Bethel is the second to last stop on the Danbury Branch. The current station opened in 1996 with a high-level platform relocating the stop a half-mile north of the original station away from the center of Town. The new station cost $4.3 million The original 1899 station house still exists with a historic depot along Depot Place between the grade crossings of South Street and Greenwood Avenue. The stop presently lacks TVMs, tickets may be purchased on board without penalty.
Today’s station consists of a 5 car long, narrow high-level platform that is fully canopied with a gabled roof with the underside of it’s wooden roof clearly visible. The platform contains a tactile warning strip, a few benches and simple black trash cans (not the normal, wider blue recycling centers). A single stepfree entrance bridge leads across a small drainage area to a single-story station house. This building has pink colored brick walls, a gabled roof and a chimney (is of the same design as the new Danbury station building, built at the same time). Inside is the Daily Fare Cafe. Immediately beyond the building is the station’s building is the station’s 170 space parking lot. Most of these spaces are for permit holders paying $250 a year (with a wait list). To finally leave the station there is a single exit at the opposite end of the parking lot to Durant Avenue with the driveway directly across from the end of Simeon Road. A sign for the Bethel Railroad Station marks the entrance.
Photos 1-34: November 23, 2013
West Redding 