(The following story by Susan Tuz appeared on The News-Times website on November 10.)
DANBURY, Conn. — It’s just plain sludge — that buildup of rotting leaves that falls on railroad tracks throughout New England and every other area in the country with deciduous trees.
More than a mere annoyance, these leaves from oaks, maples and birches affect the trains that run through our area, causing them to travel slower and, in some cases, bypass some stations.
That’s what has happened at Branchville Station in southern Ridgefield. The Metro-North line has had to bypass the station, dropping off passengers on northbound trains bound for Ridgefield at the nearby stop in Cannondale.
Just past Branchville, the rail line goes up an incline. The slippery sludge makes it hard to gain traction, and the train can’t get up the hill if it stops in Branchville.
“We’re trying to run northbound trains on the route earlier so that passengers headed for Branchville are still arriving there on schedule, even though they have to be shuttle-bused back from the Cannondale Station,” Daniel Brucker, a Metro-North spokesman, said Friday.
The railroad’s trains will begin stopping in Branchville again shortly after the last leaves fall. At that time, it is practical to use a high-powered water spray on the tracks — the only way to remove the buildup.
“Sand, even metal-steel scrubbers are of no use,” Brucker said. “The buildup of leaves ground by the wheels of trains against the rails is so slick and slippery, it has been known to cause trains to slide through stations with all wheels locked.”
The Branchville Station sits between railroad tracks against a hillside to the east with a brook between it and Route 7 on the west. It is on the Danbury line which runs from Norwalk to Danbury. Commuters from Ridgefield use the line to travel to southern Connecticut and to catch connecting lines into New York City.