Portland and Rochester Railroad
The Portland and Rochester Railroad is a former railway company in Maine and New Hampshire ( United States ). They operated a 84.8 kilometer standard gauge railway line from Portland (Maine) to Rochester (New Hampshire) .
The company was founded on July 30, 1846 as the York and Cumberland Railroad of Maine . Construction began from Portland in 1849 and in 1853 the Saco River was reached at Bar Mills . Construction work was carried out on the following stretch to Alfred , but further construction was not carried out for financial reasons.
In 1865 the newly formed Portland and Rochester Railroad acquired the bankrupt York & Cumberland and continued to build the line. The city of Portland invested $ 700,000 in the company as it wanted to break the Portland, Saco and Portsmouth Railroad's monopoly of transportation to the southwest, which had existed since 1842 . The Portland – Rochester railway was finally completed in 1871.
The City of Portland's shares in the company were sold to Eastern Railroad in 1879 . In 1882 Boston & Maine acquired 20% shares and in the following years until 1890 another 60%. Since she had leased the Eastern Railroad in 1883, she actually owned all of Portland & Rochester. On January 1, 1900, the Boston and Maine Railroad bought Portland & Rochester and incorporated the route into their network. In 1949, the newly founded became Sanford and Eastern Railroad section from Portland to Sanford & Springvale and the since 1947 no longer operated Tramway York Utilities Corporation from the station Sanford & Springvale up to Sanford . The overhead lines of the tram were dismantled. The rest of the route to Rochester was closed. The Portland – Sanford route also ceased to exist in 1961, with the exception of short freight connections in the urban area of Portland.
literature
- George H. Drury: The Historical Guide to North American Railroads 2nd Ed. Kalmbach Publishing Co., Waukesha, WI 2000, ISBN 0-89024-356-5