Portland – Lewiston Interurban Railroad

The Portland – Lewiston Interurban Railroad (PLI) was an interurban railway in Maine ( United States ). It connected the two cities of Portland and Lewiston between 1914 and 1933 .

history

prehistory

From 1902 it was possible to take the streetcar from Portland to Lewiston. The journey took three hours with two changes. The railroad offered connections free of charge, but cost more and rarely ran. A direct connection between Maine's two largest cities was soon deemed necessary. In April 1905 two railway companies were founded that wanted to build the line, the Portland and Lewiston Railway and the Lewiston and Portland Railroad . Both were granted a concession, which expired in 1907 without any construction activity having started. In 1906 the Portland and Auburn Railway was founded, which wanted to use accumulator railcars. It is not known whether it was granted a license. In 1907, several tram companies tried to obtain concessions for new routes that would have shortened the travel time between Portland and Lewiston, but which also did not undertake any construction work.

Then on July 12, 1907, the Portland, Gray and Lewiston Railroad Company was founded. They planned a route over Westbrook , which was later changed in favor of a direct route over West Cumberland . President of the company was Edward W. Gross from Auburn , who had already founded the Portland and Lewiston Railway. On June 29, 1909, the company received planning permission for its proposed route. In the meantime, Winfield Scott Libbey and Henry M. Dingley had bought their way into the company by taking over shares from other shareholders who wanted to withdraw. Both were previously co-partners of the Lewiston and Portland Railroad. The two entrepreneurs also owned shares in the Lewiston and Auburn Electric Light Company and intended to loan these shares to finance the construction of the railway.

Construction, operation and end of the runway

In the spring of 1910, the route work began from Auburn. Between Auburn and Lewiston, the train was to use the recently opened tram route of the Lewiston, Augusta and Waterville Street Railway and in Portland the tracks of the local tram . W. Scott Libbey died on May 17, 1914, just before the route opened on June 29 of that year. Libbey's son Harold became the new president.

Since not all six railcars ordered had been delivered, initially only a two-hour service could be offered. The targeted hourly service was only introduced at the end of July. On July 10, 1914, meanwhile, the rail company was renamed Portland-Lewiston Interurban Railroad . The Androscoggin Electric Company was founded on October 23, 1914 and bought both the PLI and the Lewiston and Auburn Electric Light Company, which provided the power supply in the eponymous cities.

In 1932, the government arranged for the rail company to split off from the Androscoggin Electric Company. Since the railway was not financially viable on its own, operations were stopped on June 29, 1933. The catenary systems and substations were dismantled in the same year, the tracks followed in 1934. The transport services were taken over by the Maine Central Transportation Company in the form of buses.

Museum operation

In May 2012, it was announced that the Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad Museum intends to move to Gray and set up a museum on part of the PLI route in a 610 millimeter gauge.

Route

The 55-kilometer route began in Portland at Monument Square. The trams, coming from Forest Avenue, turned back to Forest Avenue via Congress Street, Middle Street, Temple Street, Congress Street, Preble Street, Portland Street. The depot and administration building were on Portland Street. The company's own route branched off at Morrill's Corner in Portland (intersection Forest Avenue / Allen Avenue) and ran on its own railroad via West Falmouth , West Cumberland , South Gray , Gray, North Gray, Lower Gloucester , New Gloucester, Upper Gloucester, Danville and Littlefield Corner to Auburn . In Auburn, the line merged at the intersection of Minot Avenue / Poland Road with the Lewiston, Augusta and Waterville Street Railway , which it shared as far as Middle Street in Lewiston. The terminus for passengers in Lewiston was in Union Square. In Lewiston, the line ended in Middle Street, south of Main Street, in front of the second, smaller depot of the railway. The railway company owned a total of 47.96 kilometers. A right of use existed for 5.97 kilometers of the Portland tram and 2.95 kilometers of the LA & WSR. The own route was consistently single-track with switches, the shared tram routes in Portland, Auburn and Lewiston were largely double-tracked. The turnouts were in Deering Junction, West Falmouth, on Forest Lake, in Gray, Lower Gloucester, New Gloucester, Upper Gloucester, and Auburn.

The line crossed several railway lines. In Portland there was a level crossing over the Portland – Rockland line of the Maine Central Railroad. In the urban area of Poland , the train crossed under the Portland – Island Pond of the Grand Trunk Railway , crossed the Cumberland Center – Bangor railway on Maine Central on a bridge and then crossed the Lewiston Junction – Lewiston – Lewiston railway at the same level as the Grand Trunk.

Large parts of the PLI route are still clearly visible today. To the south of West Cumberland, a bridge over a stream has been preserved next to Gray Road. Next to Hotel Road in Auburn is the bridge over the Little Androscoggin River .

There were no signals for rail traffic. The railways had to wait for the oncoming wagons at the switches. In addition, telephones were carried in the railcars that could be connected to the telephone line along the route in order to reach the dispatcher of the route. Three level crossings, in West Cumberland, Gray and Danville, were secured with signal systems as private traffic increased.

Operational flow

Motor coaches ran every hour. Initially, the trains only stopped at eleven stops on the way. As of July 1, 1915, however, by order of the State Public Utilities Commission, every second trip drove locally with stops at all stations, including some newly built, and the remaining trips drove as Limited with stops at only five stations. The journey time was 100 minutes for local journeys and 80 minutes for limited journeys. The fare was initially 75 cents, but was later increased significantly. In 1917, with a new timetable, the travel time for local trips was increased to 105 minutes. In the last few years of operation, the number of intermediate stops for local trips was increased to 50 through the construction of additional stops.

The individual journeys had fixed train numbers like a railway, which was displayed on the end of the railcars with a sign. Special trips were marked with the railcar number and the direction of travel "northbound" (direction north, ie Lewiston) or "southbound" (direction south, ie Portland). The labels were later changed to "eastbound" or "westbound" for unknown reasons.

In 1931, the fare for the Portland – Lewiston route was reduced to one dollar again, but this did not lead to sufficient passenger numbers. At the same time, the Limited trips were discontinued and all 18 trips per direction and working day and 16 trips per direction on Sundays stopped at all stations.

The original plan was to transfer goods to the Maine Central Railroad . For this purpose, a track connection to the railroad was built at the Deering Junction station in Portland, but it was removed after the Maine Central Railroad opened the line. As a result, only local freight traffic took place on the PLI. For this purpose, a freight railcar drove twice a day between Portland and Lewiston.

Power supply

The electricity was provided by the parent company, Androscoggin Electric Company , which produced it in a hydroelectric power station in Deer Rips on the Androscoggin River . A steam turbine was also available in Lewiston. Rectifier substations were located along the route in Danville, Gray and West Falmouth.

The catenary was made of copper wire, the wooden catenary masts stood at a distance of 120 feet (approx. 36 meters). An operating voltage of 650 volts was used on the railway's own route between Morrill's Corner and Auburn. The trams in Portland and Lewiston / Auburn had voltages of 600 and 550 volts, respectively.

vehicles

Heavy wooden Interurban vehicles were used, which were manufactured in 1912 by the Laconia Car Company (4 pieces) and the Wason Manufacturing Company (2 pieces). The six initial passenger railcars each had 44 seats and a smoker's compartment with a further 8 seats. In addition, 10 flat freight wagons and a work motorcar were available. In 1915, the railway acquired another two passenger cars from Laconia with 48 seats and without a smoking compartment, as well as a freight locomotive from the Baldwin Locomotive Works . The new railcars were mainly used for the journeys that stopped at all stations. In addition, in the same year a second power unit was purchased, which, like the first, also served as a snow plow in winter. Another followed in 1919 and a fourth in the years that followed. The railway finally bought another passenger railcar from Wason in 1920, which was identical to the first series.

A special feature of the railway was the advanced equipment of its vehicles. From 1916 it was the first Interurban line to use pantographs with contact shoes instead of a contact cart, which significantly increased operational safety. In addition, automatic couplings based on the Westinghouse system were used on all Deutsche Bahn wagons . In 1924, the company also switched the acoustic warning signal of the railcars from a whistle to air horns that could still be heard.

The vehicles were painted green on the fronts and sides, the doors dark red and the roof gray. The lettering on the car was painted in gold letters. The car fronts were later painted orange.

Railcar 10 was moved to Camp Ellis on the private property of W. Scott Libbeys' daughter in 1933 and was not scrapped until 1946. Railcar 14 was used as a gazebo after its closure in Sabattus and is now in the Seashore Trolley Museum in Kennebunkport .

The following table provides an overview of the rail vehicles. The freight wagons without their own drive are not included:

Tw number (name)	Manufacturer	Construction year	commitment
10 ("Arbutus")	Laconia	1912	Railcar, sold to privately in 1933
12 ("Gladiolus")	Laconia	1912	Passenger railcar, scrapped in 1933
14 ("Narcissus")	Laconia	1912	Later people railcars sold to private in 1933 to the Seashore Trolley Museum issued
16 ("Clematis")	Laconia	1912	Passenger railcar, scrapped in 1933
18 ("Azalea")	Wason	1912	Passenger railcar, sold to private after 1933
20 ("Magnolia")	Wason	1912	Passenger railcar, scrapped in 1933
22 ("Maine")	Wason	1920	Passenger railcar, set up as a snack truck in Lewiston after 1933
30th	Laconia	1914	Work and freight railcars, overhead line wagons, and snow plows in winter, scrapped in 1933
32	Laconia	1915	Work and freight railcars, also snow plow in winter, scrapped in 1933
34	Kuhlman	1919	Work and freight railcars, also snow plow in winter, scrapped in 1933
36	Laconia	?	Bought second-hand from LA&W in the 1920s , work and freight railcars, in winter also snow plows, scrapped in 1933
40	Laconia	1915	Railcar, loaned to the Portland Tramway from 1916–18, sold to a boat shop in South Casco after 1933
42	Laconia	1915	Railcar sold to a boat shop in South Casco after 1933
90	Baldwin	1912	Freight locomotive, loaned to the Portland Tramway from 1925–33, scrapped in 1933

Special occurrences

On March 18, 1917, there was a robbery. $ 50 was stolen from the conductor of the last car to Portland that day. The perpetrator, a train driver for the railway company, was caught and sentenced.

In the 19 years of operation of the railway, the goods shed in Gray had to be rebuilt twice. First it collapsed under the weight of the snow that had previously fallen on February 11, 1918, a few years later the new building was destroyed by a fire that also damaged the freight locomotive 90.

On January 11, 1924, 16 passengers were injured in the only serious accident involving the railway, when railcar 22 ran into railcar 18 at the junction with the tram in Auburn. Both cars were on a special trip to bring a student basketball team to Portland.

Individual evidence and further information

1. ^ First Annual Report, Public Utilities Commission, State of Maine. Sentinel Publishing Co., Waterville ME, 1915. Page 247.
2. ↑ Trains Magazin News Wire from May 2, 2012. [1] (only readable for subscribers)
3. ^ First Annual Report, Public Utilities Commission, State of Maine. Sentinel Publishing Co., Waterville ME, 1915. Page 249.
4. ↑ Description and photos
5. ^ First Annual Report, Public Utilities Commission, State of Maine. Sentinel Publishing Co., Waterville ME, 1915. pp. 173-4, 256.

• OR Cummings: Maine's Fast Electric Railroad: Portland-Lewiston Interurban. (Transportation X) National Historical Society, Inc., Stratford CT, 1956.
• George W. Hilton and John F. Due: The Electric Interurban Railways in America. Stanford University Press, Stanford CA, 1960. ISBN 0-8047-4014-3