Fairfield – Shawmut Tram
The tram Fairfield - Shawmut was a tram service in Maine ( United States ).
history
The Fairfield and Shawmut Railway Company , founded in 1903, opened a standard-gauge tram route between the towns of the same name on October 8, 1907 . In Shawmut the line ended at the level crossing over the Brunswick – Skowhegan railway line . Construction costs were $ 69,178. In 1910 an approximately 200 meter long freight connection was laid in Shawmut via the railroad to the factory of the Keyes Fiber Company.
In 1925, the wooden depot building in Fairfield burned down without any vehicle damage. It was quickly replaced by a new building. Although the railway carried over 117,000 passengers in 1925 and was thus in the black, in 1926 there were only 70,000 passengers. In addition, bonds in the amount of US $ 30,000, which were taken out in 1907 for the construction of the line, matured on July 1, 1927 and could not be paid, which is why the company had to file for bankruptcy. The railway was therefore shut down on July 23, 1927 and subsequently dismantled. Freight traffic had already ceased in 1923. The railcar 30 and the tracks were sold to the Waterville tram. The depot was later used as a parking garage, but has since been demolished.
Route
The 5.0 kilometer route began at the Main Street / Bridge Street intersection in Fairfield, followed by Upper Main Street, River Road (now Skowhegan Road), New Road (now Bray Avenue) and Main Street in Shawmut (now Kennebec Street) and ended at Shawmut Station. In Fairfield there were track connections to the Waterville tram and the Benton – Fairfield tram . The depot of the railway and the headquarters of the railway company were located in Fairfield north of the terminus, the only turnout of the otherwise single-track route approximately in the middle of the route north of the current entrance to Interstate 95 . The total length of the track including the freight connection in Shawmut was 3.43 miles (5.52 kilometers).
In three places there were level crossings with other railways, namely in Fairfield with the freight line of the Benton – Fairfield tram and further north and again at the terminus in Shawmut with the Brunswick – Skowhegan railway.
business
The trams ran every 30 minutes following the trams from Waterville. The journey time was 15 minutes, so a single car was sufficient for operation. In the summer an open car was used with a conductor on it. During the rest of the year, a closed, combined passenger and general cargo car drove one-man operation. In freight transport, general cargo that was taken on the passenger car, as well as gravel, which was mined near Shawmut in a railway-owned quarry and driven to Shawmut train station or the Keyes factory.
The fare was initially five cents, from the end of 1918 seven cents and in the last few years of operation ten cents. The annual record number of people carried was 151,000 in 1909.
vehicles
When the railway opened in 1907, a closed combined passenger and general cargo car and an open railcar were available, both of which were taken over by the Skowhegan – Norridgewock tram, which had already been shut down in 1903 . In addition, the railway had a flat freight car on which ballast was transported, a work car and a snow plow. The work railcar not only belonged to the Fairfield – Shawmut tram, but was also used on the Waterville tram network.
In 1914 a second closed railcar (No. 30) from the Bangor tram was added. The combined car, which has been in use since 1907, was scrapped in 1921 and replaced by a railcar (No. 10) taken over from the Waterville tram. Two years later this was again replaced when the railway took over an identical car as No. 9 also from Waterville.
literature
- OR Cummings. Toonervilles of Maine. The Pine Tree State. Newburyport MA, 1955, pp. 26-28
- OR Cummings. Waterville, Fairfield & Oakland Railway Company. (Transportation Bulletin 72) Warehouse Point CT, 1965.
- First Annual Report, Public Utilities Commission, State of Maine. Sentinel Publishing Co., Waterville ME, 1915, pp. 181-182