Fudrucker’s got a listing at 56 Locust Road (Near Tamarack) that’s an abandoned railroad right of way, so it’s 100 feet wide and, I don’t know, 1000′ long? I’d think the golf club would buy it but I guess they aren’t interested. But someone is (there’s a wreck of a house on it) so I’m covering for Frankie. You should see the picture- very strange. And what happened to the railroad?
UPDATE: Lots of information on the railroad in the comments section. As for speculation as to whether you can build on this parcel, of course you can. For one, there’s an existing house there, so you have grandfathered protection; for another, this is a classic case for a legal variance that I could win blindfolded. I am NOT making that representation as an agent for the listing broker – our errors and omissions carrier would have a fit – but I certainly haven’t forgotten my land use law experience of thirty years ago and this fits as solidly into a variance exception as any property I’ve seen.
For What It's Worth 
http://nywbry.com/forgotten/#falsestarts
A railroad that cut through Pemberwick north to Ridgefield.
Could be the same rail line that ran through Pemberwick into Glenville, and served the old felt mill.
There is a fascinating history to Greenwich back-country agricultural railroads, and a long sad history of farmer co-op investments in them to get their produced shipped to NY markets. I believe this one was intended to reach all the way to the Danbury – Ridgefield area. John Sterling’s gift to Yale of the Yale Farms area intersected the right-of-way.
Another such right-of-way extended up from Glenville as far as the back of St. Michael’s on North St.
The local probate court has records of farmers dying holding worthless stock in these rail companies, as though any of them could have become the next Harriman.
The parcel of which you speak is actually 2200 ft long by 100 ft wide, a total of 5.16 acres in a four acre zone. Given the RA-4 side yard requirements of 50 ft each side, the building sq.ft. building footprint permitted is zero.
On the other hand, it could be a great commercial drag race strip. Wonder how the NW Greenwich Association will like that idea.
lets see the pics .
oh speaking of pics.
these things do not look fake !
http://www.greenwichtime.com/news/article/Australian-police-Fake-bomb-placed-on-1719994.php
Chris – it is 2,200 feet long by 100 feet wide. But this 5.16 acre lot gives you 14,000 FAR.
The question is: where are you going to put the house? If it is a 100 feet wide lot and you have setbacks of 50 feet on both sides.
Chris, it is likely was the old Ridgefield & New York Railroad, which was chartered in New York in May 1876. Some grading was done over a period of 30 years (including certain spots in Greenwich which are still visible) In 1909, The New Haven bought the stock. They were like a .com company back then, buying literally any little line or proposed line in their path, which was all of New England. It was never built though, and is likely that the NH let it go at some point during their history. The line was slated to to run from Port Chester (a former bustling yard) to Ridgefield, cutting through Greenwich and parts of New Bedford, etc. The old mill in Glenville was supposed to be a station / freight stop (aka a customer for the railroad), and the buildings today still are shaped for the train which never came. Kinda cool eh?
So long as you can build on it would could have a very cool piece of property there. Depends what the neighbours are like , but I could see all sorts of fun ways to use that.
How’s the ground can you grow anything on it>? And avid gardeber could have a succession of garden rooms and pavilions.Wish i had the money.
Can you set up a google earth link?
Google Map link: http://bit.ly/pw6vxB
Is the value in somehow dividing it and selling each piece to the adjacent landowner?
@Earth Image & Anon: I eyeballed it earlier at about 2100 ft deep so thanks for the update. The odd thing I noticed is that it looks like the horse farm at 40 Locust has encroached on their property unless the current owners of 56 sold of parts of the back lot a long time ago. As Chris said, odd.
Thanks, also, to the railroad fans who shed light on the history of the RR ROW. Very cool.
Just what you need – twenty friggin’ neighbors to deal with. : )
40 Locust is for sale too. Chris, is there some type of easement there? It looks like they are enroaching on the other side of the tract as well.
Okay Chris, since your are confident that I can put my 14,000 square feet house on this lot (via legal variance), then I don’t mind offering $400,000 for it.
Hell no, you need a qualified land use lawyer for that and I’m out of that game – Bruce Cohen or Tom Ward, for instance. But in theory, yes, you can.
It was the proposed New York, Housatonic and Northern Railroad. I have a map of Greenwich from 1867 and the track is seen on the map.
The plan was to buid a railroal from White Plains to Danbury. Many local men went to work on it and some tracks were even laid. However none of the men ever got paid. When their boss went to meet the contractor at a bank in White Plains, he never showed up. That was the end of the New York, Housatonic and Northern RR.
A station stop was planned Riversville Road and for a while the area was called Railroad Hill. It would have gone right by the Cemetery on Riversville Road, where there are three Revolutionary and 21 Civil War Vets buried.
You can still see where work was done accross from the Audobon Land on Riversville. Also off of Sterling Road and Pierson Drive.