Van Buren – Saint Francis railway line

Van Buren ME – Saint Francis ME
Route length:	98.8 km
Gauge :	1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Dual track :	-
Society:	Van Buren – Madawaska: EMRY Madawaska – Fort Kent: MNR Fort Kent – ​​St. Francis: lastly BAR
Legend by Houlton 0.0 Van Buren ME to St. Leonard (Canadian Junction) 4.6 Keegan ME ? Violet ME 12.4 Parent ME 15.9 Notre Dame ME 20.9 Lille ME 25.1 Grand Isle ME 32.0 St. David ME ? Fournier ME ? Pelletier siding Goods connection to the Fraser Mill 39.9 Madawaska ME (EMRY / Maine property boundary) ? Gilman ME ? Cleveland ME 52.4 Frenchville ME ? Upper Frenchville ME 55.3 St. Lucie ME ? Robbins ME 71.3 Fort Kent ME to Oakfield 74.7 Fort Kent ME Village ? Pierre ME 82.1 Ledges ME 84.1 Wheelock ME 91.1 St. John ME 98.8 St. Francis ME

The railway Van Buren-Saint Francis is a railway line in Maine ( United States ). It is around 99 kilometers long and connects the cities of Van Buren , Fort Kent and St. Francis . The standard gauge line is now only operated between Van Buren and Fort Kent in freight traffic. The rest of the way to St. Francis is closed. The section from Van Buren to Madawaska belongs to the Eastern Maine Railway , the section from Madawaska to Fort Kent belongs to the state of Maine, which has leased it to the Maine Northern Railway . Both railway companies belong to the New Brunswick Southern Railway , which carries out the freight traffic on them.

history

After the main line of the Bangor and Aroostook Railroad to Van Buren was completed in 1897 , planning began for the further expansion of the network. The Ashland Branch , a branch line that branched off the main line to Ashland , was extended to Fort Kent in 1902. To connect these two endpoints with each other, as well as to develop the northwest of the state, a railway line was planned along the Saint John River and Allagash River . The line was to join the main line at Van Buren and lead via Fort Kent along the Allagash River and then further south to Packards , where it would again meet the BAR main line. Construction began at the same time from Van Buren and Fort Kent westwards.

On October 18, 1909, the first 25-kilometer section from Van Buren to Grand Isle was opened. On December 6, 1909, the first section of the Allagash Line from Fort Kent to St. Francis was opened. The gap between Grand Isle and Fort Kent was closed on November 28, 1910. Since the settlement on the upper reaches of the Allagash River and in the lake area south of it was omitted, the planned route was not built any further. The route from Fort Kent to St. Francis was then named St. Francis Branch .

After passenger traffic between Van Buren and Fort Kent ended in 1948, the BAR also stopped this on the St. Francis Branch in 1954. Freight traffic continues and was operated by the Montreal, Maine and Atlantic Railway (MMA) from 2003 . The section from Fort Kent to St. Francis was closed in 1997. On July 1, 2011, the Maine Northern Railway took over operations between Madawaska and Fort Kent, after the MMA had sold this section to the state of Maine in 2010 and wanted to shut it down. On June 19, 2013, the Eastern Maine Railway bought the section from Van Buren to Madawaska.

Route description

The line forms the northern continuation of the Brownville – Saint-Leonard line , from which it branches off in Van Buren. It runs on the south bank of the Saint John River , which forms the state border to Canada along the entire length of the route, always parallel to US Highway 1 via Grand Isle, Madawaska, Frenchville and Fort Kent to St. Francis. The Oakfield – Fort Kent railway branches off in Fort Kent . There are no significant engineering structures on the route.

passenger traffic

Passenger traffic on the route was sparse from the start. Even in the heyday of the railways in North America, only one weekday passenger train ran on each section of the route. A train initially traveled the Squa Pan – Van Buren – Fort Kent route with a connection to the train that ran from Houlton via Ashland to St. Francis. Around 1930, the two trains exchanged their southern endpoints, so that the train from St. Francis now ended in Squa Pan and the train continued via Van Buren to Houlton. In 1913 the journey from Van Buren to Fort Kent took about an hour and 50 minutes, in 1934 about ten minutes less. The route to St. Francis took another 40 minutes of travel time.

Sources and further reading

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. ^ BAR timetables from 1910 to 1961.
3. ↑ Article on progressiverailroading.com
4. ↑ Article on trains.com from 21 June 2013
5. ↑ Official Guide of the Railways and Steam Navigation Lines of the United States, Porto Rico, Canada, Mexico and Cuba. Issued November 1913. Bangor & Aroostook Railroad. Page 149.
6. ↑ Official Guide of the Railways and Steam Navigation Lines of the United States, Porto Rico, Canada, Mexico and Cuba. Issued February 1934. Bangor & Aroostook Railroad, Table 1. Page 63.

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 .

Web links

• official website of the NBSR, the parent company of the Maine Northern Railway and the Eastern Maine Railway
• History of the Maine Railroad