Boston and Maine Railroad
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standard gauge | |
Length | 2,077 mi (3,343 km) |
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The Boston and Maine Railroad (
At the end of 1970, B&M operated 1,515 route-miles (2,438 km) on 2,481 miles (3,993 km) of track, not including
History
The Andover and Wilmington Railroad was incorporated March 15, 1833, to build a branch from the Boston and Lowell Railroad at Wilmington, Massachusetts, north to Andover, Massachusetts. The line opened to Andover on August 8, 1836. The name was changed to the Andover and Haverhill Railroad on April 18, 1837, reflecting plans to build further to Haverhill, Massachusetts (opened later that year), and yet further to Portland, Maine, with renaming to the Boston and Portland Railroad on April 3, 1839, opening to the New Hampshire state line in 1840.
The Boston and Maine Railroad was chartered in New Hampshire on June 27, 1835, and the Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts Railroad was incorporated March 12, 1839, in Maine, both companies continuing the proposed line to South Berwick, Maine. The railroad opened in 1840 to Exeter, New Hampshire, and on January 1, 1842, the two companies merged with the Boston and Portland to form a new Boston and Maine Railroad.
On February 23, 1843, the B&M opened to
The Boston and Maine Railroad Extension was incorporated on March 16, 1844, due to a dispute with the
A new alignment to Portland opened in 1873, splitting from the old route at South Berwick, Maine. The old route remained apart of the Eastern Railroad's Main Line (described below). This completed the B&M "main line", which would become known as the Western Route Main Line.
Acquisitions
As the B&M grew, it also gained control of former rivals, including:
Eastern
On March 28, 1883, the boards of directors of B&M and the
Worcester, Nashua and Portland
The Worcester and Nashua Railroad was organized in 1845 (opened 1848) and the Nashua and Rochester Railroad in 1847, forming a line between
Boston and Lowell
On April 1, 1887, the B&M leased the
Northern
Connecticut River
On January 1, 1893, the B&M leased the Connecticut River Railroad, with the main line from Springfield, Massachusetts north along the Connecticut River to White River Junction, Vermont, where the Connecticut and Passumpsic Rivers Railroad (acquired in 1887) continued north. Along with this railroad came the Ashuelot Railroad, which had been acquired in 1877.
Concord and Montreal
The B&M acquired the
Fitchburg
The B&M leased the Fitchburg Railroad on July 1, 1900. This was primarily the main line from Boston west via the Hoosac Tunnel to the Albany, New York, area, with various branches. On December 1, 1919, the B&M purchased the Fitchburg Railroad.
At one point, the B&M also owned a majority of stock of the Maine Central Railroad, stretching from Quebec via northern New Hampshire to southern and eastern Maine.
20th century
The B&M flourished with the growth of New England's mill towns in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, but still faced financial struggles. It came under the control of J. P. Morgan and his New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad around 1910, but anti-trust forces wrested control back. Later, it faced heavy debt problems from track construction and from the cost of acquiring the Fitchburg Railroad, causing a corporate reorganization in 1919.
Beginning in the 1930s, freight business was hurt by the leveling-off of New England manufacturing growth and by new competition from trucking. In 1925, B&M reported 2956 million net ton-miles of revenue freight and 740 million passenger-miles; at the end of the year it operated 2291 route-miles, including "42.85 miles of electric street railway". (Those totals do not include B&C, M&WR, StJ&LC or YH&B.)
The B&M's most traveled and well known passenger trains included the Alouette, Ambassador, Cheshire, Day White Mountains,
Passenger service cuts
After steady growth from 1901 to 1913, passenger rail ridership around Boston peaked in 1920 and began to decline due to competition from private automobiles and service cuts during World War I.[7]: 11 In the mid-1920s, after several difficult years, the B&M discontinued service on some marginal lines and began using small self-propelled railcars on others.[7]: 68 A second round of discontinuances occurred from 1931 to 1936 as the Great Depression reduced traffic. Ridership sharply increased during World War II; the B&M had a slower postwar decline than its contemporaries, though major frequency reductions occurred in 1949–1950.[7]: 13 The B&M began testing Budd Rail Diesel Cars (RDCs) in 1952; in 1954, the railroad decided to switch all commuter service to RDCs to cut costs.[7]: 13
Discontinuances in the 1920s and 1930s primarily affected minor branches and rural intercity routes, but the 1950s saw the loss of more significant intercity routes. September, 1952 saw the first cut to the four main intercity mainlines, as Eastern Route service was cut from Portland, Maine to Portsmouth, New Hampshire.[8]: 154 (Portland continued to see service to Boston on the Western Route through Dover, New Hampshire.) The New York–Montreal Green Mountain Flyer/Mount Royal, which had Boston sections running on the B&M via Bellows Falls, ended when the Rutland Railroad discontinued all passenger service, in 1953.[8]: 44 The northern section of the Boston–Wells River, Vermont route ended in 1954 (thus ending connections to Quebec City), as did Manchester–Portsmouth service.[8]: 86, 126 Concord–Claremont Junction service ended in 1955, and the Boston section of the Ambassador was reduced to a Boston–White River Junction RDC connecting train in 1956.[9][8]: 122 Fitchburg mainline service was trimmed from Troy, New York, to Williamstown, Massachusetts, in January 1958, and discontinued soon afterward.[7]: 89
The B&M became unprofitable in 1958 and moved to shed its money-losing passenger operations.
After the major cuts by the B&M and the
After approval of the applications, the B&M discontinued most interstate service on January 4, 1965. Service via Concord to
The
Regrowth
The B&M filed for bankruptcy in December 1970. During bankruptcy the B&M reorganized. It rebuilt its existing fleet of locomotives, leased new locomotives and rolling stock and secured funds for upgrading its track and signal systems.
For much of the 1970s, the Boston and Maine limped along. In 1973 and 1974 the B&M was on the brink of liquidation. The B&M was offered the opportunity to merge its properties into the new Conrail in 1976, but opted out.
By 1980, though still a sick company, the B&M started turning around thanks to aggressive marketing and its purchase of a cluster of branch lines in Connecticut. The addition of coal traffic and piggyback service also helped. In 1983, the B&M emerged from bankruptcy when it was purchased by Timothy Mellon's
21st century
Pan Am entered a joint venture with
Service at B&M's former yard in Mechanicville, New York, was restored as an intermodal and automotive terminal in January 2012, under PAS.[14]
Named passenger trains
The B&M operated a number of
Boston trains
Name | # | Destination | Partner railroad(s) | Final B&M station | Year discontinued | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Alouette | 5/20 | Montreal via Plymouth and Newport | CP | Wells River | 1956 | Operated via White River Junction after 1954. Unnamed RDC train continued until 1965. |
Ambassador | 307/332 | Montreal via White River Junction and Essex Junction | CV | White River Junction | 1956 | New York section lasted until 1966. |
Cannon Ball | 313/320 | Plymouth via Concord | – | – | 1959 | |
Cheshire | 5505/5506 | Bellows Falls via Keene | CV | White River Junction | 1958 | |
Flying Yankee | 15/16 | Bangor via Dover, Portland, and Auburn | MEC | Portland | 1957 | |
Green Mountain Flyer | 64/65 | Montreal via Bellows Falls, Rutland, and Burlington | RUT | Bellows Falls | 1953 | |
Gull | 8/23 | Halifax via Portland and Vanceboro | CN, CP, MEC | Portland | 1960 | |
Kennebec | 11/12 | Bangor via Dover, Portland, and Brunswick | MEC | Portland | 1958 | |
Minute Man | 58/59 | Troy via Fitchburg | – | – | 1957 | Connecting service to Chicago via the New York Central Railroad |
Mount Royal | 5502/5511 | Montreal via Bellows Falls, Rutland, and Burlington | RUT | Bellows Falls | 1953 | |
Mountaineer | 2909/2924 | Littleton via Dover and Conway | MEC | Intervale | 1955 | |
New Englander | 302/325 | Montreal via White River Junction and Essex Junction | CV | White River Junction | 1950s | |
Penobscot | 22/27 | Bangor via Dover, Portland, and Auburn | MEC | Portland | 1957 | |
Pine Tree | 14/19 | Bangor via Dover, Portland, and Brunswick | MEC | Portland | 1958 | |
Red Wing | 302/325 | Montreal via White River Junction and Wells River | CP | Wells River | 1959 | Exchanged through cars with the Connecticut Yankee. |
Speed Merchant | 4/9 | Portland via Dover | – | – | 1965 |
New York/Washington trains via Springfield
Name | # | Destination | Partner railroad(s) | Final B&M station | Year discontinued | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Ambassador | 307/332 | Montreal via White River Junction and Essex Junction | NH, CV | White River Junction | 1966 | |
Connecticut Yankee | 74/79 | Quebec City via White River Junction and Newport | CP, NH, QC | Wells River | 1952 | Exchanged through cars with the Red Wing. |
Day White Mountains | 72/77 | Berlin via Wells River | NH | – | 1950s | |
Montrealer/Washingtonian | 70/71 | Montreal via White River Junction and Essex Junction | NH, CV, PRR | White River Junction | 1966 |
New York/Washington trains via Worcester
Name | # | Destination | Partner railroad(s) | Final B&M station | Year discontinued | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Bar Harbor Express | 84/85 | Bar Harbor (via ferry) via Ayer, Portland, and Bangor | PRR, NH, MEC | Portland | 1960 | Summers only. |
East Wind | 120/121 | Bar Harbor (via ferry) via Ayer, Portland, and Bangor | PRR, NH, MEC | Portland | 1953 | Summers only. |
State of Maine | 81/82 | Bangor via Ayer and Portland | NH, MEC | Portland | 1960 |
Surviving equipment
The 1935 three-car trainset known as the Flying Yankee, virtually identical to the streamlined equipment the Budd Company built for the Burlington Northern’s famous Pioneer Zephyr, was retired in 1957 and was then displayed at the Edaville Railroad for another 36 years.[18] The equipment was relocated and eventually purchased by the State of Maine, but both public and private restoration efforts were unsuccessful.[18] In November, 2023, the state of New Hampshire put the equipment up for sale, with a focus on "the relocation and encouraged restoration" of the trainset.[18]
Footnotes
- ^ Heald, Bruce (2007). A History of the Boston & Maine Railroad: Exploring New Hampshire's Rugged Heart by Rail. Arcadia Publishing.
- . Retrieved July 11, 2019.
A lease of the Eastern Railroad to this company upon terms agreed upon by your Directors and those of the Eastern Railroad Company was ratified by both corporations at meetings held on March 28, 1883.
- . Retrieved July 11, 2019.
The lease of the Eastern Railroad to this Company was ratified by your votes on the 2d of December, 1884, and the leased property was duly delivered to us.
- S2CID 156297168.
- . Retrieved July 11, 2019.
Agreeable to your vote, the purchases of the Eastern and Conway properties [...] have been perfected, the deeds of conveyance passed, and possession taken under them on May 9, 1890.
- ^ Karr (1995), p. 255-263.
- ^ ISBN 9780685412947.
- ^ ISBN 0942147065.
- ISBN 1-883089-69-7.
- ISBN 9780760308325.
- ^ "LAST TRAIN HAS RUN AS 'STATE OF MAINE'". New York Times. October 30, 1960.
- ^ a b c d e f Belcher, Jonathan. "Changes to Transit Service in the MBTA district" (PDF). Boston Street Railway Association.
- ISBN 9780942147124.
- ^ Post, Paul (March 24, 2012). "Boom II: Overshadowed by GlobalFoundries, new rail hub could spur unprecedented growth along Route 67 corridor in Stillwater". The Saratogian. Retrieved October 1, 2012.
- ISBN 0-8018-4503-3.
- ^ 'Official Guide of the Railways,' June 1949, Boston & Maine section, pp. 98-99
- ^ "Names Assigned to Two Lexington Branch Trains". Boston Globe. April 23, 1926. p. 2 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b c "State of New Hampshire seeks to sell 'Flying Yankee' streamliner". Trains.com, November 5, 2023. Retrieved November 5, 2023.
References
- Edward Appleton, Massachusetts Railway Commissioner (1871). "History of the Railways of Massachusetts". Archived from the original on August 3, 2009.
- Karr, Ronald D. (1994). Lost Railroads New England. Branch Line Press. ISBN 0-942147-04-9.
- Karr, Ronald D. (1995). The Rail Lines of Southern New England: A Handbook of Railroad History. Branch Line Press. ISBN 0-942147-02-2.
External links
Media related to Boston and Maine Railroad at Wikimedia Commons