Portland – Rochester Railway

Portland ME – Rochester NH as of 1999
Route length:	84.80 km
Gauge :	1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Tracks:	1
Society:	PAR
Legend from Portland India Street approx. −2 Portland & Rochester Junction to Iceland Pond 0.00 Portland ME Preble Street to Union Station to South Portland approx. 2.5 Woodfords ME from Portland Commercial Street 4.22 Deering Junction ME (formerly Westbrook Junction, Morrills) to Rockland End of the route approx. 8.5 Main Street Connection arch to Portland 9.16 Cumberland Mills ME Connection arch to Lunenburg Portland – Lunenburg line Connecting arch from the direction of Portland End of the route / Stroudwater Street 10.62 Westbrook ME (formerly Saccarappa) 16.69 Gorham ME 24.85 Buxton ME (formerly Buxton Center) 28.82 Bar Mills ME (formerly Saco River) Saco River 32.28 Bradbury ME (formerly Hollis Center) Cook's Brook 40.46 Wescott ME (formerly East Waterboro) 45.40 Waterboro ME (formerly South Waterboro) 52.37 Alfred ME 58.61 Sanford & Springvale ME (formerly Springvale) Interurban tram Connecting track to the tram Mousam River 69.56 Eastwood ME (formerly East Lebanon) Salmon Falls River 80.66 Rindgemere NH (formerly East Rochester) 84.80 Rochester NH Jewett – Intervale Junction section Dover – Alton Bay route to Worcester

The Portland – Rochester railway is a railway line in Maine and New Hampshire ( United States ). It is 84.80 kilometers long and connects the cities of Portland, Maine and Rochester, New Hampshire . Most of the normal-gauge line has been closed. On the remaining sections in the greater Portland area, Pan Am Railways only operates freight traffic.

history

In 1842 the Portland, Saco and Portsmouth Railroad (PS&P) opened the Portland – Portsmouth railway line. The York and Cumberland Railroad of Maine (Y&C) was founded on July 30, 1846 as a competitor . They intended to build a line from Portland southwest to South Berwick on the Boston and Maine Railroad . It was hoped that Boston & Maine would then run their trains over the new route, instead of the PS&P. In addition, there are several larger textile factories along the planned route, which provided the bulk of the freight traffic until the end of the line. In 1847, however, the Boston & Maine leased together with their competitor, the Eastern Railroad , the PS&P and the hopes of the Y&C for the lease income were destroyed.

Nevertheless, the construction of the line began in 1849. On February 8, 1851, the first Y&C trains ran from Portland to Gorham . The Portland terminus was north of the center on Preble Street. In the same year, the Kennebec and Portland Railroad extended their Portland – Bath line to Deering Junction . From there, their trains used the Y&C route to Preble Street. On February 15, 1853, the Saco River was reached at Bar Mills . Construction stopped here because the company ran out of money and could not finance the construction of the bridge over the river. To Alfred but Gradierungsarbeiten had already been executed.

On March 25, 1865, the railway company was reorganized in Portland and Rochester Railroad and one changed now the western destination of the railway line. It should lead to Rochester, New Hampshire, where it would represent the northeast extension of the planned Nashua and Rochester Railroad . Since the city of Portland had an interest in breaking the PS & P's transport monopoly, they invested $ 700,000 in the company and in 1870 the line to Alfred was finally opened. In the following year Rochester and thus the planned end point of the route was reached. The Nashua & Rochester completed their route in 1874. Soon there were through trains from Worcester, Massachusetts to Portland via this route. Also in 1874 the Portland & Rochester opened a connection from their terminal station in Portland on Preble Street to the Grand Trunk Railway .

Portland Union Station was opened in 1888 . It wasn't until three years later that Portland & Rochester also decided to introduce their trains to the new central station. The Preble Street station was then converted into a freight yard. The passenger trains drove into the Preble Street station anyway, in order to immediately reverse them via the new connecting line to the main station opened in 1891 .

The Portland and Rochester Railroad was dissolved in 1900 and all of its property was transferred to that of Boston & Maine, which from that day also operated on the route. Complicated operations in the Portland metropolitan area ended in 1911 when the Deering Junction – Preble Street section was closed. From this point on, the trains ran on the Portland – Rockland railway line . The Preble Street station was still accessible via the link to the central station and via the connection to the Grand Trunk Railway.

1928 ended the continuous train service to Nashua and Worcester. All trains ended in Rochester and most of them didn't even have connections to Nashua. On June 25, 1932, the last passenger train drove over the route. In 1949, freight traffic had dropped so much that Boston & Maine decided to shut down the route between Westbrook and Rochester. The newly founded Sanford and Eastern Railroad acquired this section and continued operations. In addition, it acquired approximately three kilometers of the disused tram route of the Atlantic Shore Line Railway from Sanford & Springvale station to central Sanford. A track connection was built in and a large textile factory in Sanford could now be served directly.

In 1952 the line between Sanford & Springvale and Rochester was shut down, but trains occasionally ran to Rindgemere for about two years. As a highway was to be built in Portland, Boston & Maine closed a short stretch of road between Deering Junction and Cumberland Mills. The freight trains now drove into Portland via the Portland – Lunenburg railway line . Freight connections along the route continued to be served, the Portland Terminal Company now carried out these transports. In 1961 the textile factory in Sanford was closed, which in April of that year brought the closure west of Westbrook and the dissolution of Sanford & Eastern.

From 1983 Guilford Transportation led operations on the remaining sections of the route at Cumberland Mills and in Portland. After a fire destroyed a bridge on the former Grand Trunk line in 1984, it and the connection from Preble Street station there were shut down. Traffic from the former Union Station to Preble Street Station was also suspended around 2000. The operator has been operating under the name Pan Am Railways since 2006 .

Route description

The route begins at Preble Street Station in Portland. The station was only closed in 2000 and has not yet been completely dismantled. However, the route is completely built over in the further course in a north-westerly direction to Deering Junction. At Deering Junction, the line crossed the rail line to Bath and turned west. The tracks end after a few hundred meters. They only start again shortly after crossing Riverside Street, but are no longer used until the Main Street freight yard. Shortly after the freight station, the route crosses the railway line to Lunenburg , to which there are also connecting arcs. Today only the connecting arches are used, both the straight track of the former line to Rochester and the line to Lunenburg have been closed and dismantled. There is another industrial connection after the intersection. The track ends bluntly in front of Stroudwater Street.

The route continued to the west right next to Wayside Drive. In Gorham the route turns to the southwest and leads to Bar Mills, where the Saco River is crossed. Only the pillar foundations of the bridge are left today. The railway now continues winding in a south-westerly direction to Sanford & Springvale. Immediately after the station was the level crossing on Pleasant Street, on which the interurban tram to Biddeford ran. The adjoining bridge over the Mousam River is still there and is now used as a cycle and footpath.

The railway continues to curve in an almost southerly direction. From East Lebanon to the state border in New Hampshire, Highway 202 uses the route today . The state border is the Salmon Falls River , over which the route to East Rochester enters. The bridge over the river has been torn down. The route is now relatively straight to Rochester train station, where it crosses the Jewett – Intervale Junction and Dover – Alton Bay railway lines . The latter has been closed, as has the continuation of the Portland – Rochester railway towards Nashua .

attachment

credentials

1. ^ Mike Walker: SPV's comprehensive Railroad Atlas of North America. New England & Maritime Canada. Steam Powered Publishing, Faversham 1999, ISBN 1-874745-12-9 .
2. ↑ Distance kilometers from http://www.trainweb.org/nhrra/Mileage-Charts/BM-RR/WNP-Main.htm

literature

• Robert M. Lindsell: The Rail Lines of Northern New England. Branch Line Press, Pepperell MA 2000, ISBN 0-942147-06-5 .

Web links

• History of the Maine Railroad