Pittsfield – Harmony railway line
| Pittsfield ME – Harmony ME, as of 1999 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Society: | most recently Guilford Transportation | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Route length: | 28.2 km | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Gauge : | 1435 mm ( standard gauge ) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tracks: | 1 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The Pittsfield – Harmony railway was a railway line in Maine ( United States ). It is 28.2 kilometers long. The standard gauge line has been closed and dismantled.
history
In the early 1880s, Moosehead Lake , which is of great tourist interest, was not yet accessible by rail. The small town of Greenville on the lakeshore was to be the end of a railway line that would branch off the main line of the Maine Central Railroad in Pittsfield on the Sebasticook River and lead via Wellington . In 1884, however, the Bangor and Piscataquis Railroad opened a railway line from Bangor to Greenville, which for the time being destroyed the plans for a direct line from Pittsfield. Nevertheless, in 1886 the Sebasticook and Moosehead Lake Railroad was founded, which began building the railway north from Pittsfield.
On November 1, 1886, the line to Hartland was opened. Initially, the route was used almost exclusively to remove wood. In 1891 the company was given permission to continue building the line to Athens , and in 1895 even a permit for an extension to Monson Junction on the Bangor & Piscataquis line. Despite financial problems, the company continued to build the route and reached mainstream in January 1901 .
In 1907 the railway company received approval to extend the line in both directions. To the south, the railway should lead to Albion , where connection to the Wiscasset, Waterville and Farmington Railway would have existed. To the north they wanted to extend the line to Elliotsville on the Canadian Pacific Railway . However, both extensions were not implemented.
After the Maine Central Railroad took over the railway in 1911, one last attempt was made to extend the line. In 1912 the line reached Harmony , its final destination. After roads were built parallel to the railway line in the 1920s, the number of passengers carried fell rapidly. A mixed train on weekdays was enough to handle the passenger volume. The last passenger train to Harmony ran on April 24, 1949. After the line north of Hartland was taken out of service in 1963, this section was finally closed three years later and was soon dismantled.
In 1981, Guilford Transportation took over the rail line after Maine Central went bankrupt. However, it did not resume operations. The route to Hartland also fell victim to the savings measures that followed. In 1983 the line was closed.
Route description
In Pittsfield, the line branches off in a triangular track from the Cumberland Center – Bangor railway line and leads west along the Sebasticook River to the north. Hartland station, which was the terminus of the line from 1886 to 1901 and from 1966 to 1983, is 13 kilometers away. After crossing the city, the route initially continues on the west bank of the river, but crosses it about two kilometers further north. The railway now runs north on the east bank of Great Moose Lake and turns north of the lake to the west. Shortly before the Mainstream train station, the route crosses the Sebasticook River again. The Harmony terminus is reached about three kilometers to the northwest. The station was east of Main Street.
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 .
- ↑ Kilometrage from Official Guide of the Railways and Steam Navigation Lines of the United States, Porto Rico, Canada, Mexico and Cuba. Issue June 1926. Page 41.
literature
- Robert M. Lindsell: The Rail Lines of Northern New England. Branch Line Press, Pepperell MA 2000, ISBN 0-942147-06-5 .