Rumford Junction – Kennebago railway line

Rumford Junction ME – Kennebago ME, as of 1999
Route length:	161.9 km
Gauge :	1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Society:	PAR
Legend from Cumberland Center 0.0 Rumford Junction ME (formerly Poland Springs Junction) to Bangor Lewiston Junction – Lewiston route Portland – Island Pond route 6.6 Elmwood ME (formerly Elmwood Farm) 9.5 Riccars ME (formerly Poland Springs) 12.9 Poland ME Little Androscoggin River Portland – Island Pond route Connecting track to Portland 18.7 Mechanic Falls ME 25.9 West Minot ME (formerly Minot) 32.7 East Hebron ME (formerly Hebron) 39.9 Buckfield ME Nezinscot River 47.6 East Sumner ME (formerly Sumner) 50.9 Hartford ME (formerly Hartford Center) 59.1 Canton ME to Livermore Falls 60.4 The Park ME Connecting curve from Livermore Falls Whitney Brook 61.6 Gilbertville ME 69.2 Worthley ME (formerly East Peru) 72.1 Peru ME 77.6 Dixfield ME (formerly Dixfield & West Peru) 84.5 Rumford Falls ME (old terminus) 84.8 Rumford ME (formerly Rumford Falls) Androscoggin River 86.7 Porter's ME 92.1 Hale ME Swift River 93 Mitchell's ME 96.1 Frye ME 98.2 Chapman ME 100 Reeds Mill ME 102.0 Roxbury ME 105 Hop City ME Swift River 109.3 Byron ME Swift River Byron Logging Railroad 112 Masons ME (formerly Mendearth) 115.2 Houghton ME after Porter's Siding Swift River 119 Ten Degree ME 125.1 Summit (pass station) 129.6 Bemis ME 136 Belchs ME 139.7 Macy Junction ME South Bog Railroad 140.5 South Rangeley ME 144.5 Oquossoc ME Rangeley River 146 Kamankeag ME (formerly Indian Rock) 150 Realty ME 154.0 Johns Pond ME (formerly Cupsuptic) 161.9 Kennebago ME

The railway Rumford Junction Kennebago is a single-track railway line in Maine ( United States ). It is 161.9 kilometers long and largely disused. Only the section Whitney Brook - Rumford is operated today by Pan Am Railways exclusively in freight traffic.

history

Arduous beginning

After construction began on the Portland – Island Pond railway in the mid-1840s, the desire arose to connect the small town of Buckfield to this line. In 1847, the Buckfield Branch Railroad was founded, which built the branch from Mechanic Falls to Buckfield. Like the main line, the branch was built in colonial gauge (1676 mm). On January 11, 1850, traffic on the branch line began. It was planned to extend the route north to the Androscoggin River near Canton .

Although the tracks reached Sumner in June 1854 , the extension could not be opened because the railway company could not raise the money to compensate the landowners. These then tore down the tracks on their property and built barriers on the line. In September 1856 all traffic had to be stopped.

After a reorganization in Portland and Oxford Central Railroad in 1857, the line to Sumner was finally opened five years later and operations on the railroad were resumed. In 1868 the line was extended to Hartford and finally reached Canton two years later. But the traffic did not develop as hoped. Only one pair of trains a day drove over the route during this time. On November 18, 1873, operations were stopped again.

In 1874 the Rumford Falls and Buckfield Railroad took over the railway. In the same year, the Grand Trunk Railway tracked the main Portland – Island Pond line to standard gauge , so that the line now no longer had a direct track connection to another railway line. In 1879, the Mechanic Falls – Canton route was re-gauged and operations resumed. In 1884 the company took a short extension to Gilbertville into operation.

Completion of the route

The Portland and Rumford Falls Railroad , founded in 1890, planned to extend the route to Rumford . She also leased the existing line from Rumford Falls & Buckfield. The extension went into operation on August 1, 1892. Two weekdays train pairs now ran from Mechanic Falls to Rumford Falls and back. In order to no longer have to rely on the Grand Trunk Railway, the company also built a southern extension beyond Mechanic Falls to the main line of the Maine Central Railroad , which opened on February 12, 1894.

In the same year the Rumford Falls and Rangeley Lakes Railroad was founded, which wanted to extend the route further north. However, since they could not raise the cost of a bridge over the Androscoggin River near Rumford, they built their own terminus north of the river. The two-kilometer connection was made by Portland & Rumford Falls, which was able to raise the funds for the bridge construction. In July 1895 the section to Byron was opened and from September 1, 1895 the trains went to Houghton . In May 1896 the tracks reached Bemis on Mooselookmeguntic Lake .

In November 1896, a New Hampshire logging company built the Byron Logging Railroad , which branched south of Houghton and headed east into the Maine woods. It was shut down again in 1902. The route has now been extended. In 1901 she reached South Rangeley and on September 1, 1902, the small town of Oquossoc on Rangeley Lake . From 1901 to 1906 another forest railway , the South Bog Railroad , was operated, which was on the south bank of the lake.

From 1907, the Maine Central Railroad ran operations on the line after leasing both companies. As early as 1900, the trains were usually running via Maine Central to Lewiston . In winter there were only two pairs of trains every weekday, one ending in Rumford Falls and the other going to Oquossoc. The trains had traversing cars from Portland that were relocated at Rumford Junction. In the summer there were significantly more trains, namely three pairs of trains on weekdays and two on Sundays, one each ending in Rumford Falls and the rest going to Oquossoc. Some of the trains even had coaches running through Boston – Oquossoc.

In 1911 the Rangeley Lakes and Megantic Railroad was founded, which wanted to extend the route beyond Oquossoc to Megantic (Québec) . Construction began in early 1912, and in December 1912 the section to Kennebago went into operation. However, the line was never extended. A weekday pair of trains now ran from Bemis to Kennebago and back in winter, without a direct connection to trains from the Lewiston / Portland direction.

Operation and shutdown

On March 19, 1913, the Rumford Falls station burned down. A new train station was built on the south bank of the Androscoggin River. The two old train stations of Portland & Rumford Falls and Rumford Falls & Rangeley Lakes were then taken out of service.

The traffic on the route decreased more and more, especially on the northern section. Nevertheless, the offer on the route was significantly improved. The 1931 summer timetable provided for a total of three trains on the route. Train 203/204 "The Rangeley" ran daily from Portland to Rumford and Tuesday to Sunday on to Kennebago, returning from Kennebago every day except Saturdays. He drove through cars from Washington, DC and New York City . Train 13/14 also ran from Portland to Kennebago and back, and ran on weekdays and by through coach from Boston. In addition, a mixed train 393/392 ran between Rumford and Kennebago on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays .

In July 1933 the last passenger train ran between Oquossoc and Kennebago. In November 1935, passenger traffic also ended between Rumford Falls and Oquossoc. In March 1936, a flood destroyed the bridge over the Androscoggin River in Rumford. The Rumford – Kennebago section was officially closed on November 27 of the same year.

In the summer of 1950, there were still two pairs of trains running on workdays. One train ran from Lewiston via Mechanic Falls to Rumford and back, the other ran from Portland via Livermore Falls and Canton to Rumford. There were no longer passing cars. In April 1951, passenger traffic also ended between Rumford Junction and Canton and finally in 1955 between Canton and Rumford. The Rumford Junction – Poland section was closed in April 1951, and the last freight trains ran between Canton and Poland in 1952. Both sections were then dismantled. The track triangle at Whitney Brook and the section between Whitney Brook and Canton were later closed. Since 1981, Guilford Transportation has operated the sparse freight traffic on the remaining section between Whitney Brook and Rumford - under the name Pan Am Railways from 2006 onwards .

Route description

The line branched off at Rumford Junction from the Cumberland Center – Bangor railway line in a triangular track and initially headed west. After about a kilometer she met the Lewiston Junction – Lewiston railway line , and crossed it at an acute angle. Another kilometer further she crossed the main Portland – Montréal line of the former Grand Trunk Railway. At Poland Springs the route reaches Range Pond , on the northern bank of which it now continues in a north-west direction. From Poland, the route runs northwards, which was essentially the case from here to the end point at Kennebago. In Mechanic Falls, the main Portland – Montréal line is crossed again. There was also a connecting curve here, through which the trains entered the Mechanic Falls Grand Trunk station before the opening of this southern section. After the opening of the route to Rumford Junction, the Grand Trunk had set up an additional stop at the intersection for changing trains. Today the line from Rumford Junction is completely dismantled.

The oldest part of the route begins in Mechanic Falls. This line was opened in 1850 and operated with short interruptions until 1952. It leads along West Minot Road, which was partly built on the railway line, to West Minot and further north. From about the junction with Buckfield Road, the route is now used as a road (John Ellingwood Road). There was a bridge over the Nezinscot River in Buckfield, but it has been demolished. To the north of the river is another road, the Railroad Bed Road, on the former railway line. In East Sumner, the route first turns northeast to reach Lake Anasagunticook a few kilometers further . On its eastern bank, the train now leads to Canton and shortly afterwards it reaches the triangle at Whitney Brook. Today there are only rails left on the northern leg of the triangular track. The line now runs north-west along the Androscoggin River to Rumford , where the tracks end in a large industrial area.

At the site of the bridge over the Androscoggin River, pipelines now cross the river and connect the city and the industrial area. In the center of Rumford, the Rangeley Place built on the railway is reminiscent of the railway line to Rangeley Lake. From Rumford the railway line runs along the Swift River . In a settlement north of the city center, Bernodine Street is on the former railway line. At Hale, the railway crosses the Swift River and now runs along its eastern bank. Roxbury Road was built on the route of the railway. North of Roxbury, the road merges into Swift River Road, which continues on the old railway line. Before and after Byron, the route crosses the river again and then runs east of the river again on the route of today's East Branch Road. The eastern part of this road is on the route of the former Byron Logging Railroad , a forest railway that transported wood to the railway line here. Further north is Houghton Station , where a short branch line branched off to Porters Siding .

North of the station, the line crosses the Swift River one last time, only to turn northwest. The Houghton Road and in the further course the Bemis Road are on the former railway line. Here the crossing of a ridge begins. At the Ten Degree stop , the route makes an approximately 90 ° curve and now continues uphill to the north. At the highest point of the route there was a Summit train station . A little further north is Mooselookmeguntic Lake , on the eastern bank of which the railway line and today's Bemis Road continues. In Macy at the northeast end of the lake, the route turns northeast and after a few hundred meters reaches the southeastern shore of Rangeley Lake . Another forest railway branched off here, the South Bog Railroad, which ran south around the lake. The railway line now lies on the western shore of Rangeley Lake and is now used by Lake Shore Road and further north by Rumford Road. The small town of Oquossoc is reached at the north-western corner of the lake, where the line's terminus was from 1902 to 1912.

In Oquossoc, just behind the train station, the train crosses the Rangeley River and continues northward along the eastern bank of the Kennebago River . Indian Rock Road and Boy Scout Road were built on the former railway line. North of Kamankeag , the road turns into Sportsmanns Road and later into Kennebago River Road, both of which continue to run on the railway line. At the western tip of Kennebago Lake was the terminus of the train. An old car body from a Rumford Falls & Rangeley Lakes Railroad passenger car served as the station building here.

literature

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

Web links

• Pan Am Railways
• History of the Maine Railroad

Individual evidence

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. ^ Travelers' Official Guide of the Railways and Steam Navigation Lines in the United States & Canada. June 1870. KBS 17.
3. ^ Travelers' Official Guide of the Railway and Steam Navigation Lines in the United States and Canada. June 1893. page 84.
4. ^ The Official Guide of the Railways and Steam Navigation Lines of the United States, Porto Rico, Canada, Mexico and Cuba. January 1910. page 155.
5. ^ The Official Guide of the Railways and Steam Navigation Lines of the United States, Porto Rico, Canada, Mexico and Cuba. July 1911. page 218.
6. ^ The Official Guide of the Railways and Steam Navigation Lines of the United States, Porto Rico, Canada, Mexico and Cuba. November 1913. page 207.
7. ^ The Official Guide of the Railways and Steam Navigation Lines of the United States, Porto Rico, Canada, Mexico and Cuba. August 1931. Pages 79-83.
8. ^ The Official Guide of the Railways and Steam Navigation Lines of the United States, Porto Rico, Canada, Mexico and Cuba. September 1950. page 103.