RAILFAN GUIDES of the U.S.
Todd's Railfan Guide to
NEW HAVEN CT
In General
Getting Here
Map
Sights
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New Haven, the namesake of the New Haven Railroad, is still a good place to railfan. Between the passenger trains of Amtrak and Metro North, the freights, the Shoreline Trolley museum, and the Essex Steam Train, there is plenty to keep one busy for a couple of days.
New Haven is served by CSX and the Providence and Worcester. Other RR's like the CT Southern and the New England Central are close by in towns like Hartford, Danbury, etc.
New Haven's Cedar Hill yard, NE of the station, is still around, but not used as much as it once was. More info here
Add to all of this, Hartford is close, and Essex and New London are fairly close by.
Hartford has one of Mark Twain's homes, and makes for a nice tour. Just north of Hartford's Bradley airport at I-91 exit 45, is the Connecticut Trolley Museum at Warehouse Point.
North of Hartford is Springfield, which is the home to Peter Pan Bus Lines, and they have a massive depot. Springfield also has a unique railroad station, where the entrance is "downstairs" and the tracks are above, but it's not elevated as you may think. Gotta see it to understand.
North off I-95 is the Valley Railroad in Essex CT (~35mi). Another 16 miles or so north on I-95 and you arrive in New London, home of the Groton Sub Base and museum.
A BIG THANKS goes to the University of Connecticut for assembling New Haven track maps all the way down into New York City, the link is here
Aerial views are from www.bing.com/maps, the street views are from Google Maps, and the snapshots are taken with SnagIt.
New Haven is at the junction of I-95 and I-91. I-95 is the gateway from south and north of here along the coast, all the way to Florida if you want. I-91 starts/end here, and heads up to Hartford CT (~40mi), Springfield MA (~65mi), Brattleboro VT (~110mi), and finally the Canadian border at North Derby VT (~280mi). From there, you are about 90 miles from Montreal via 55 and 10, parlez-vous francais?
1 Union Station, The Amtrak Station
Built in 1920 by the New York, New Haven and Hartford RR, it was refurbed starting in 1979 as part of the Northeast Corridor Improvement Project - it opened in 1985.
2 Metro-North State Street Station
3 Shoreline Trolley Museum
Above: the start of the trolley ride, and the visitors center,
is at the yellow arrow. The blue arrow points at their shop complex.
The green arrow is pointing at the end of the line. Below is a closer look
at the shops.
4 Metro North Shops
5 Cedar Hill Yard
6 New Haven Fire Department - Regional Fire Training Academy
It's hard to beat their parking lot for great shots of NB trains coming into New Haven, and I've never been chased from there.
7 Trolley at the Quality Inn
Above pictures come from Google Map's streetview.
NEW 6-23-2011
Last
Modified 19-Jan-2014