Brewer Junction – Mount Desert Ferry railway line
| Brewer Junction ME – Mount Desert Ferry ME, status 1999 |
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| Route length: | 66.1 km | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Gauge : | 1435 mm ( standard gauge ) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Dual track : | % | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Society: | most recently Guilford | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The railway junction Brewer Mount Desert Ferry is a railway line in Maine ( United States ). It is 66.1 kilometers long. The standard-gauge line was last operated by Guilford Transportation and has been closed and partially dismantled. A short stretch at Brewer Junction is still used as a siding.
history
Mount Desert Island was a popular vacation destination as early as the 19th century. In 1870 the island could be reached by ship from Rockland and Bangor . There was also a ferry from Hancock Point, just across the island. Since the island is only a few hundred meters from the mainland, a rail connection to the ferry terminal at Hancock Point was a worthwhile undertaking. First, the Bangor and Calais Railroad was founded in 1872 , whose railway line from Bangor to Calais was supposed to pass north of Hancock and could possibly have a short branch line. Then it was intended to extend the Bangor – Bucksport railway beyond Bucksport along the coast to Hancock, but this was not carried out due to the severely fragmented coastline. In 1881 the Maine Shore Line Railroad was founded , which wanted to build from Ellsworth to Calais and had an option to extend to Bangor. This route roughly corresponded to the plans of Bangor & Calais. Instead, however, the Maine Central Railroad took over the railway line to Bucksport in 1883, leased the Maine Shore Line Railroad and built a branch line from Brewer via Ellsworth to Hancock Point. The connection to Calais was later established as a branch line from this railway line.
In 1883 the railway was still passable to Ellsworth and in 1884 the first trains reached the ferry terminal at Hancock Point. The terminus was named Mount Desert Ferry from the start . In June 1887 the first express train, later the Bar Harbor Express, ran from Boston to Mount Desert Ferry. It only drove in the summer season and was discontinued in October 1889. Another express train followed from 1906, which ran from New York City to Mount Desert Ferry and was later called the State of Maine Express . Almost all of the Maine Central Railroad's express trains going to Bangor in the summer had at least through coaches to Mount Desert Ferry. From 1917 Washington DC could be reached without changing trains.
After the road bridge that had existed since 1884 was renewed in April 1931, the ferry service between Hancock Point and Mount Desert Island ended. The express trains now ended in Ellsworth and a bus connection to Bar Harbor made the connection. The section to Mount Desert Ferry was only used by mixed trains . All traffic on the Waukeag – Mount Desert Ferry section ended in 1934 and the route was closed in 1938. Also in 1938, passenger traffic between Washington Junction and Waukeag was suspended. Freight traffic on this section ended in 1959 when the line was closed.
Passenger trains ran on the rest of the Brewer Junction – Washington Junction section until November 25, 1957. The last freight train ran in 1984, three years after Guilford Transportation took over Maine Central. In 1985 the line was officially closed, but the tracks are still there today. When a school was built on the route in Ellsworth, the railway company even built a bypass so that the route could be used again later.
Route description
The line branches off the railway line to Bucksport in the north of the town of Brewer and initially crosses a larger industrial area, where there are still several sidings that are used sporadically. The route then swings in an easterly direction and winds through extensive forests to Holden , where it turns south-east. The route essentially runs parallel to Highway 1. South of Holden, the railway runs along the east bank of the long Phillips Lake , past the west side of Green Lake and along Little Rocky Pond . The still winding route crosses the Union River at Ellsworth and initially turns northeast in Ellsworth.
A few kilometers further on, the Washington Junction junction is reached, where the route to Calais continues northeast, while the dismantled tracks to Mount Desert Ferry lead here again to the southeast. The train led north past Kilkenny Cove , a fjord-like bay and reached the village of Hancock after a few kilometers . Here the route turns south and leads along the Sullivan Harbor , a bay, to the former ferry terminal and the terminus Mount Desert Ferry.
attachment
credentials
- ^ Mike Walker: SPV's comprehensive Railroad Atlas of North America. New England & Maritime Canada. Steam Powered Publishing, Faversham 1999, ISBN 1-874745-12-9 .
literature
- Robert M. Lindsell: The Rail Lines of Northern New England. Branch Line Press, Pepperell MA 2000, ISBN 0-942147-06-5 .