The Canaan Union Depot, also known as the Union Depot, is located in Canaan Village, in the town of North Canaan, Connecticut

North Canaan, Connecticut

North Canaan is a town in Litchfield County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 3,350 at the 2000 census. The town center is still called "Canaan" by local residents, being the main town center of the old Town of Canaan prior to North Canaan splitting off as its own town.The Union Depot...

, and is a former union station

Union station

A union station is the term used for a train station where tracks and facilities are shared by two or more railway companies, allowing passengers to connect conveniently between them...

. It was built in 1872 at the junction

Junction (rail)

A junction, in the context of rail transport, is a place at which two or more rail routes converge or diverge.This implies a physical connection between the tracks of the two routes , 'points' and signalling.one or two tracks each meet at a junction, a fairly simple layout of tracks suffices to...

 of the Housatonic Railroad

Housatonic Railroad

The Housatonic Railroad is a Class III railroad operating in southwestern New England. It was chartered in 1983 to operate a short section of ex-New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad in northwestern Connecticut, and has since expanded north and south, as well as west into New York State.The...

 and the Central New England Railway

Central New England Railway

The Central New England Railway was a railroad from Hartford, Connecticut and Springfield, Massachusetts west across northern Connecticut and across the Hudson River on the Poughkeepsie Bridge to Maybrook, New York...

.

Architecture

The station was located at the level junction

Level junction

In U.S. railroad practice, a level junction is a railway junction that has a track configuration in which merging or crossing railroad lines provide track connections with each other that require trains to cross over in front of opposing traffic at grade In U.S. railroad practice, a level junction...

 between the two rail lines, making a right angle right at the crossover. The angle of the building was a 3-story tower, at the top of which sat the electric telegraph operator. The two 90-foot (27-meter) wings of the building were occupied by the two railroad companies, until eventually both became the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad

New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad

The New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad , was a railroad that operated in the northeast United States from 1872 to 1968 which served the states of Connecticut, New York, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts...

 and then Penn Central Transportation

Penn Central Transportation

The Penn Central Transportation Company, commonly abbreviated to Penn Central, was an American railroad company that operated from 1968 until 1976. It was created by the merger on February 1, 1968, of the Pennsylvania Railroad and the New York Central Railroad...

. The second floor of the station had a large restaurant that was especially important before the development of the dining car

Dining car

A dining car or restaurant carriage , also diner, is a railroad passenger car that serves meals in the manner of a full-service, sit-down restaurant....

. The wood

Wood

Wood is a hard, fibrous tissue found in many trees. It has been used for hundreds of thousands of years for both fuel and as a construction material. It is an organic material, a natural composite of cellulose fibers embedded in a matrix of lignin which resists compression...

en station also featured a weather vane

Weather vane

A weather vane is an instrument for showing the direction of the wind. They are typically used as an architectural ornament to the highest point of a building....

 designed to look like a steam locomotive

Steam locomotive

A steam locomotive is a railway locomotive that produces its power through a steam engine. These locomotives are fueled by burning some combustible material, usually coal, wood or oil, to produce steam in a boiler, which drives the steam engine...

 atop its tower.

Decline

The station ceased passenger service in 1971, and freight service ended in 1974. The station then became a retail

Retail

Retail consists of the sale of physical goods or merchandise from a fixed location, such as a department store, boutique or kiosk, or by mail, in small or individual lots for direct consumption by the purchaser. Retailing may include subordinated services, such as delivery. Purchasers may be...

 location, with a restaurant

Restaurant

A restaurant is an establishment which prepares and serves food and drink to customers in return for money. Meals are generally served and eaten on premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and food delivery services...

 in the southeastern wing. When the railroad was reopened as the new Housatonic Railroad in 1980, the station was not repurchased.

More than half of the station — namely the southeast half — was destroyed by arson

Arson

Arson is the crime of intentionally or maliciously setting fire to structures or wildland areas. It may be distinguished from other causes such as spontaneous combustion and natural wildfires...

 late in the evening of October 12, 2001. The Connecticut Railroad Historical Association purchased what was left in 2003, and the organization has begun to restore it.

External links

• History of the Canaan Union Station, Connecticut Railroad Historical Association