Portland Preble Street – South Portland Railway
| Portland ME Preble St – South Portland ME (as of 2008) |
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| Society: | K&P | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Route length: | approx. 4 km | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Gauge : | 1435 mm ( standard gauge ) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tracks: | 1 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The railway Portland Preble Street South Portland is a railway line in Maine ( United States ). It is about four kilometers long. The standard gauge line is closed. However, the Portland – Rockland railway line , which is still in operation, was built on part of the route .
history
When the York and Cumberland Railroad of Maine opened a railway line from Portland to Gorham in 1851, a new passenger station was built on Preble Street in the north of the city. Trains from Boston arrived on Commercial Street south of the city. The Kennebec and Portland Railroad also completed their route towards Bath in 1851 and used the station on Preble Street. It was this company that in the same year - probably at the same time as the opening of its route - built a connecting line from Preble Street station south to South Portland , where it met the main line of the Portland, Saco and Portsmouth Railroad towards Boston. The single - track standard - gauge line was only used for freight traffic. Passengers still had to cross the city in order to change trains. Since this condition was insufficient, the Kennebec & Portland decided to extend their own route to Commercial Street station. The connecting line was then no longer necessary. In 1861 the new line was opened and the connecting line was closed after only ten years of operation. Part of the route remained in operation thanks to the new route. Later, a new connecting line was built from Preble Street Station to the southwest, but it did not use the same route.
Route description
The line begins at Preble Street Station, which has only served freight traffic since 1891 and is no longer in service today. It leaves the station heading west and after a few hundred meters meets the new Kennebec & Portland line, opened in 1861. The old connecting railway ran along its route to the south until just before the Fore River . The new line turns east here to merge into Commercial Street Station, while the old connecting line continued straight on. The Fore River was crossed over a wooden yoke bridge . After the line was closed in 1861, the bridge was demolished. In South Portland, the line turns onto the route of the Portland – Portsmouth railway line and ends at South Portland Station, which has only served freight traffic since 1888. Even today, almost 150 years after it was closed, the route from the Fore River to South Portland Station on the eastern edge of Forest City Cemetery and on the property line of an industrial plant can still be guessed.
literature
- Robert M. Lindsell: The Rail Lines of Northern New England. Branch Line Press, Pepperell, MA 2000, ISBN 0-942147-06-5 .