Waterville Tram
The tram Waterville was a Regional tramway operation in Maine ( United States ). The operation goes back to two trams that were initially operated independently of each other.
history
Waterville-Fairfield
First, the Waterville and Fairfield Railroad Company was founded on February 24, 1887 and set up on November 21 of that year. She opened on June 23, 1888 a 5.41 kilometer long horse-drawn railway from Waterville to Fairfield . The route began at the intersection of Main Street and Silver Street and ran along Main Street, College Avenue and Main Street in Fairfield to the corner of Bridge Street. The depot was in Fairfield, near the level crossing on Main Street.
On February 12, 1891, the Waterville & Fairfield, the Waterville Electric Light and Power Company and the Fairfield Electric Light Company merged to form the Waterville and Fairfield Railway and Light Company . At the same time, the railway company received approval for electrical operation and for a route extension from Waterville to North Vassalboro . On July 20, 1892, the horse-drawn tram was electrified and extended on October 4 of that year in Waterville by Main Street and Water Street to the corner of Grove Street. The total length of the route was now 7.89 kilometers. The extension to Vassalboro was not built.
After the company went bankrupt, it was reorganized under the same name in December 1897. On August 4, 1898, the line was again extended through Grove Street to Pine Grove Cemetery (near Summer Street). From 1899 the line had a connection to the Benton – Fairfield tram at its terminus in Fairfield and from 1907 also to the Fairfield – Shawmut tram . In 1906, the line in Waterville was extended through Grove Street to Silver Street and in 1910 by Silver Street to Silver Court, increasing the total length of the route to 8.2 kilometers. From December 15, 1909, the overland tram , which later became part of the Androscoggin and Kennebec Railway, ran from Waterville via North Vassalboro to Augusta . Its terminus was on Common Street (corner of Main Street). From there to the Main Street / Bridge Street junction, the railway had agreed a right of joint use with Waterville & Fairfield.
Waterville-Oakland
On June 4, 1902, the Waterville and Oakland Street Railway Company was founded to build an electric tram line from Waterville to Oakland . The 8.7 kilometer route went into operation on July 2, 1903. It began on Elm Street in Waterville, where initially there was no direct transition to the route to Fairfield. From there it ran through Elm Street, Western Avenue and Chase Avenue, Lincoln Street, then on to Fairfield Street in Oakland. This followed the route south to then lead through Main Street, Church Street and Summer Street (now Belgrade Road) to Messalonskee Lake . There was also a 25-meter-long steel yoke bridge over the Messalonskee Stream on the stretch of the track on its own track .
The railroad depot was located at the intersection of Church Street and Summer Street in Oakland. The depot building also housed a dance hall until 1923. From the terminus of the train, a railway company excursion steamer drove on Messalonskee Lake. Between the railway line and today's Kennedy Memorial Drive at Country Club Road, the railway also built Cascade Park, which should attract more passengers. Planned extensions from Oakland to Farmington or Augusta were not built.
It was not until 1911 that the two trams were connected in Waterville by extending the route from Oakland through Elm Street and Temple Street, which is now overbuilt in this area, to the intersection of Temple Street and Main Street.
Merger and end of rail operations
On September 8, 1911, the Central Maine Power Company , which still exists today, bought both railway companies. The Waterville & Oakland Street Railway and the railway operations part of Waterville & Fairfield merged on November 20, 1911 to form the Waterville, Fairfield and Oakland Railway . The total route length was 16.51 kilometers.
On October 10, 1937, operations on both lines ended. Buses took over the transport tasks and in 1938 the tracks were dismantled.
Sources and further information
- literature
- OR Cummings. Toonervilles of Maine. The Pine Tree State. Newburyport MA, 1955. pp. 2-22.
- OR Cummings. Waterville, Fairfield & Oakland Railway Company. (Transportation Bulletin 72) Warehouse Point CT, 1965.
- Poor's Manual of Railroads, 44th Annual Number. Poor's Railroad Manual Co., New York NY, 1911. p. 2072.
- First Annual Report, Public Utilities Commission, State of Maine. Sentinel Publishing Co., Waterville ME, 1915. pp. 186-7.
- Web links