hopewell (Hopewell Junction, NY)
• Appalachian Trail
• Holmes, NY
• Dykemans, NY
• Danbury, CT (same as on the New Haven Line)

Former Passenger

Former passenger stations on current portions of the Beacon Line include ^[9]:

• Stormville, NY
• Green Haven, NY
• Poughquag, NY
• West Pawling, NY
• Whaley Lake, NY
• Holmes, NY
• West Patterson, NY
• Towners, NY
• Dykemans, NY
• Brewster, NY
• Mill Plain, CT
• Danbury, CT

Hopewell Junction is not listed as an abandoned station as though it was a Maybrook Line station, its location placed it on the now-abandoned stretch from Hopewell Junction to Poughkeepsie. Throughout the entire Beacon Line all platforms were low level, with one track, non electrified.^[10]

References

External links

• Photo Essay of 2004 Beacon Line Trip

v • d • e Metro-North Railroad East of Hudson Harlem Line • Hudson Line • New Haven Line Danbury Branch • New Canaan Branch • Waterbury Branch West of Hudson (operated by NJ Transit) Pascack Valley Line • Port Jervis Line Non-revenue and Predecessor lines Beacon Line • Putnam Line