Maine Central Railroad

The Maine Central Railroad was a railroad in central Maine. It was chartered in 1856 and began operations in 1862. It operated between Portland to the Canada-U.S. border with New Brunswick.

Charter and creation

The Maine Central RR was created initially through the merger of the Androscoggin and Kennebec Railroad and the Penobscot and Kennebec Railroad, resulting in a line from Danville (northeast of Portland) to Bangor. The line connected with the Grand Trunk Railway on its Portland-Chicago mainline at Danville and with the Bangor and Piscataquis Railroad in Bangor. As a result of its connection with the Grand Trunk, the Maine Central was initially running with a track gauge of 5'6".

Expansion

The Maine Central purchased the Portland and Kennebec Railroad which ran from Portland to Danville and was built to standard track gauge since it connected with the Boston and Maine Railroad at Portland. By 1871, the Maine Central completed its conversion to standard gauge to facilitate interchange of cars.

In 1888, the Maine Central purchased the Portland and Ogdensburg Railroad which ran from Portland through the White Mountains through Crawford Notch, New Hampshire and into St. Johnsbury, Vermont where it connected with the Southeastern Railway (owned by Canadian Pacific Railway). The railroad also purchased several narrow gauge branch lines used for the logging industry, such as the Sandy River and Rangeley Lakes Railroad in 1911 and the Bridgeton and Saco River in 1912.

It also acquired the European and North American Railroad (Maine) which had built up the Penobscot River valley from Old Town to Mattawamkeag and then east to Vanceboro where it connected to the New Brunswick Railway.

In 1889 the Canadian Pacific Railway purchased trackage rights on the portion of the Maine Central from Mattawamkeag to Vanceboro, which formed part of the CPR's Montreal-Saint John mainline, upon completion of the International Railway of Maine. This line was an important rail route for Canadian war materiel heading to the port of Saint John for shipment overseas to Europe and in the months before the United States entered the war, a German sabateur attempted to blow up a Maine Central bridge which crossed the St. Croix River at the border with New Brunswick.

The Maine Central also built a line southeast from Bangor along the coast through Machias to Calais with branches to Bar Harbor and Eastport.

The Maine Central was at its height by 1917 when it became nationalized during World War One, having trackage which extended over 1358 miles. It ran from Vanceboro, Calais and Eastport in the east, to Portland in the south, St. Johnsbury in the west, and to Lime Ridge, Quebec in the north. It also operated resorts and coastal steamships and ferries.

Retraction

Following World War One, Maine Central began retracting. It sold or abandoned lines such as the narrow gauge logging systems, as well as its ferries and steamships. In the 1930s it began to change its locomotives from steam powered to diesel powered. Beginning in 1933, the Maine Central entered into a "joint management" agreement with the Boston and Maine Railroad, with which it shared the Portland Terminal Railroad (a switching railroad in Portland). Faced with increased competition from cars, trucks and buses, Maine Central Railroad operated its last passenger train on September 5, 1960 and continued to reduce its freight business to reflect changing traffic. In 1974, to generate income, the Maine Central sold its trackage between Mattawamkeag-Vanceboro to Canadian Pacific.

Guilford

In 1980, the railroad was purchased by U.S. Filter Corporation and was then sold in 1981 to Guilford Transportation Industries, which also purchased the Boston and Maine Railroad. Initially Guilford operated the system intact, although the system now permitted run-through traffic between central Maine and Boston. By the mid-1980s, Guilford began to rationalize its system and fully one-third of Maine Central's trackage was eliminated, including: the "Mountain Division" from Portland to St. Johnsbury, Vermont; the "Rockland Branch" from Brunswick to Rockland, the "Calais Branch" from Bangor to Calais, and the "Lower Road" from Augusta to Brunswick. Guilford also forced many management and salary changes, resulting in a major strike against the company in 1986.

One of the instigating factors which led to the labour strife at Guilford relates to a corporate reorganization at one of the company's former Maine Central properties. After the Calais Branch was abandoned, a small portion of trackage between Calais and Woodland remained in service to a pulp mill. It was joined to the rest of the North American rail network through a connection with the Canadian Pacific Railway at St. Stephen, New Brunswick. Guilford renamed this operation "Springfield Terminal" and reorganized it to avoid union agreements that the rest of the rail system was forced to follow. Eventually, the corporate reorganization under Springfield Terminal would extend to the full extent of Guilford operations.

The former Maine Central locomotive shops in Waterville continue as Guilford's main repair shops. Other traditions of Maine Central have continued into the 1990s and 2000s, although Guilford and its subsidiary Springfield Terminal now dominate in the painting of locomotives.

On November 1, 2003 the Morristown & Erie Railway took over the former Maine Central "Lower Road" (main line) and Rockland branch routes (aided by significant public funding from the state government). Other groups are seeking to have the Calais Branch and Mountain Division routes reactivated for use by short line or tourist rail operations.