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Danbury and Bethel Street Railway

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Danbury and Bethel Street Railway Top #9 Facts

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RARE: MNCW PTC test train on the Danbury Branch

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Danbury Boyz

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3 CAR GENESIS on the Danbury Branch

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Metro-North’s Danbury Branch: BL20GH #110 at Great Pasture Road

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.
  • Bus Transit Operations (1927-1965) 

  • From Private to Public Operation (1965-1979)