The Central New England Railway (CNE) was a railroad across northern Connecticut and west across the Hudson River in New York. It eventually became part of the Poughkeepsie Bridge Route (an alliance between railroads for a passenger route from Washington to Boston) and later a line of the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad.

History

The Hudson Connecting Railroad (inc. 1887, from Campbell Hall Junction to the Poughkeepsie Bridge ) and the Poughkeepsie and Connecticut Railroad (Poughkeepsie Bridge to Silvernails ) merged on July 22, 1889 to form the Central New England and Western Railroad.

The CNE&W was merged with the Poughkeepsie Bridge Company (inc. 1870) into the Philadelphia, Reading and New England Railroad on August 1, 1892. The PR&NE was bought by the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad, but was a failure. It was sold under foreclosure on October 6, 1898, and reorganized as the Central New England Railway on January 12, 1899.

The CNE leased the Hartford and Connecticut Western Railroad and Dutchess County Railroad , and obtained trackage rights over the Newburgh, Dutchess and Connecticut Railroad for 1.25 miles west from the Connecticut/New York state line (for a connection to the New York and Harlem Railroad).

The CNE also bought the parallel Poughkeepsie and Eastern Railway (Poughkeepsie to Boston Corners, New York ) on June 25, 1907, and incorporated parts of its trackage into its line, and abandoned other parts.

The CNE merged with the following companies on June 25, 1907:

• Poughkeepsie and Columbia Railroad - never built?
• Dutchess County Railroad - Poughkeepsie Bridge to Hopewell Junction
• Newburgh, Dutchess and Connecticut Railroad - Hopewell Junction to state line

It kept its lease on the Hartford, Connecticut and Western Railroad , which ran from Rhinecliff, New York , on the Hudson River, past Silvernails, New York (where the CNE joined), and to Hartford, Connecticut, with branches to Collinsville, Connecticut and Agawam Junction, Massachusetts (from where it had trackage rights over the Boston and Albany Railroad to Springfield, Massachusetts).

The CNE was merged into the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad in 1926.

References

• Railroad History Database