Phair – Fort Fairfield railway line
| Phair ME-Fort Fairfield ME | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Route length: | 21.2 km | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Gauge : | 1435 mm ( standard gauge ) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Dual track : | - | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Society: | MNR | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The railway Phair Fort Fairfield is a railway line in Maine ( United States ). It is around 21 kilometers long and connects the city of Fort Fairfield on the Aroostook River with the main line of the Bangor and Aroostook Railroad (BAR). The standard gauge line is operated today by the Maine Northern Railway exclusively in freight traffic.
history
The Fort Fairfield Branch was planned and built along with the BAR mainline. On New Year's Day 1895, both the main line and the branch line Fort Fairfield Junction - Fort Fairfield went into operation. In Fort Fairfield Junction (now Phair) the line was connected via a triangular track, so that freight trains to Fort Fairfield could enter the branch line from Houlton without shunting. Passenger traffic was discontinued around 1951, freight traffic still continues and was carried out from 2003 by the Montreal, Maine and Atlantic Railway . After the traffic between Fairmont and Fort Fairfield was discontinued in the 1990s , the trains now run again over the whole route. On July 1, 2011, the Maine Northern Railway took over the operation of the line after the MMA had sold this section in 2010 to the state of Maine and wanted to shut down.
Route description
The line leaves the route of the main line initially in a northeast direction. Across fields and past a reservoir to the east, the train leads to Fairmont, where it turns north. In Fort Fairfield, the line ends west of the city in a large freight yard.
passenger traffic
Initially, four pairs of trains ran mostly after the trains on the main line, one of which was a mixed train . The pure passenger trains covered the entire route in 1913 in 30 minutes, the mixed train took 50 minutes. From about 1920 to 1938, one of the train pairs ran to and from Presque Isle .
From 1938 only a mixed train ran from Phair to Fort Fairfield, but no longer a passenger train in the opposite direction. Only around 1948 was passenger traffic in the direction of Phair resumed. The last passenger train ran on the route around 1951.
Sources and further reading
Individual evidence
- ^ Mike Walker: SPV's comprehensive Railroad Atlas of North America. New England & Maritime Canada. Steam Powered Publishing, Faversham 1999, ISBN 1-874745-12-9 .
- ↑ according to the official route map of the NBSR.
- ↑ Article on progressiverailroading.com
- ↑ Official Guide of the Railways and Steam Navigation Lines of the United States, Porto Rico, Canada, Mexico and Cuba. Issued November 1913. Bangor & Aroostook RR. Page 150.
- ^ BAR timetables from 1906 to 1953.
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 .