Poughkeepsie and Eastern Railway
| Locale | Poughkeepsie, NY to Boston Corners, NY |
|---|---|
| Dates of operation | 1872–1938 |
| Track gauge | 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge |
The Poughkeepsie and Eastern Railway was the first railroad to run east from Poughkeepsie, New York, and was taken over by the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad and assigned to the Central New England Railway in 1907.
The Poughkeepsie and Eastern Railroad was chartered April 13, 1866 to be built from Poughkeepsie on the Hudson River northeast to Boston Corners in Ancram, Columbia County, NY, and then southeast to the Connecticut state line, where it would connect with the Connecticut Western Railroad, which would continue east to Hartford, Connecticut.
The line opened on January 24, 1871 and ran from Poughkeepsie to Stissing. At Stissing the P&E had trackage rights to use that portion of the Dutchess and Columbia Railroad line that ran from Stissing to Pine Plains. On October 1, 1872 the remainder of the P&E line was opened from Pine Plains to the state line.
The P&E's main yard and engine facilities were at the Smith Street Yard in Poughkeepsie, where there was a passenger station, a freight house, turntable and engine house. The local trolley line on Smith St. also served the station. From the Poughkeepsie yard P&E trains traveled east through Pleasant Valley, Salt Point, Stanfordville, Stissing, Pine Plains, Boston Corners and State Line near Millerton.
It was anticipated that in addition to passenger service, the railroad would make money hauling iron ore from the ore beds of Columbia County, and milk from local dairy farms; however, revenues were not as great as expected.
On June 24, 1874 the company went into receivership. It was sold in April 1875 and reorganized May 15 as the Poughkeepsie, Hartford and Boston Railroad. It again went bankrupt and on January 26, 1884 the Hartford and Connecticut Western Railroad bought the section southeast of Boston Corners, to which they already had track rights. The rest was sold in late 1886 and on January 22, 1887 it was reorganized as the New York and Massachusetts Railway. Profit was still hard to come by, and it entered receivership for a third time in February 1893. It was sold under foreclosure March 2 and reorganized April 13 once under the name, the Poughkeepsie and Eastern Railway Company. Yet again, on June 17, 1898, the company went into receivership.
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