Newport Junction – Dover-Foxcroft railway line
| Newport Junction ME – Dover-Foxcroft ME, as of 1999 |
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| Society: | most recently Guilford | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Route length: | 47.5 km | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Gauge : | 1435 mm ( standard gauge ) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tracks: | 1 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The railway junction Newport Dover-Foxcroft is a railway line in Maine ( United States ). It is 47.5 kilometers long. The standard gauge line has been closed and dismantled.
history
The industrial towns of Corinna and Dexter strove for a railway connection in the 1850s. In addition, the construction of a route also offered itself for the forestry, which was active in this area. The junction was Newport , where the main line of the Maine Central Railroad (MEC) ran. Since this line was built in colonial gauge (1676 mm), the Dexter and Newport Railroad, founded in 1853, also decided on this gauge. However, the railway was not built until 1868 and was officially opened on November 25th of that year. With the start of operations on December 1, Maine Central leased the railway and ran its operations. In 1871 the railway line was converted to standard gauge together with the MEC main line .
After the completion of the Old Town – Greenville railway in 1884, Maine Central sought a connection with this railway line in order to be able to lead trains without the detour via Bangor to Moosehead Lake . For this purpose, the Dexter and Piscataquis Railroad was founded in 1888 , which extended the railway line beyond Dexter to Dover-Foxcroft . The extension was completed in December 1889 and operations began in 1890. There were occasional trains to Greenville in the summer. Since a direct extension of the line in Dexter was not possible for reasons of space, the new line was connected a few meters south of the station, a new passenger station was built and the old terminal station was converted into a freight station.
In Dover-Foxcroft, the line initially had its own terminus, which was abandoned around 1920. Together with the Bangor and Aroostook Railroad , Maine Central built Union Station, which was used as a terminus from this time on.
The last passenger train ran on the route around 1933. After Maine Central went bankrupt, Guilford Transportation acquired the railway line in 1981. In 1986 freight traffic ended and the line was closed and dismantled four years later. Today the route belongs to the state of Maine, which maintains a hiking trail on the former railway line.
Route description
The line branches off in a triangular track at Newport Junction station and heads north along the west bank of Sebasticook Lake . To the north of the lake it then crosses the town of Corinna and continues northwards to Dexter. Initially along the east bank of Lake Wassookeag , the route continues winding towards the northeast and crosses the Piscataquis River shortly before the Dover-Foxcroft terminus .
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 .