Old Town – Greenville Railway

Old Town ME-Greenville ME
Society:	CMQR
Route length:	123.2 km
Gauge :	1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Tracks:	1
Legend from Bangor 0.0 Old Town ME to Vanceboro Penobscot River (3 bridges in total) Bangor – Milford line 8.0 Pea Cove ME 13.0 Alton ME by Searsport 26.0 South Lagrange ME according to Packards 31.6 Lagrange ME ? Boyd Lake ME 36.6 Parkers ME 44.8 Derby ME (formerly Milo Junction) to Brownville 54.0 South Sebec ME 61.5 East Dover ME 65.0 Dover ME BAR station 66.4 Dover-Foxcroft ME Union Station 67.0 Foxcroft ME MEC Station to Newport 73.5 Low's Bridge ME 77.2 Sangerville ME 78.8 Guilford ME 84.1 Abbot Village ME 88.6 Monson Junction ME Monson Railroad (610 mm) ? Kingsbury ME 97.1 Parrot ME 101.3 Blanchard ME 104.4 Quarry ME 112.1 Shirley ME Brookport – Mattawamkeag (Greenville Junction) route 123.2 Greenville ME

The railway line Old Town-Greenville is a railway line in Maine ( United States ). It is 123.2 kilometers long and connects the city of Old Town with the port city of Greenville on Moosehead Lake . Most of the standard-gauge line has been closed, only the 18-kilometer section from South Lagrange to Derby is now operated exclusively for freight by the Central Maine and Quebec Railway .

history

The north of the state of Maine was not yet served by railways in the 1860s. In the area northwest of Bangor , however, there were numerous smaller towns as well as Moosehead Lake, which offered additional sales opportunities by ship. Eventually the Bangor and Piscataquis Railroad was established with the aim of connecting the area to the railroad network.

The first 65-kilometer section of the line from Old Town to Dover went into operation on December 14, 1869. On December 20, 1871, Guilford was reached. In Old Town the railway had a connection to the European and North American Railway (E & NAR) in the direction of Bangor . Since the E & NAR had a gauge of 5½ feet (1676 mm), the Bangor & Piscataquis also chose this gauge in order to be able to run their trains to Bangor.

E & NAR leased the line in 1873 and extended it to Abbott Village on December 12, 1874 . For economic reasons, the lease was terminated on November 2, 1876, and shortly afterwards B&P converted the entire line to standard gauge . The main line of the E & NAR was also re-gauged in 1877. The route has been extended further. After Blanchard was reached on May 7, 1877 , the entire line to Greenville , where there was a track crossing with the International Railway of Maine from 1888 , was opened on July 14, 1884.

In 1881 a branch was built in Milo Junction towards Brownville, which was later joined by the Bangor and Aroostook Railroad (BAR) network. This company leased the Old Town – Greenville line in 1892 and finally acquired it in 1899. The Old Town – South Lagrange section was downgraded to a branch line after 1905 when the direct line to Bangor was opened. On this route, now known as the Old Town Branch , all traffic ended in 1933 in the course of the Great Depression . There was still passenger traffic to Greenville until 1958. Passenger trains continued to run on the middle section of the route, which was now part of the BAR main line. The Guilford – Greenville section was closed in 1962, the Derby – Guilford section in 1964. The remaining stretch of the line is still in operation today and has been operated by the Montreal, Maine and Atlantic Railway (MMA) since 2003 , which was reorganized in 2014 under the name Central Maine and Quebec Railway .

Route description

The route begins in Old Town, north of Bangor, on Marsh Island , a river island of the Penobscot River . From there it runs relatively straight to the northwest. In the urban area of ​​Old Town, the former route is completely built over, to the northwest of the city the route crosses the area of ​​the regional airport. The route then crosses several branches of the river as well as the river islands Orson Island and Black Island , so that a total of three larger bridges were necessary. All these bridges have been demolished today, only the pillars and the bridgeheads are still there. In the further course, the route leads through extensive forest areas parallel to Bennoch Road to South Lagrange , where later connecting routes to Packards and Bangor were created. From here the line is still available and in operation. It runs east of Boyd Lake to Derby , where the route branches north towards Brownville .

In Derby, the now disused route turns west and runs on the north bank of the Piscataquis River via the county town of Dover-Foxcroft to Guilford . From here the route continues north-west along the river to turn north in Blanchard . The river flows into Moosehead Lake at Greenville. Here the route meets the east-west main line of the MMA, which was crossed at the same level. After the track crossing, the route turns east and ends shortly afterwards in the urban area of ​​Greenville, where the route is now largely built over.

passenger traffic

After the opening and takeover of the Northern Maine Seaport Railroad by Bangor & Aroostook, the Old Town – South Lagrange route lost its importance as a link to Bangor. From an operational point of view, this section was run as the Old Town Branch from that point on and served according to the timetable of September 28, 1913 by two pairs of passenger trains every weekday, which ran the route in 35 minutes. The South Lagrange – Milo Junction section became part of the main Bangor & Aroostook line. In 1913, five weekday trains ran here. Two pairs of trains drove to Greenville, one of which led through cars to Bangor. The drive from Milo Junction to Greenville was about two hours.

According to the timetable of January 8, 1934, traffic between Old Town and South Lagrange had already ceased at this time. Between Derby (formerly Milo Junction) and Greenville there was only one working pair of trains that took about an hour and 50 minutes to get there.

Sources and further reading

Individual evidence

1. ^ Mike Walker: SPV's comprehensive Railroad Atlas of North America. New England & Maritime Canada. (2nd edition) Steam Powered Publishing, Faversham 2010, ISBN 1-874745-12-9 .
2. ↑ ^{a b} Lindsell 2000, page 287.
3. ↑ Lindsell 2000, page 295.
4. ↑ Official Guide of the Railways and Steam Navigation Lines of the United States, Porto Rico, Canada, Mexico and Cuba. Issued November 1913. Bangor and Aroostook RR. Page 150.
5. ↑ Official Guide of the Railways and Steam Navigation Lines of the United States, Porto Rico, Canada, Mexico and Cuba. Issued February 1934. Bangor and Aroostook Railroad, Table 6. Page 63.

literature

• Jerry Angier, Herb Cleaves: Bangor & Aroostook . Flying Yankee Enterprises, Littleton MA 1986, ISBN 0-96155-743-5 .
• 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

Web links

• Central Maine and Quebec Railway
• History of the Maine Railroad