An Adventure in Essex Connecticut

It was the early afternoon on our 4^th day of our summer road trip.  We’d just arrived along the central coastal area of Connecticut.  Time to check out a major local attraction…

Essex Connecticut on the Connecticut River is the home of the Essex Steam Train and Riverboat Cruise.  This locomotive with its train was just returning from a tour when we arrived.  The Valley Railroad Company, which operates the Essex Steam Train and Riverboat, has been in business in the lower Connecticut River Valley since 1971.

Locomotive #40, (a 2-8-2 wheel configuration), was built in 1920 by the American Locomotive Company in Dunkirk New York.  Originally it was built to haul logs and lumber in the northwestern USA.  Ownership bounced from one entity to another until it was purchased by the Aberdeen and Rockfish Railroad in North Carolina.  It was retired in 1950 and put into storage.  The Valley Railroad Company discovered it and bought it in 1977.  

Locomotive #40 is one of the less than 200 steam locomotives in the USA that is still operable.   That is a very small number when you consider that over 120,000 steam locomotives were put in use across the country…

Our timing was just about perfect!  The ‘steam train’, Locomotive #40 was ready to depart on its next tour, so we were just in time to catch the train. 

There is a fair amount of rolling stock at the Essex Steam Train depot property.  This Porter 0-6-0 tank engine, Simons Wrecking #2, was acquired from the city of Peabody Massachusetts in 2009.  It had been part of Scranton Pennsylvania’s ‘Steamtown’ collection.  Funds are being raised to try to return this small locomotive to service for Valley Railroad. 

Laurie took this photo of me as we waited to board the train… (Who the heck is that old guy?!)

The Valley Railroad Company leases about 23 miles of track from the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection.  A big part of Valley Railroad’s success and continued operations is due to assistance by the Friends of The Valley Railroad.  This volunteer group works with the railroad to perform track and equipment maintenance and various other tasks… 

For information regarding the Friends of The Valley Railroad organization just go to http://friendsvrr.org/.

These photos show the inside of the 74-seat passenger coaches on our train.  Fortunately, it wasn’t raining and we were able to put the windows up.  The coaches are in fairly good condition considering how much use they get…

The Valley Railroad has 10 passenger coaches in service and 7 of them were built by the Pullman Company.  

The Pullman coaches were formerly owned by the Leigh Valley Railroad Company and the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad.  The other 3 coaches in were built by Bethlehem Steel.  4 newer (1950s) Canadian Car and Foundry coaches have been acquired from the Adirondack Scenic Railway and one of those will be put in service this November.

Here’s our conductor taking tickets from the family seated in front of us.  It is a 2.5 hour trip.

The fare for adults (train only) is $20.00, seniors $18.00 and children $10.00.  The combo fare, (train and river cruise) is $30.00, seniors $27.00 and children $20.00.  A first class parlor coach is available for an extra charge…  

Our route took us north along the shore and marshy area bordering the Connecticut River.

FYI, at 406 miles in length, the Connecticut River is the longest river in New England.  Flowing through 4 states, it produces 70% of Long Island Sound’s fresh water! 

Along the way, we crossed over this little creek draining into the river.  The Connecticut River has 148 tributaries feeding it before it reaches Long Island Sound.

In the distance across the river, we could see the Gillette Castle.  It’s located in a State Park of the same name.

The castle was a private residence that was designed and built by William Gillette, an actor who was most famous for his stage portrayal of Sherlock Holmes.  When it was Gillette’s residence, visitors to the castle included Albert Einstein, Helen Hayes and Charlie Chaplin.  It now receives 350,000 visitors each years and the park includes a visitor’s center and museum as well as hiking trails and a picnic area.

To learn more about Gillette Castle and Gillette State Park, just go to https://www.ct.gov/deep/cwp/view.asp?A=2716&Q=325204.

…then there was this marina tucked away in a safe and secure harbor just off the river itself.

We passed 2 depots along the way.  This is the former Deep River Freight Depot at Deep River Landing.  The station was built ca. 1915 by the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad in response to a government-mandated program to update railroad infrastructure.  Today, it’s used as the offices for the Valley Railroad Company’s riverboat operation.  We didn't get a photo of the depot in Chester... 

Deep River Landing is where we stopped to pick up passengers that had just gotten off their 1 hour and 15 minute river cruise on the 69 foot long Becky Thatcher riverboat.  We watched the conductor trying to herd everyone on board... Unfortunately we arrived too late to do a combination rail and river cruise.

…as we sat on a second set of tracks, a few kids in our coach got excited when the dinner train passed by.  They waved at passengers on the other train until the entire train had passed.

The Essex Clipper Dinner Train has been featured in ‘USA Today’.  The dinner train operates on weekends throughout the spring, summer and fall.  Diners are served a 4-course meal in restored 1920’s Pullman Diner Cars.  The dinner train can also be chartered for private events.

To learn about the dinner train and to view the menu, you can just go to http://essexsteamtrain.com/dinner-train/.

This was the scene at the Essex Depot upon our return from the scenic train tour.  This is definitely a popular tourist attraction! 

The Essex Depot was built in 1915 by the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad on the former Connecticut Valley Railroad line which had been serving the Connecticut River valley since 1871.  Passenger service on the route had disappeared by 1933 but freight service continued until 1961 when the railroad went bankrupt. 

This large red building houses the Oliver Jensen Gallery.  The gallery presents varying art exhibits throughout the year.  Admission to the gallery is always free as long as the tourist operations are open. 

This building used to house the Dickinson Witch Hazel Bottling Plant.  After 130 years in Essex, the plant closed in 1997 after merging with another company.  In 1866, T.N. Dickinson commercialized the American Indian custom of boiling witch hazel twigs to make a soothing solution.  The company remained in the family’s hands until 1983.  

This attractive red Pullman Coach, built in 1914, is not part of the rolling stock on hand in Essex.  It's stationary and it serves as the Trackside Café, serving visitors to the Essex Steam Train and Riverboat experience.  It’s open on days when the train is operating and it offers soups, sandwiches, snacks and beverages. 

The closest Pullman Car in this photo is the 28 seat Parlor Car ‘Goodspeed’.  It was built in 1927 and it’s used with the Essex Clipper Dinner Train.  The passenger coach to the right is the ‘Putnam’.  It was built in 1924 by Bethlehem Steel. 

80-ton Diesel Locomotive #0900 was built in 1947.  It served at the General Electric Plant in Schenectady New York until it was acquired by the Valley Railroad Company.  As per Wikipedia, it is “used in occasional switching and work trains.  Suffered a catastrophic prime mover failure in one engine and is therefore limited in capability.”

The railyard occupied by the Valley Railroad Company contains all types of rolling stock.  This box car has been painted to represent a circus box car.  In addition to a number of box cars, there is a tank car, a hopper car, gondola, a caboose and a flat car and the dining cars.  There is another functional steam locomotive as well as another that’s being restored.  In total there are 4 diesel locomotives.  The company also owns a US Army Kitchen Car!  To view a layout of the Essex Depot and its rail yard, you can just go to http://essexsteamtrain.com/about/essex-station/.

To visit the official site for The Essex Steam Train and Riverboat Cruise, go to http://essexsteamtrain.com/.

Well, this day was about done… Time to find something good for dinner!  That’s coming up next…

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them.

Thanks for stopping by and going along for the ride on the rails!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave