Leroy Y. Beaujon Railroad Collection

Collection

Identifier: 1997-0042

Staff Only

Scope and Content

The Leroy Y. Beaujon Railroad Collection consists of payroll vouchers and paychecks, correspondence, scrapbooks, photographs, reports, maps and plans, photocopies, newspaper clippings, and research material related to the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad, the Central New England Railway (CNE) and its predecessor companies, including the Philadelphia, Reading & New England Railroad, the Hartford and Connecticut Western Railroad, the Newburgh, Dutchess & Connecticut Railroad, the Poughkeepsie & Eastern Railway; the Philadelphia & Reading Railroad, and the Rhinebeck & Connecticut Railroad.

The Central New England Railway, which ran from eastern New York through western and parts of central Connecticut and into southern Massachusetts, was absorbed by the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad in 1927. Also included is a scrapbook of newspaper clippings, documents, and photographs with information about the Housatonic Railroad and the Canaan, Connecticut, railroad station, which was the victim of arson in 2001. These materials were gathered by Mr. Beaujon, a historian of the railroad lines of western Connecticut.

The collection also includes 483 public timetables, from 1892 to 1968, from the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad of the western region of the system ("Lines West"), with one timetable, from 1969, of Penn Central, New Haven Division. Also includes are 143 employee timetables, from 1915 to 1969, of the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad's western division, which included the former Central New England Railway lines.

An addition to the collection in 2013 includes timetables, photographs, reports, maps and plans, photocopies, newspaper clippings, and research material.

An addition to the collection in 2014 includes photocopies, notes, newpaper, newspaper clippings, correspondence (emails), timetables, flyers, printouts from webpages, most with information about the possible resumption of train service on the Berkshire line (2010-2014).

Accession 2015-0044 consists of correspondence between Mr. Beaujon and many noted railroad historians, writers and enthusiasts, including Robert Adams, Eugene Connelly, Allan Copeland, Guy Dunscomb, Robert Estabrook, James Larson, Robert Lord, Carleton Mabee, William McDermott, Austin McEntee, William and Philip Metscher, Robert Nimke, David Peters, Doug Rice, Bernard Rudberg, Charles Smith (New York Central Railroad Historical Society), J. W. Swanberg, Thomas Taber III, and William Uricchio of the University of Connecticut Libraries.

Accession 2015-0104 consists of a copy of a locomotive roster, compiled by Mr. Beaujon, of all engines of the Central New England Railway and its predecessor lines. Also included is approximately 150 photographic prints of CNE locomotives.

Dates

Creation: undated, 1866-2004

Access

The collection is open and available for research.

Restrictions on Use

Permission to publish from these Papers must be obtained in writing from both the University of Connecticut Libraries and the owner(s) of the copyright.

History

The Hartford and Connecticut Western Railroad was formed in 1881 from the remnants of the bankrupt Connecticut Western Railroad, which was formed in 1868 and ran from Hartford, Connecticut, into Litchfield County, Connecticut, and on to Pine Plains, New York. After 1881 the H&CW purchased the Rhinebeck & Connecticut Railroad to extend the line to Rhinecliff, New York. In 1889 the H&CW was absorbed into the Central New England & Western Railroad, which was created after a bridge was built over the Hudson River at Poughkeepsie, New York, to facilitate coal freight and passenger traffic from Pennsylvania and eastern New York into southern New England. In 1892 the CNE&WRR was purchased by the Philadelphia & Reading Railroad to become the Philadelphia, Reading & New England Railroad.

In 1898 the Philadelphia, Reading & New England Railroad became the Central New England Railway. In 1900 a branch line was formed from Tariffville, Connecticut, to Agawam Junction, Massachusetts. In 1904 the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad, better known as the New Haven Railroad, purchased control of the CNE in order to obtain the Poughkeepsie Bridge, but the CNE was operated as an independent company until it was totally absorbed by the New Haven Railroad in 1927.

Leroy Y. Beaujon was born in 1929 in Canaan, Connecticut, and worked for the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad from 1947 to 1957 (excepting the years he served in the U.S. Army from 1953 to 1956) in station and tower service. He started working in the travel industry in 1957 and moved to California in 1973, where he currently resides.

Extent

39.5 Linear Feet

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Abstract

Payroll vouchers, correspondence, timetables, photographs, reports, maps and plans, photocopies, newspaper clippings, and other research material related to the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad, the Central New England Railway, and its predecessor railroad lines.

Please note that selected photographs from this collection are available in the UConn Library digital repository at http://archives.lib.uconn.edu/

Provenance and Acquisition

All materials in the collection were donated by Mr. Leroy Y. Beaujon between 1997 and 2015.

Related Material

Archives & Special Collections has a substantial collection of materials pertaining to the history of the railroads of southern New England. For detailed information on these collections please contact the curator or ask at the reference desk.