Brunswick – Skowhegan railway line

Brunswick ME – Skowhegan ME, as of 1999
Society:	PAR , ME
Route length:	114 km
Gauge :	1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Tracks:	1 (previously partly 2)
Legend from Portland 0.0 Brunswick Junction ME (formerly Brunswick) from Farmington 0.5 Brunswick ME Maine Street to Rockland (Rock Junction) Kennebec River 2.1 Topsham ME 6.3 Cathance ME Cathance River 12.4 Bowdoinham ME Denham Stream 18.4 Harward's ME (formerly Harward's Road) 24.9 Richmond ME approx. 29 Iceboro ME 30.7 Dresden ME 36.5 South Gardiner ME (formerly Lawrences Mills) 43.3 Gardiner ME Cobbosseecontee Stream by Copsecook Mills approx 45 North Street Siding approx. 47 Farmingdale ME 50.2 Hallowell ME approx. 52 State House Siding 53.6 Augusta ME Kennebec River approx. 54 East Augusta ME approx. 60 Kennebec ME 65.8 Riverside ME (formerly Seven Mile Brook, Sidney) 71.9 Vassalboro ME Sebasticook River 82.1 Winslow ME Kennebec River Connection curve towards Bangor Cumberland – Bangor route Connecting curve towards Cumberland 84.7 Waterville ME (former crossing station) 88.9 Fairfield ME (formerly Kendall's Mills) to Bangor 93.7 Shawmut ME (formerly Somerset Mills) approx. 97 Classy ME 99.0 Good Will Farm ME 101.3 Hinckley ME (formerly Pishons Ferry, Pishons) Goods connection paper mill about 113 Skowhegan ME (from 1953) Kennebec River 114.0 Skowhegan ME (until 1953)

The railway Brunswick Skowhegan is a railway line in Maine ( United States ). It is 114 kilometers long. The standard gauge route is operated today by the Pan Am Railways between Waterville and Hinckley exclusively in freight traffic. From East Augusta to Waterville, the route also belongs to Pan Am Railways, but there is hardly any regular service. The section from Brunswick to East Augusta belongs to the Maine Eastern Railroad , which operates freight services to Augusta. The 12.7 kilometer route north of Hinckley and about two kilometers in the urban area of ​​Augusta have been closed.

history

The southern part of the line to Augusta was planned as a branch line of the Portland – Bath railway line . The Kennebec and Portland Railroad had begun construction of this route in the late 1840s and opened it in 1849. The branch line from Brunswick along the Kennebec River to Augusta was started immediately and in January 1851 the first trains ran to Richmond . In December Gardiner was reached and in January of the following year the railway to Augusta was completed.

The Somerset and Kennebec Railroad was founded in 1848 and had the goal of extending the line further north. The Kennebec River had to be crossed in Augusta and Waterville, which delayed the opening of the route. It was not until 1855 that the first trains ran to Kendall's Mills (now Fairfield ). In 1856 or 1857 the line to Skowhegan was opened. Another planned extension to Caratunk was never built. The management was incumbent on the entire route of Kennebec & Portland, but it was not formally leased Somerset & Kennebec and thus the route north of Augusta until 1864.

In 1870, the Maine Central Railroad again leased both railway companies and from that point on ran operations on the Brunswick – Skowhegan route. They led a large part of their long-distance trains on the "Lower Road" (lower route) called railway, so that the Waterville – Skowhegan section was relegated to a branch line and the remaining part merged into the main Portland – Bangor line . Much of the route between Brunswick and Fairfield was double-tracked in the early 20th century. In the heyday of the railroad, numerous important express trains ran over the railway line, including the Bar Harbor Express ( New York City - Mount Desert Ferry ) and the Gull ( Boston - Halifax ).

In March 1936, a flood that inundated all of New England destroyed much of the route along the Kennebec River. Rail traffic was idle until the summer of that year. 1946 ended the passenger traffic between Fairfield and Skowhegan, on September 6, 1960 also between Brunswick and Fairfield. Most of the second track was subsequently dismantled as the train density had decreased significantly. The railway bridge over the Kennebec in Skowhegan was shut down as early as 1953 and a new freight yard was built south of the bridge. The bridge was used as a pedestrian bridge until it was destroyed in a flood in 1987. In 1971 Maine Central closed the section between the paper mill in Hinckley and the Skowhegan freight yard. The tracks were dismantled and the railway area sold. Since 1981 Guilford Transportation has been running the route under the name Pan Am Railways since 2006 .

Bridge over the Kennebec River near Augusta on July 8, 2006

The Brunswick – East Augusta section was officially closed in 1989. However, the route remained intact and was sold to the State of Maine in 1991. This leased the section to the Maine Coast Railroad , which, however, did not resume operations until Augusta in 1996. The short section from Augusta to East Augusta was partially dismantled, the bridge over the Kennebec River closed, but not demolished.

Since the connection between the industrial site of East Augusta and the port city of Portland via Brunswick was much shorter, it was decided in 1999 to renovate the bridge and re-use the dismantled tracks in Augusta. In February 2000, the route was reactivated and the Maine Coast Railroad now drove the entire route to East Augusta. At the same time, however, the operation between East Augusta and Waterville ended. The route was then only used for occasional transfers. After the bankruptcy of the Maine Coast Railroad, the Maine Eastern Railroad took over operations until Augusta in 2003 . Regular operation through the urban area of ​​Augusta was discontinued and the tracks were later overturned in order to create parking spaces so that continuous traffic is no longer possible. East Augusta has been served from Waterville again since then. A resumption of passenger traffic between Brunswick and Augusta is discussed.

Route description

The route runs the full length of the Kennebec River, which it crosses in Brunswick, Augusta, Waterville and Skowhegan. It branches off in Brunswick from the Portland – Rockland railway line and initially leads north across the river. On the following section it moves a few kilometers away from the river and leads via Cathance and Bowdoinham to Richmond , where it meets the Kennebec again. From here the route runs along the western bank of the river. Via Dresden and Gardiner it reaches the capital Maines Augusta after a total of 54 kilometers . The current bridge over the river was only built after the 1936 flood. The pillars of the old bridge are still there today and are located directly next to the new bridge.

The railway now runs along the eastern bank of the river to Winslow. In Winslow, the Sebasticook River is first crossed before another bridge over the Kennebec follows, over which the town of Waterville is reached. This is where the main line of the Maine Central Railroad , which was colonial- tracked until 1871, crossed . Around 1918, this line was closed east of Waterville and the trains to Bangor have been running since then to Fairfield on the Brunswick – Skowhegan line. In Fairfield, a new branch was built, which was the connection to the main line to Bangor. The paper mill in Hinckley today represents the northern end of the railway line, from here the tracks are dismantled. The bridge over the Kennebec in Skowhegan was demolished after the 1987 flood and replaced by a narrow pedestrian walkway. There is now a parking lot on the former station premises in Skowhegan.

Web links

• Pan Am Railways
• Maine Eastern Railroad
• History of the Maine Railroad

literature

• George H. Drury: The Historical Guide to North American Railroads. 2nd edition. Kalmbach Publishing Co., Waukesha WI 2000, ISBN 0-89024-356-5 .
• Robert M. Lindsell: The Rail Lines of Northern New England. Branch Line Press, Pepperell MA 2000, ISBN 0-942147-06-5 .

Individual evidence

1. ^ Mike Walker: SPV's comprehensive Railroad Atlas of North America. New England & Maritime Canada. Steam Powered Publishing, Faversham 1999, ISBN 1-874745-12-9 .
2. ↑ Article in Trains Magazine, December 11, 2014