Branford Steam Railroad

Branford Steam Railroad

Bridge over Route 80 in North Branford just outside the quarry
Reporting mark	BRFD
Locale	North Branford to Stony Creek, Connecticut, U.S.A
Dates of operation	1903–present
Track gauge	4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Length	6.2 miles (10.0 km)
Headquarters	North Branford, Connecticut

Branford Steam Railroad (reporting mark BRFD) is an industrial railroad serving the Tilcon Connecticut stone quarry in North Branford, Connecticut in the United States. It exchanges freight with the Providence and Worcester Railroad and with the Buchanan Marine Company.

Louis A. Fisk was a politically connected businessman from Branford, Connecticut who had by the 1890s built a trotting park for horses called the Branford Driving Park. To attract more visitors Fisk built a three-mile-long (4.8 km) Damascus Railway that offered connections with the Shore Line Division of the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad. In 1900 the creation of the Palisades Interstate Park Commission of New York and New Jersey forced the closing of basalt quarries along the Hudson River. This led to an increased demand for stone from Connecticut quarries. Louis Fisk would eventually open a quarry on Totoket Mountain in North Branford.

On March 19, 1903, Fisk obtained authorization from the Connecticut General Assembly to incorporate the Branford Steam Railroad in order to take over the property of and succeed the Damascus Railway. At the time the name "Steam Railroad" was used to distinguish the new railroad from the nearby Branford Electric Railway which was a separate streetcar system.

By April 29, 1909, Fisk obtained authority from the General Assembly for the Branford Steam Railroad to lay additional tracks southward to a dock he owned at Juniper Point on Long Island Sound (between the Pine Orchard and Stony Creek neighborhoods of Branford).