Kittery Junction – York Beach railway line
| Kittery Junction ME – York Beach ME, as of 1999 |
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| Route length: | 17.67 km | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Gauge : | 1435 mm ( standard gauge ) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Dual track : | - | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Society: | PAR , US Navy | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The railway junction Kittery York Beach is a railway line in Maine ( United States ). It is 17.67 kilometers long and connects some tourist towns on the Maine coast to the Portland – Portsmouth railway line . The standard-gauge line is closed from the junction of the connection to Portsmouth Naval Shipyard , a naval shipyard, to York Beach . The connection to the shipyard is still used occasionally by the US Navy .
history
As early as 1872 a railway line was proposed that would lead from Portsmouth (New Hampshire) to Saco (Maine) along the coast. First, the Eastern Railroad should extend its route from Boston . Later they wanted to achieve that the Portland, Saco and Portsmouth Railroad , which already operated a route Portland Saco Portsmouth, built a second route between Saco and Portsmouth. Both companies refused, however, which led to the fact that on February 1, 1883 the York Harbor and Beach Railroad was founded, which planned a narrow-gauge railway from Portsmouth to York Beach.
The Boston and Maine Railroad took over the construction costs, only the land acquisition was at the expense of York Harbor & Beach. The operation of the railway should lead the Boston & Maine. However, the B&M did not build a narrow-gauge railway, but a standard-gauge line that branched off from the main line in Oak Terrace . A Kittery Junction stop has been set up at the junction . After the laying of the tracks began on June 4, 1887, the first trains were able to run to Kittery Point on June 28 of that year. Seabury was reached in mid-July and finally the terminus in York Beach on August 8th. The York Harbor & Beach Railroad rented the vehicles from Boston & Maine, which not only ran the operation, but also had some of its own board members on the board of the small railroad company.
The route was mainly used for tourist traffic in the summer, but goods to supply the coastal towns and fish caught in many places along the coast were also transported all year round. The trains mostly ran as mixed trains and ran to and from Portsmouth. From the beginning there were through cars to Boston in the summer . In 1897 the Kittery and York Electric Railroad was opened, an interurban tram that ran almost entirely parallel to the railroad. It later belonged to a whole network of interurban trams that extended north to Waterville , 170 kilometers away . The contract for the transport of mail was transferred to the tram, which caused the railroad some revenue losses. Nevertheless, dividends could still be paid until 1914.
In 1901, York Harbor & Beach built a branch from Navy Yard station to the naval shipyard. This was followed by a network of narrow-gauge railways that were built by the US Navy in the same year. This network was expanded in 1905 and finally converted to standard gauge in 1910. In 1922 the York Harbor and Beach Railroad was disbanded and its property was integrated into that of Boston & Maine.
Although the parallel streetcar was closed in 1923, the Boston & Maine planned to give up the railroad to York Beach. On July 8, 1925, passenger traffic between Navy Yard station and York Beach was discontinued and replaced by B & M's own buses, which finally brought the direct connection from Portsmouth to Saco via York Beach, which was required in 1872. The license to close this section was granted on January 19, 1927. The line was dismantled in the same year.
Passenger trains ran to Kittery Navy Yard station until around 1931. An irregularly running freight train to Kittery and the regular transports to the naval shipyard remained on the line until the 1990s. Since then, US Navy trains have only operated occasionally. The route to the shipyard has been owned by Guilford Transportation since 1983 , which has been operating under the name Pan Am Railways since 2006 .
Route description
The railway branches off the Portland – Portsmouth railway line at the northern bridgehead of the Sarah Mildred Long Bridge and initially heads east. At the former Navy Yard station there is a siding and the connection to the naval shipyard. The actual route to York Beach is largely built over or overgrown and is hardly understandable today. It led along the coast and crossed several estuaries. In Kittery Point and York Harbor there were additional sidings, the other stations consisted of a few meters long platform and a shelter and were mostly only served in summer. That was enough, since the trains usually did not run with more than one passenger car. The terminus in York Beach was on what is now Railroad Avenue. The area now serves as a parking lot.
Misfortunes
On April 30, 1900, the only noteworthy train accident occurred on the Kittery Junction – York Beach railway line. North of the bascule bridge over the York River at York Harbor was an incline that led up to York Harbor Station. On this incline, the wagons of a mixed train detached themselves from the locomotive and rolled backwards towards the bridge, which was now open. The passenger and luggage wagons running at the end of the train fell into the river, the freight wagons wedged against the bridge. All nine passengers were able to jump off in time and were uninjured, only one railway employee who was in one of the freight cars was seriously injured.
statistics
According to the official annual report for the 1914/15 financial year, YH&B transported 195,030 passengers during this period, i.e. an average of around 534 per day, and 22,313 tons of goods. Total net income was $ 7,904.17. The tracks used had a weight of 67 pounds / yard, i.e. about 33.24 kg / m. For comparison: on some branch lines of Deutsche Bahn, rails of 49 kg / m are still used today, on main lines mostly 54 kg / m. The railway company had an annual average of 33 employees and a management board of eight. The company did not have its own vehicles. The goods carried consisted mainly of military goods (26.92%), wood (16.98%), coal (9.72%) and building materials (3.65%).
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 .
- ↑ Distance kilometers from http://www.trainweb.org/nhrra/Mileage-Charts/BM-RR/York.htm
- ^ First Annual Report of the Public Utilities Commission, State of Maine, for the year ending October 31, 1915. Volume 1. Sentinel Publishing, Waterville ME 1915/16, pp. 221-230.
literature
- Robert M. Lindsell: The Rail Lines of Northern New England. Branch Line Press, Pepperell MA 2000, ISBN 0-942147-06-5 .