Author & Historian To Offer

RR Program, April 13

DANBURY — Local historian and author Sue A. DelBianco will give a lecture on “The Berkshire Line, Then and Now” on Wednesday, April 13, at Danbury Railway Museum. The program is part of the museum’s ongoing Wednesday Night Mini-Events series. It will begin at 7:30, and will be at the museum, 120 White Street.

The program will features slides of the Housatonic Railroad in 1836, and follow its history when it later became the New York-New Haven-Hartford Line by the 1870s. The line ran from Bridgeport to Pittsfield, Mass., and was used for passenger and freight.

Ms DelBianco will show captivating images of what early railroad was like, both triumphs and tragedies, and she will show through slides how the railroad brought industry alive in the areas of Bridgeport, Trumbull, Monroe, and Newtown. Today the railroad corridor that runs from Trumbull to Newtown (the Housatonic Rail-Trail) has become part of the Rails To Trails system, one of Connecticut’s best biking and hiking trails.

Sue DelBianco will also speak about her new book, called The Last Phantom Train. The mystery novel is set in New England, where a mysterious phantom train serving as a time portal is capable of bringing people back to the 1800s when railroad was king.  The book can be purchased through the Danbury Railway Museum gift shop.

Ms Delbianco, a former Trumbull resident, decided to use her expertise on local railroad history and write a fictional story around it.  She is an avid mountain biker and hiker who is dedicated to the preservation of the Housatonic Rail-Trail.

For additional information contact Ms DelBianco at 203-375-9064 or Danbury Railway Museum, 778-8337.