Danbury Railway Museum

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Danbury Railway Museum
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Museum building in 2007
Museum building in 2007
Location: Danbury, CT
Coordinates: 41°23′52″N 73°27′00″W / 41.39778, -73.45Coordinates: 41°23′52″N 73°27′00″W / 41.39778, -73.45
Built/Founded: 1903
Architect: A. Malkin
Added to NRHP: 1986
NRHP Reference#: 86002750
Governing body: Danbury Railway Museum

The Danbury Railway Museum is a non-profit organization whose purpose is to operate a railway museum in Danbury, Connecticut.

The museum itself is located at 120 White Street in Danbury, adjacent to the Danbury Metro-North Station and Meeker's Hardware in a 1903 building erected by the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad. During the time that it served as Danbury's main train station, the station scenes in Alfred Hitchcock's Strangers On A Train were filmed here. On September 25, 1986 it was added to the National Register of Historic Places.[1]

Model train layout showing station and railyard in the 1950s.
Model train layout showing station and railyard in the 1950s.

The facility comprises a railroad yard full of restored and unrestored railroad equipment, and the restored station house containing exhibits of photographs and railroad paraphernalia, model train layouts, an extensive reference library, and a gift shop.

Visitors can ride the "Rail Yard Local" on weekends in the summer season. The ride takes about 25 minutes and includes a unique ride by the passengers on the museum's operating, eighty-plus year old, turntable. The turntable was also added to the National Register of Historic Places on September 15, 2005.[2]

Some of the rolling stock in the yard, including its 1907 built 2-6-0 steam locomotive (B&M #1455[3]), two cabooses, a Budd Car (self-propelled rail diesel car), and a Sperry track inspection car, are open to the visitors. The museum is an all-volunteer operation and welcomes anyone who would like to participate in any of the many facets of its operations - including operating its locomotives and self-propelled cars.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ NRIS Search by location. Retrieved on 2008-05-17.
  2. ^ The turntable is NRHP reference number 05001048. Please see: National Park Service (September 23, 2005). National Register of Historic Places Listings. Retrieved on 2008-05-17.
  3. ^ "Danbury Railway Day" (September 2007). The Railyard Local 6 (9). Danbury Railway Museum. 

[edit] External links

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