Danbury Railway Museum

Danbury Railway Museum

The logo of the Danbury Railway Museum
Location	White Street and Patriot Drive Danbury, Connecticut
Type	Railroad History
Website	www.danbury.org/drm/
Union Station
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Former Union Station, the museum building in 2007.
Coordinates	41°23′43″N 73°26′14″W / 41.395278°N 73.437222°W / 41.395278; -73.437222Coordinates: 41°23′43″N 73°26′14″W / 41.395278°N 73.437222°W / 41.395278; -73.437222
Area	1.3 acres (5,300 m2)
Built	1902
Architect	A. Malkin
Architectural style	Romanesque Revival
NRHP Reference #	86002750
Added to NRHP	September 25, 1986

www.danbury.org/drm/

The Danbury Railway Museum (reporting mark DRMX) is housed in the former Union Station on the east end of downtown Danbury, Connecticut, United States. It was established in the mid-1990s following the closure of the station by Metro-North Railroad, and primarily focuses on the history of railroading in southern New England and neighbouring New York. In addition to the former station building, the museum has a collection of heritage railcars in the neighboring railyard it shares with Metro-North.

The station was built in 1903 by the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad in response to local pressure for a new station after the three railroads that served the city were merged into the New Haven. At its peak period 125 trains stopped there in a day. In 1993 that had dwindled to a few commuter trains, and the Connecticut Department of Transportation, which by then owned the neglected building, closed it in favor of a newer station on the other side of the block. Within two years the museum was formed and restored the station to its former appearance.

It is architecturally distinctive, with Colonial Revival touches on a Richardsonian Romanesque structure. Alfred Hitchcock filmed station scenes for Strangers on a Train on its distinctive curved platform. In 1986, prior to the museum's use of the building, it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It was joined on the Register in 2005 by the former turntable, the only intact one in the state.

The museum itself is located on a curved 1.3 acres (5,300 m²) lot at the southeast corner of White Street and Patriot Drive, just across from Meeker's Hardware, also on the Register. To its west is a parking lot with room for 25 cars. Immediately behind it, to the south, are the railroad tracks and a 6-acre (2.4 ha) railyard. The current Danbury station is a short distance away, and sometimes Metro-North stores its trains on the tracks behind the station between runs. The museum's collection of older cars is on the tracks in the yard's interior. A grade crossing on White marks the eastern terminus of the Beacon Line kept in reserve by Metro-North for possible future use.