The first not-quite-four miles of railroad forms a connection from Saybrook Junction on the Shore Line, and does not see passenger use. From Essex (MP 3.97), where the depot is on the east side of the line, with plenty of static rolling stock on the adjacent sidings to the west, the single track line heads north, past an open meadow on the west, several hundred yards along (less than a mile), and then northwest, past Deep River (MP 7.59), where the line turns north again and comes alongside the west bank of the Connecticut River, Riverside (MP 7.85), site of the platform used by those taking the train/cruise option, Chester (MP 8.57), where line and river turn northwest, Castleview (MP 8.75), from which Gillette’s “castle”, built by an actor in the first half of the 20th century, can be seen across the river, Hadlyme (MP 9.26), Parkers Point (MP 10.35), and Goodspeeds and Moodus (MP 12.27), the very end of the track controlled by the Valley Railroad. The line once continued along the west bank of the river to Middletown.