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Ridgefield is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. Situated in the foothills of the Berkshire Mountains, Ridgefield has a population of 25,033 as of the 2020 census. The town is part of the Western Connecticut Planning Region. The town center, which was formerly a borough, is defined by the U.S. Census Bureau as a census-designated place. The town was settled then quickly incorporated by 1709.
The Harlem Line is an 82-mile (132 km) commuter rail line owned and operated by the Metro-North Railroad in the U.S. state of New York. It runs north from New York City to Wassaic, in eastern Dutchess County. The lower 53 miles (85 km) from Grand Central Terminal to Southeast, in Putnam County, is electrified with a third rail and has at least two tracks. The section north of Southeast is a non-electrified single-track line served by diesel locomotives. The diesel trains usually run as a shuttle on the northern end of the line, except for rush-hour express trains in the peak direction and one train in each direction on weekends.
The New Haven Line is a 72.7 mi (117.0 km) commuter rail line operated by the Metro-North Railroad in the U.S. states of New York and Connecticut. Running from New Haven, Connecticut, to New York City, the New Haven Line joins the Harlem Line in Mount Vernon, New York, and continues south to Grand Central Terminal in Manhattan. The New Haven Line carries 125,000 passengers every weekday and 39 million passengers a year. The busiest intermediate station is Stamford, with 8.4 million passengers, or 21% of the line's ridership.
The Danbury and Norwalk Railroad, chartered in 1835 as the Fairfield County Railroad, was an independent American railroad that operated between the cities of Danbury and Norwalk, Connecticut from 1852 until its absorption by the Housatonic Railroad in 1886. The right of way established by the D&N continues in operation and is now the Danbury Branch of the New Haven Line of the Metro-North Railroad.
Streetcars in Washington, D.C. transported people across the city and region from 1862 until 1962.
Goldens Bridge station is a commuter rail stop on the Metro-North Railroad's Harlem Line, located in Lewisboro, New York.
The Rock Creek Railway, which operated independently from 1890 to 1895, was one of the first electric streetcar companies in Washington, D.C., and the first to extend into Maryland.
Housatonic Area Regional Transit, known popularly as HARTransit, is the provider of public transportation for Danbury, Connecticut and surrounding communities. HARTransit was founded in 1972 as the Danbury-Bethel Transit District by the two municipalities. The name was changed to Housatonic Area Regional Transit in 1979 after the addition of other municipal members. The agency receives funding from municipal contracts, the Connecticut Department of Transportation, Federal Transit Administration and the New York State Department of Transportation. Prior to HARTransit's establishment, Danbury had gone without transit service since 1967 when the privately owned ABC Bus Company which had replaced the Candlewood Bus Company a few months before, ceased operations. The first local bus transit operator in the area, Danbury Power & Transportation Company, operated bus services in Danbury and Bethel from 1926 to 1965. HARTransit provides service to a greater number of towns than its predecessors.
The Third Avenue Railway System (TARS), founded 1852, was a streetcar system serving the New York City boroughs of Manhattan and the Bronx along with lower Westchester County. For a brief period of time, TARS also operated the Steinway Lines in Long Island City.
The Capital Traction Company was the smaller of the two major street railway companies in Washington, D.C., in the early 20th century.
The New York, Westchester and Boston Railway Company, was an electric commuter railroad in the Bronx and Westchester County, New York from 1912 to 1937. It ran from the southernmost part of the South Bronx, near the Harlem River, to Mount Vernon with branches north to White Plains and east to Port Chester. From 1906, construction and operation was under the control of the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad (NH) until its bankruptcy in 1935.
The Pelham Park and City Island Railway was a short street railway in the Bronx, New York City, which connected City Island with the Bartow station of the Harlem River and Port Chester Railroad on the mainland. The line existed from 1884 to 1919, most of that time as a horse-drawn system. The mainland portion was converted to an electrically-driven monorail in 1910, unique in the country at the time, nicknamed The Flying Lady. Prior to the railway, a stagecoach operated between City Island and Mount Vernon.
Ridgebury is a census-designated place (CDP) in the town of Ridgefield, Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. It occupies the north end of the town of Ridgefield and is bordered to the north and northeast by the city of Danbury and to the west by Putnam and Westchester counties in New York. The name is a portmanteau of Ridgefield and Danbury. All political power in Ridgebury is currently held by the government of Ridgefield.
The New York and Stamford Railway was a streetcar line that connected the Westchester County suburbs of New Rochelle, Larchmont, Mamaroneck, Harrison, Rye, and Port Chester, with the Connecticut suburbs of Greenwich and Stamford. The company was formed in 1901 when the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad combined the Larchmont Horse Railway Company with the Port Chester Street Railroad Company. The Larchmont Horse Railway Company was founded in 1888 by the Larchmont Manor Company to construct a line from the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad Larchmont train station to its development 1.2 miles from town. The line was rebuilt for electric operation and extended to Harrison in 1901. The Port Chester Street Railroad opened in 1898 serving Port Chester, New York. The trolley line was soon extended west through Rye to Harrison in 1901. The two companies were merged that summer to form the New York and Stamford Railway. Trackage rights over the Westchester Electric Railroad were obtained for access to New Rochelle.
The Ossining Electric Railway was a streetcar transit line that operated in northern Westchester County. Chartered in 1892 as the Ossining Street Railway, the first section of the line opened in 1893, starting at the New York Central Railroad station at Ossining, and terminating at the Methodist Meeting Grounds 1.8 miles away. There was also a short branch off Main Street to Sparta Hill. The town purchased the company in 1897 for unpaid taxes and continued operation until 1902 when the Westchester Traction Company took control. The new company announced an ambitious project to build a new line to White Plains as well as a route to Port Chester, but the only extension built was from Sparta Hill to Ossining Hospital. Westchester Traction Company took control of the Danbury and Harlem Traction Company project, which was only partially constructed between Danbury, Connecticut, and North Salem, New York, and never put into operation. The Industrial Contracting Company was hired to construct the Danbury and Harlem line as well as the extension of the Ossining Electric Railway. Considerable grading and some track construction took place on the Danbury line, but no evidence of construction on the Ossining line could be found.
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 consolidation of transit lines throughout the state. Electric trolley service between Danbury and Bethel began in 1887. The streetcar line connected to the Danbury and Harlem Traction Company at the Fairgrounds, but no service was provided and the line was abandoned by 1910. The Danbury and Bethel Street Railway faced its first financial difficulties in 1914 as ridership declined with the closure of local factories. The construction of an aborted extension to Bridgeport had nearly exhausted the railway's cash reserves. The company was purchased by J. Moss Ives in 1918 with the intention of bringing the operation back to profitability. The first buses were ordered and put into operation in 1912 between Main Street and Lake Avenue in Danbury. Ives reorganized as the Danbury and Bethel Traction Company in 1925. When the proposal to replace all remaining streetcar lines with bus operation was announced, the trolley motormen all went on strike in November 1926. The work stoppage did not affect the transition, and by the end of 1926 all streetcar operation had been abandoned, making it the first line in Connecticut to completely convert to bus operation.
Connecticut Railway and Lighting Company was a streetcar and bus transit operator serving the region around Bridgeport, Norwalk, Derby, New Britain and Waterbury, Connecticut. It was formed in 1901 by United Gas Improvement Company of Philadelphia to manage the streetcar operations of the Connecticut Light and Power Company, which at the time included Central Railway and Electric Company, Norwalk Street Railway, and the Waterbury Traction Company. The newly formed Connecticut Railway and Lighting acquired Bridgeport Traction Company, Derby Street Railway, Milford Street Railway, Shelton Street Railway, Meriden, Southington and Compounce Tramway Company, and the Cheshire Street Railway. Connecticut Railway and Lighting was leased to the Consolidated Railway and in turn the Connecticut Company between 1906 and 1936. Streetcar operations were discontinued in 1937 when all lines were converted to bus. Transit operations continued until 1972, when all remaining bus operations were suspended and taken over by Connecticut Transit, except in Bridgeport- by the Greater Bridgeport Transit District in 1975.
References
- Bang, Robert A.; Frank, John E.; Kowanski, George W.; Vondrak, Otto M. (2007). Forgotten Railroads Through Westchester County. Port Chester, New York: Privately printed. ISBN 978-0-9762797-3-0.
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