Which lines are these?

I was looking at some old maps and noticed two lines that were abandonded. One runs west out of Middletown, north of the river. The other one runs west out of New Haven. It says on the map that it is a telephone line but you can see where the tracks branched off and the line then becomes a telephone line (using the ROW I guess). Is one of these tje old NH air line? Where did that line go?

I'm not sure exactly which line you mean in Middletown. The lines to Middletown were as follows:
Air Line, east across the bridge to Willimantic and southwest to New Haven
Connecticut River Division, southeast to Old Saybrook and north to Hartford
Middletown Branch, northwest to the main line at Kensington
Meriden and Waterbury, splitting from the Connecticut River Disivon in Cromwell and crossing the Middletown Branch just west of Route 217, then running via Meriden to Waterbury - this was abandoned very early, and in its final days saw only interurban streetcars

West from New Haven would be the New Haven and Derby to a junction with the old Housatonic Railroad main line at Botsford. I think this is now the main line of the Housatonic.

I found an older map (1892) and the line heading west of New Haven that is abandonded in a later map is called the "Bershire Division". Anyone know any history of this line? Following it as a telephone line from New Haven after it was abandoned, I followed it to south of derby. It shows it used to cross the houstanic river and an existing NH line and continued west. The first link is the southwest NH map and second is a southwest map of Ansonia. Where did it go after that? Bridgeport?

http://historical.maptech.com/getImage. ... g&state=CT

http://historical.maptech.com/quad.cfm? ... series=7.5

The Berkshire Division (Housatonic Railroad) consisted of a main line from Bridgeport to Pittsfield with branches to New Haven, Norwalk and West Stockbridge. At some point Conrail sold off most of the lines to a new Housatonic Railroad.

http://www.catskillarchive.com/rrextra/abnere2.Html has some good information in the section on the Housatonic Railroad:

The New Haven and Derby Railroad was opened New Haven to Ansonia (or, Derby Jct.,) August 5, 1871. The Railroad YMCA on South Orange Street, New Haven, was formerly the New Haven and Derby Depot. This building was later moved 50 feet to its present location.

The New Haven and Derby engine house was located at West Street, New Haven.

November 14, 1888, the New Haven and Derby opened an extension, Derby Jct. to a point in Huntington, 3.79 miles.

November 28, 1888 the Housatonic Railroad opened a branch from Botsford to connect with New Haven and Derby extension, 9.79 miles. Old timers used to refer to this portion of the road as the extension and at that time freight trains were run from New Haven to Wilson Point via Botsford, Hawleyville and Bethel.

The New Haven and Derby Railroad was leased to the Housatonic Railroad July 9, 1889 and the Housatonic Railroad was leased to the New York, New Haven and Hartford September 10, including the Danbury and Norwalk and the New Haven and Derby Railroads. Passenger trains of the former Housatonic Railroad, known for many years as the Berkshire Division, were run to the Union Station, New Haven.

Just back from western Mass on a li'l hiking vacation... had the pleasure of being in Housatonic country and got a lucky glimpse of #3602 and two other units pulling the NX-12 south thru Lee.

Click here for an image.

BM6569 wrote:I was looking at some old maps and noticed two lines that were abandonded. One runs west out of Middletown, north of the river. The other one runs west out of New Haven. It says on the map that it is a telephone line but you can see where the tracks branched off and the line then becomes a telephone line (using the ROW I guess). Is one of these tje old NH air line? Where did that line go?

The Air Line is still used by P & W a couple of times a week for freight runs between Middletown and Cedar Hill Yard, New Haven. They also run one train a week over to Portland. The tracks are old, so the trains run slowly and are pretty easy to chase for railfanning.
Here are some photos: http://www.madre-de-dios.org/gallery/airline

Regarding the P&W, how often do they run from Middletown up to Hartford on the line which was rebuilt in recent years? What route do they use to go to the Tilcon plant in Danbury?, via Botsford or the D&N? I believe they have trackage rights over both.

Here is a nice link on the history of the Housatonic line, including the New Haven and Derby:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Housatonic_Railroad
Here is a GREAT link to the Meriden, Waterbury & Connecticut River RR:
http://www.tapr.org/~wa1lou/whs/mwcrrr.html

Here's a map from P&W's website: http://www.pwrr.com/PWmap2.html