List of railroad companies in Maine

This list of Maine railroad companies is organized in the form of family trees, which in turn are sorted chronologically according to the date of dissolution or takeover. Existing companies are arranged alphabetically, as are companies with the same end date. Only those predecessors that operated routes in Maine are given to the parent companies.

Family trees

Abbreviations in the "resolved" column:

• L Leased by another company (namely the one in brackets after the L), the date of dissolution is unknown
• S shutdown of the railway
• Ü Takeover by another company (namely the one in brackets after Ü)

society	founded	dissolved	Abbreviation	Remarks
Northern Aroostook Railroad	1870	?		never built
Penobscot Bay and River Railroad	~ 1874	?		never built
Penobscot River Railroad	1869	?		never built
Portland, Rutland, Oswego and Chicago Railroad	03/06/1868	?		never built until 1871 "Portland and Rutland Railroad"
Winterport Railroad	~ 1870	?		never built
Green Mountain Railway	1883	1890 p		Rack railway
Whitneyville and Machiasport Railroad	03.03.1842	1892 p		"Franklin Railroad" until 1843, "Palmer and Machiasport Railroad" until February 28, 1845, "Machiasport Railroad" until 1872
Rockport Railroad	05/18/1886	1896 p
Kennebec Central Railroad	10/03/1889	1929 p
Knox Railroad	08/10/1889	1934 p		until 1918 "George's Valley Railroad"
Sandy River and Rangeley Lakes Railroad	01/30/1908	06.1935 p	SRRLR	08.1911-1923 owned by MEC
Franklin and Megantic Railway	07/01/1884	01/30/1908 Ü (SRRLR)		until June 3rd, 1897 "Franklin and Megantic Railroad"
Kingfield and Dead River Railroad	06/19/1893	01/30/1908 Ü (SRRLR)
Sandy River Railroad	04/08/1879	01/30/1908 Ü (SRRLR)
Phillips and Rangeley Railroad	04/17/1889	07/01/1908 Ü (SRRLR)
Madrid Railroad	04/29/1902	07/01/1908 Ü (SRRLR)		Daughter of P & RRR
Eustis Railroad	04/29/1903	08/24/1911 Ü (SRRLR)
Monson Railroad	11/01/1882	1943 p
Lime Rock Railroad	02/29/1864	?
Sanford and Eastern Railroad	1949	1961 p	SERR
Maine Coast Railroad	1990	12.2000 p	MC
Acadian Rail Company	?	2003 p		operated tourist trains between Montreal PQ and St. John NB via Greenville ME in summer 2002
Amtrak	1971	-	AMTK	long-distance passenger transport only
Belfast and Moosehead Lake Railroad	02/28/1862	-	BML	Regular operation ended on June 9th, 2005, only museum operation
Canadian Pacific Railway	02/15/1881	-	CPR	all of the CPR routes in Maine are closed or sold
Atlantic and North West Railway	05/15/1879	06.12.1886 L (CPR)	ANW	from 08/01/1883 leased by Ontario and Quebec Railway
International Railway of Maine	1871	02.11.1886 Ü (ANW)		until 1881 "Penobscot and Lake Megantic Railroad"
Aroostook Valley Railroad	07/02/1902	04/26/1996 p	AVR	from 1932 owned by the CPR, but still run as an independent company, until 1951 electric tram
New Brunswick Railway	1870	07/01/1890 L (CPR)	NBR
Aroostook River Railroad	1874	01/12/1878 L (NBR)
New Brunswick and Canada Railway	1868	07/01/1882 L (NBR)	NBCR
Houlton Branch Railroad	02/06/1867	07/01/1890 Ü (CPR)		leased by NBCR from 06/28/1873
Eastern Maine Railway II	1994	-	EMR	Daughter of NBSR , the route acquired Brownsville Junction ME - Vanceboro ME by the CPR
Maine Eastern Railroad	11/01/2003	-	ME	owned by the Morristown and Erie Railway
Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad Museum	1993	-	-	Museum railway in 610 mm gauge in Portland
Montreal, Maine and Atlantic Railway	01/09/2003	-	MMA	owned by Rail World ; Bankruptcy following the Lac-Mégantic railway accident ; In June 2014, the Central Maine and Quebec Railway (CMQ and CMQR) took over routes and operations
Canadian American Railway	?	-	CDAC	Subsidiary of MMA, acquired the St.-Jean PQ - Brownville Junction ME route from CPR
Iron Road Railways	1995	09.01.2003 Ü (MMA)	IRR
Bangor and Aroostook Railroad	02/03/1891	09.01.2003 Ü (MMA)	BAR	from around 1995 owned by Iron Road Rys.
Bangor and Piscataquis Railroad	03/05/1861	04/01/1899 Ü (BAR)	B&P	1873–1876 leased by E&NA , leased by BAR from April 1st, 1892
Aroostook Northern Railroad	07.1897	01.07.1901 Ü (BAR)		leased by the BAR from 11/27/1887
Bangor and Katahdin Iron Works Railway	08/02/1881	01.07.1901 Ü (BAR)		leased by B&P from 1887, leased by BAR from 04/01/1892
Patten and Sherman Railroad	10/17/1895	01.07.1901 Ü (BAR)
Fish River Railroad	12/15/1902	07.1903 Ü (BAR)		leased by the BAR from December 15, 1902
Schoodic Stream Railroad	1906	07/01/1907 Ü (BAR)
Northern Maine Seaport Railroad	December 01, 1904	07/07/1907 L (BAR)
Van Buren Bridge Company	01/30/1913	09.01.2003 Ü (MMA)		Daughter of BAR, owned by Iron Road Rys from around 1995.
New Hampshire Northcoast	1985	-	NHN	only about a mile of the route is in Maine
Pan Am Railways	1977	-	PAR	until 03/2006 "Guilford Transportation"
Maine Central Railroad	10/28/1862	1981 Ü (PAR)	MEC	owned by the BM from around 1900
Androscoggin and Kennebec Railroad	05/28/1845	28.10.1862 Ü (MEC)	A&K
Penobscot and Kennebec Railroad	04/07/1845	28.10.1862 Ü (MEC)		leased by A&K from 11/30/1856
Androscoggin Railroad	08/10/1848	11/16/1874 Ü (MEC)		leased by MEC from July 1st, 1871
Portland and Kennebec Railroad	04/01/1846	11/16/1874 Ü (MEC)	P&K	to 01.01.1864 "Kennebec and Portland Railroad", leased by MEC from 12.05.1870
Somerset and Kennebec Railroad	08/10/1848	11/16/1874 Ü (MEC)		leased by P&K from 1852, leased by MEC from 05/12/1870
European and North American Railway	08/20/1850	04/01/1882 Ü (MEC)	E&NA
Penobscot Railroad	08/02/1847	1863 Ü (E&NA)		until 08/21/1850 "Bangor and Orono Railroad"
Bangor, Old Town and Milford Railroad	03/08/1832	04/01/1880 T (E&NA)		until 14.03.1855 "Bangor and Piscataquis Canal and Railroad"
Eastern Maine Railway I.	1871	05/01/1883 L (MEC)	EM	12.12.1874 - 01.12.1876 leased by E&NA, until 02/01/1882 "Bucksport and Bangor Railroad"
Maine Shore Line Railroad	03/04/1881	22.10.1888 Ü (MEC)		leased by MEC from July 16, 1883
Knox and Lincoln Railway	1868	02/20/1901 Ü (MEC)		until November 1st, 1891 "Knox and Lincoln Railroad", leased by MEC from November 1st, 1891
Sebasticook and Moosehead Lake Railroad	07/24/1886	07/01/1911 Ü (MEC)
Somerset Railway	03/19/1860	07/01/1911 Ü (MEC)		until 1883 "Somerset Railroad"
Washington County Railway	1893	07/01/1911 Ü (MEC)	WCR	until December 18, 1903 "Washington County Railroad"
St. Croix and Penobscot Railroad	03/20/1837	08/01/1898 Ü (WCR)	SCPR	until 1839 "Calais and Baring Railway", until 1870 "Calais and Baring Railroad" (C&B)
Calais Railroad	02/17/1832	07/26/1849 O (C&B)
Lewey's Island Railroad	March 16, 1855	1870 Ü (SCPR)
Portland and Rumford Falls Railroad	03/28/1907	11/27/1936 Ü / S (MEC)	P&RF	leased by MEC from May 1st, 1907
Portland and Rumford Falls Railway	06/22/1847	04/01/1907 O (P&RF)		until April 15, 1857 "Buckfield Branch Railroad", until 03.03.1874 "Portland and Oxford Central Railroad", until 08.11.1890 "Rumford Falls and Buckfield Railroad"
Rumford Falls and Rangeley Lakes Railroad	09/11/1894	04/01/1907 O (P&RF)
Dexter and Newport Railroad	03/30/1853	12/27/1939 Ü (MEC)		leased by MEC from December 1st, 1868
Dexter and Piscataquis Railroad	10/24/1888	12/27/1939 Ü (MEC)		leased by MEC from December 13th, 1888
Bridgton and Harrison Railway	07/19/1881	09.1941 Ü (MEC)		leased by the MEC from 1911 until June 15, 1930 "Bridgton and Saco River Railroad"
Portland and Ogdensburg Railway	02/11/1867	1943 Ü (MEC)		to 08.06.1886 "Portland and Ogdensburg Railroad", leased by MEC from 08.20.1888
Boston and Maine Railroad	06/27/1835	1983 Ü (PAR)	BM
Eastern Railroad	04/14/1836	05/09/1890 Ü (BM)	HE
Portsmouth, Great Falls and Conway Railroad	06/19/1844	1878 Ü (ER)	PGFCR	to 30.06.1865 "Great Falls and Conway Railroad", leased by ER from 1871
Great Falls and South Berwick Branch Railroad	07/03/1841	1865 Ü (PGFCR)		until June 8th, 1848 "Great Falls and South Berwick Railroad"
Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts Railroad	03/12/1839	01.01.1842 Ü (BM)
York Harbor and Beach Railroad	02/01/1883	1887 Ü (BM)
Orchard Beach Railroad	02/07/1876	1893 Ü (BM)
Portland and Rochester Railroad	1865	01.01.1900 Ü (BM)	P & RRR
York and Cumberland Railroad of Maine	07/30/1846	1865 Ü (P & RRR)
Portland, Saco and Portsmouth Railroad	03/14/1837	1900 Ü (BM)	PSPR	Leased jointly by BM and ER from April 28, 1847, leased by BM alone from December 23, 1883
Kennebunk and Kennebunkport Railroad	08/16/1882	1919 Ü (BM)		leased by BM from May 15th, 1883
Portland Terminal Company	02/15/1887	~ 1983 Ü (PAR)	PT	until 23.03.1911 "Portland Union Railroad Station Company", from 1933 jointly leased by BM and MEC
St. Lawrence and Atlantic Railroad	?	-	SLR	Part of GTR until January 20, 1923 , owned by CNR
Atlantic and St. Lawrence Railroad	02/10/1845	07/01/1853 L (GTR)
Lewiston and Auburn Branch Railroad	02/19/1872	03/25/1874 L (GTR)
Norway Branch Railroad	04/23/1879	05/01/1880 L (GTR)
Turners Island LLC	?	-	TI	Terminal Railroad in Portland , until 2003 "Turners Island Railroad"
Wiscasset, Waterville and Farmington Railway Museum	04/15/1854	-	WW&F	until 1873 "Kennebec and Wiscasset Railroad", until 1876 "Wiscasset and Moosehead Lake Railroad", until 29.03.1901 "Wiscasset and Quebec Railroad", until 1907 "Wiscasset, Waterville and Farmington Railroad", regular traffic ended on 15.06.1933, museum railway was opened in 2002
Franklin, Somerset and Kennebec Railroad	1897	03/29/1901 Ü (WW&F)		Construction began but was never completed
Waterville and Wiscasset Railroad	1890	03/29/1901 Ü (WW&F)

MEC route map from 1923

literature

• George H. Drury: The Historical Guide to North American Railroads 2nd Ed. Kalmbach Publishing Co., Waukesha, WI 2000, ISBN 0-89024-356-5
• Edward A. Lewis: American Shortline Railway Guide 5th Ed. Kalmbach Publishing Co., Waukesha, WI 1996, ISBN 0-89024-290-9
• Robert L. MacDonald: Maine Narrow Gauge Railroads . Arcadia Publishing, 2003, ISBN 0-7385-1179-X .

Web links

Current companies

• Amtrak
• Belfast & Moosehead Lake RR
• Maine Eastern RR
• Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad Museum
• Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Ry.
• New Brunswick Southern Ry.
• Pan Am Railways
• Turners Island LLC
• Wiscasset, Waterville & Farmington Ry. museum

General information

• Maine Railroad History
• Boston & Maine Railroad Historical Society
• Chronicle of the MEC

Individual evidence

1. ↑ MaineDOT Delivers 2014 Year-End Report