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1966 Trolleys to Brunswick, -- 1896-1937 Osmond Richard Cummings

Connecticut Valley Chapter, National Railway Historical Society

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Recommended Citation Cummings, Osmond Richard and Connecticut Valley Chapter, National Railway Historical Society, "Trolleys to Brunswick, Maine -- 1896-1937" (1966). Maine Railroad Publications. 37. https://digicom.bpl.lib.me.us/railroad_pubs/37

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Transportation Bulletin

NC WAREHOUSE POINT, CONN . No. 73 January - December 1966 Price $4.00 .. ···,. .·· I AU&URN ,···/ · ... · ..... I r _ey . I / ~ I 0 I I I I runswick J I Maine I I' \ ...."-··, ·· .... 1896-1937 .:.: ' : ·...... By 0. R. CUMMINGS ...... ·. ..

A.NEUON '66

NO. 126 LEAVES A PASSENGER at Harding's Station in Brunswick enroute to Lewiston. -[Cunningham Photo. 2. TRANSPORTATION BULLETIN G-2. Trolleys lo Brunswick, Maine

AT BRUNSWICK, MAINE, June 28, 1934: Androscoggin & Kennebec Railway Car No. 126 lays over on a trip from Bath, awaiting scheduled departure time for the run to Lewiston. -[Photograph taken by Roger Borrup. ~ ~~~~~~

was heavy coal traffic over the road. survived just long enough to at­ lnlroduclion A portion of the route - from tract the enthw;iastic attention of Lewiston to Lisbon Falls-survived the early railfans. As a result, the until the late summer of 1941 when THE LAST of the long-distance line was extensively photographed buses of the Lewiston - Auburn from one end to the other during cross-country trolley lines which Transit Company, successor to the once abounded in New Engiand was the 1935-1937 period. A&K, replaced the remaining rail Gerald F. Cunningham, now of the 30-mile route between Lewiston lines in the Lewiston area. and Bath via Brunswick in the Si 1 v er Spring, Maryland, and Charles A. Duncan of Danvers, State of ~aine. Mass .. both used many rolls of film Built b-~he Lewiston, Brunswick CLOSELY allied to the Lewiston­ & Bath Street Railway Company in Bath line was the 16-mile route covering the line in its entirety and 1898, it was opel'

BATH CARHOUSE of the Lewiston, Brunswick & Bath and the parlor r.ar "Merry­ meeting" in 1898. This build­ ing was razed in 1911 and a smaller barn was constructPd with the salvaged materials. -[O. R. Cummings' collection

BATH CARHOUSE and sub­ station as they looked in 1934 are shown below in the photo­ graph taken by Roger Borrup.

and the Androscoggin & Kennehec, Portland. Maine; Edward D. Leavitt There are undoubtedly others was most helpful in answering of Biddeford, Maine· Mrs. Myra who helped in one way or another, dozens of questions about the two Pennell of Bath, Maine; the late as material for this effort was as­ ? lines and their operations during Wesley A. Lancaster of Auburn. sembled over a long period of time. ... Maine; George E. Cantara of Woon· ii the period he was associated with Their assistance was and is much ~ the company. socket, Rhode Island. Willard R. appreciated. I Among others who provided Higgins of Stoneham, Mass., spent 0. R. CUMMINGS I either pictures and/ or information many hours preparing the map5 105 Theresa Court .. were Charles D. Heseltine of South reproduced herein. Manchester, N. H. 03103 4·. TRANSPORTATION BULLETIN G-4. Lewiston, Brunswick & Balh Slreel Railway

MA, OF TH[ LEWISTON, BllUNS WICK .S. BATH STlllEl:T llAILllOAD. 1898, , acALE or MILH ,

I ~ 3 I

~•.. I'¥

. I-

secure the necessary franchises two days later-after the granting Brunswick from the town fathers of Brunswick of a certificate of safety by the and Topsham. Railroad Commissioners. The route finally authorized The railway was required to pay Electric began at the Sagadahoc County for the strengthening of the Granny Fairgrounds in Topsham and ex­ Hole a n d Railroad tended through Winter and Main bridges to render the spans safe Streets, across the Granny Hole for the weight of a loaded electric T HE Lewiston, Brunswick & Bath Stream and Androscoggin River car. Even so, only one car was per­ Street Railway had its corporate bridges (replaced by the present mitted to cross either bridge at any beginnings on February 4, 1889. bridges in 1932) into Brunswick, one time and no trolleys were to be when the Brunswick Electric Rail­ and up Maine Street, Brunswick, to on the spans whenever another road Company, otherwise known Bowdoin College. vehicle was crossing. as the Brunswick & Topsham Elec­ The line was to loop around the It was not too long before new tric Railway, was incorporated college campus via Maine Street, bridges were constructed the street under Chapter 306 of the Private Longfellow Avenue, Harpswell railway company paying' a propor­ and Special Laws of Maine and was Road and Bath Street and was to tionate share of the cost. authorized to build and operate a cross the Maine Central Railroad at grade on Maine Street. The Brunswick Electric Railroad street railway from Brunswick to was .built at a cost of $35,000 (in­ the neighboring towns of Topsham (No attempt apparently was made cludmg $2,800 for a carhouse lot and Harpswell. to secure franchises for the proposed and the erection of a two-track Incorporators of the company, 13runswick-Harpswell route and it is believed that plans for such a line wood-frame carhouse on Summer which had an authorized capitaliza­ were abandoned at an early date). Street) and it owned a total of 3.53 tion of $250,000, were Charles B. miles of track. Story, Frederick H. Wilson, John P. Actual construction of the 3.5- Winchell, George E. Woodbury and mile line began September 24, 1896 Only 4 Cars on the Roster Frank C. Webb. when track-laying crews started Rolling stock consisted of one The company was empowered to work, and on October 12th the first closed car and two opens, all of the use either animals, steam or elec­ car, a 4-wheel open, made the 4-wheel variety, and one 4-wheel tricity for its motive power, and initial trial trips between the two snow plow. the charter called for completion towns. According to the Railroad Com­ of the road by 1894.

NEW MEAD(lWS RI\ ER pile trestle, showing car No. 38, one of the Briggs 20-foot closed cars purchased for the Lewiston-Bath service in 1898 by the Lewiston, Brun;;wick & Bath Street Railway Co. -[Lancaster Collection. at Main and Lisbon Streets, ran down Main Street hill to and across the so-called upper bridge over the Androscoggin River to Court Street in Auburn. Running along Court Street a short distance, it contin­ ued through Turner Street and Lake Grove Avenue to Center Street and out Center Street to Lake Grove Park, a railway-owned amusemer.t resort on the shore of Lake Auburn in East Auburn. The New Auburn Belt line, be­ ginning at Court and Maine Streets, Auburn, extended through Main and Mill Streets to Broad Street in New Auburn and thence across the lower or South bridge over the Androscoggin River to Cedar Street in Lewiston. Continuing up Cedar Street to Lisbon Street, it ran along -Lisbon Street to Main Street. The Figure 8 line, as its name implies, consisted of a loop through several streets in Lewiston and a similar circuit in Auburn. The Lewiston loop, beginning at Lisbon and Pine Streets, extended up Pine Street to Sabattus Street, along Sabattus Street to Skinner Street; BATH down Skinner Street (now Campus {__ A venue) past Bates College to Col­ lege Street; along College Street to the inner end of Sabattus Street, and on Sabattus Street to Main Street, connecting with the Fair­ grounds line at Hospital Square (near the Central Maine General Hospital). In Auburn, tracks extended from Turner Street through Dennison Street to the intersection of Goff Street and Gamage Avenue; on Goff Street to Court Street, and down Court Street to Turner Street. The carhouse and power plant were located on Chapel Street, Lewiston, and the rolling stock on June 30, 1897 consisted of 10 closed and 8 open cars equipped for elec­ tric power, 12 open trailers, 4 work cars and 3 snow plows. According to the American Street

1. Kelly-Spear Co. 2. Texas Stean1ship Co. 3. Carharn 4. Kennebec Wharf & Coal Co. 5. Commercial Street 6. Interchanges with Maine Central Railroad 7. Maine Central Railroad Depot 8. Old Maine Central RR Ferry Terminal Sitei. 9. Phoenix Turnout 10. Rath Iron Works Shipyards 11. Bath Box Co. SOU1 J./ 12. Percy & Small Co. END 13. E. G. J,)eering Co. WI NN E. G A NCC:. (Maine Central Yard Trackage not shown in detail) G-7. TROLLEYS TO BRUNSWICK. MAINE Page 7.

Railway Investments manual of Spring Streets, and the power to rejoin the highway just outside 1898, the p o w e r station was station, which was equipped with of Lisbon Falls. equipped with Westinghouse en­ Ball & Wood engines and Westing­ Running through the principal gines and generators and the cars house generators, was nearby. streets of Lisbon, the line was to had been built by the Briggs Car­ Rolling stock on June 30, 1897 enter private land, a short distance riage Company of Amesbury, Mass., included 3 closed and 5 open pas­ to the south of the highway, and and the .J. G. Brill Company of senger cars, all of the 4-wheel type, continue for about 3 miles to the Philadelphia. Westinghouse motors built by the Newburyport Car Com­ village of Pejepscot in the town of were used. pany of Newburyport, Mass., and Topsham. The private right-of-way (A detailed history of the Lewiston the Lewis & Fowler Manufacturing then was to cut across country for and Auburn horse car and trolley lines Company of Brooklyn, New York; about 3 miles more and then the is planned for a future publication.) two work cars and a snow plow. tracks were to run alongside Main Street, Topsham, to connect with the existing trackage of the Bruns­ Bath TO CREATE the proposed route wick Electric Railroad at Walker's from Lewiston to Bath, it was nec­ Corner (Main and Winter Streets). Street essary to construct approximately Branching from the Brunswick 18 miles of track between Lewiston Electric Railroad's Bowdoin College and Topsham and an 8-mile line loop at Harpswell Road and McLel­ Railway between Brunswick and Bath. lan Street, Brunswick, the Bath line Plans for this work were well was to run out McLellan Street and follow the old main highway to the THE BATH STREET RAILW Ay under way before the Lewiston, Brunswick & Bath Street Railway, "Shipbuilding City" for about 3 had only one line-4.25 miles long. miles. It then was to run over It began on Washington near Win­ as such, came into being. By early 1898, the rights of way had been private land to a crossing of the ship Street, at the North End of . the city, and exended through surveyed, the necessary franchises had been obtained, and construc­ Continuing on private land from Washington and Linden Streets to the opposite side of the stream, the Front Street in the heart of the tion materials were being delivered at Lewiston, Brunswick and Bath. line was to run to a junction with business district. Running along Brunswick Road in West Bath and Front Street, it continued up Cen­ The Lewiston - Topsham route, then follow Brunswick Road and ter Street to Washington Street beginning at Lisbon and Cedar North, Middle and Oak Streets to and along Washington to Lamont Streets, Lewiston, was to leave the connect with the Bath Street Rail­ Street. Here it entered a private city via Lisbon Street and run along way at Washington and Oak Streets. right-of-way extending across a the southerly side of the existing (The distance from the start of the field to High Street, the tracks county road through South Lewis­ new trackage in Lewiston to Walker's running alongside High Street to ton and Lisbon to a point just Corner, Topsham, was 18.08 miles, and the west end of the Winnegance beyond Lisbon Center. Here it was that from the Bowdoin College loop in Bridge in Bath's South End. to enter private right-of-way, cross­ Brunswick to Oak and Washington The carhouse, a former factory, ing the , and extend­ Streets in Bath was 8.13 miles.) was located at Washington and ing through Frost's Park, so-called, Also planned was a change in

PRIVATE WAY scene on South End line in Bath; Birney No. 250 in the distance. -[Photograph by Roger Borrup 8. TRANSPORTATION BULLETIN G-8.

PARLOR CAR "Merrymeet­ ing" at New Meadows Inn sta­ tion about 1910. -[From a photograph by Arthur Foster.

the trackage arrangement at Bath. l'HE FIRST rails and ties for the tween Lisbon Falls and Topsham To avoid two sharp curves - at Lewiston-Topsham trackage were and between Brunswick and Bath. Washington and Oak Streets and at distributed along the line on Janu­ Actual construction commenced Washington and Linden Streets­ ary 19, 1898, sleighs being used to on March 12th when a crew started it was proposed to build from haul the construction materials io drive piles for a trestle 3cross Washington straight down Oak over the snow-covered ground. Lamont's Creek in West Bath. The Street to Front Street and along One Mr. Libby of Lisbon Falls grading was in progress late in thf:: Front Street to Linden Street. contracted to grade the right-of­ month and by May 6th, more When this was completed, tracks way and lay the rails between than a mile of track had been laid on Washington and Linden Streets Lewiston and Lisbon Falls. Other between Lewiston and Crowley's -between Oak and Front Streets­ contractors were engaged to handle .Junction in South Lewiston. were to be abandoned. the grading and track-laying be- The end of May saw the rails

AT FROST'S PARK-No. 120 is shown heading for Lisbon Falls on the right-of-way that has become part of the Lewiston-f3runwick highway. No. 120 was the favorite car on many A&K railfan trips. -[G. Cunningham Photo. G-9. TROLLEYS TO BRUNSWICK, MAINE Page 9.

extending all the way to Lisbon Center and grading being carried on in Lisbon Falls. The railway incidentally, had to move about 250 telephone poles to make way for its track. By early July, the rails had been laid as far as Lisbon Falls and construction had begun on two viaducts over the Maine Central Railroad's Lewiston-Brunswick line - -one near Crowley's Junction and the other in Lisbon, near the boun­ dary of Lewiston. Built by the Boston Bridge Com­ pany, they were fabricated of steel and heavy timbers. The trestle near Crowley's, known as the "Crooked Bridge" because of its S-shape, was 700 feet long and 21 feet high. The Lisbon trestle was of the same height but somewhat shorter. (Both of these trestles w ere replaced with heavier structures, at a cost of $19,000, in 1912-13 by Mequier & J ones Compa ny of P ortland.) Grading on the Brunswick-Bath trackage had begun early in April and progress was so rapid that by June 7th, all but a mile of the track

and overhead had been finished. · <.- Po ,:. tton'd

A certificate of safety for the I Ori~ i nof Track L"ca tion. Brunswick-Bath trackage was issued Z Retocot;on forNewBr;dJe· by the Railroad Commissioners on 3 S i te or ropsham Car.Bor n. 4 Power- .Sf"o tior1. July 17, 1898, but it was not until !) Wo t ting "!i'oom Of1d Fre19htShed September 3rd that the Lewiston­ 6 MCRR Sfaf/o ,.,. Topsham section was inspected and 7 Old Bn:n~wic I( E.tec.Ry Loop. 8 B owdo'" Colle3t:. Coo/ Sid'"..'] ~- -- - approved by the state board. The new trackage in Bath had been f'1 CRR '·ord Troc ff.a.;e nofshown. inspected and approved two days ~:fid e of Rood } ---Center o f 5 -reeT LB1.B Troe.I< earlier. -+t+t++H- Pr i vate R"jhf of Wo;- Sixty-pound "T" rail in 60-foot lengths was used in building the new trackage and was laid on cedar by filling in the hollows and level­ from Lewiston to Sabattus Village ties spaced on 2-foot centers and ing the summits. But, because of in the town of Webster. The last, ballasted with gravel. The private the topography of the land, no approximately 6 miles long, was major improvements could be built at the same time as the Lewis­ right-of-way on the line was 33 feet effected and the Lewiston-Bath wide. ton-Topsham and Brunswick-Bath line retained its roller coaster trackage, regular service beginning The overhead suspension was characteristics until abandonment. mostly of the side bracket type, July 28, 1898. double trolley wires being strung. Seventy-pound "T" rail replaced A new local line in Auburn, the Thirty-foot wooden poles, spaced the original 60-pound steel in later Auburn Heights line, was opened 115 feet apart, were used to sup­ years and the poles and overhead in 1902 and as of June 30 1903 port the trolley wires, which were wires were renewed as necessary. the Lewiston, Brunswick & Bath of No. 0 copper ; the feeders 4/ 0 As of June 30, 1899, according to owned 57.77 route miles and 1.43 wire. High tension transmission the annual report of the Railroad miles of siding and turnouts for a lines ran from a hydroelectric sta­ Commissioners, the L e w i s t o n , single track equivalent of ' 59.20 tion at Brunswick to rotary sub­ Brunswick & Bath had 53.28 miles miles. There were no changes until stations at Bath. Lisbon Falls and of main track and 1.43 miles of 1907, mileage statistics on April Lewiston. sidings and turnouts, for a single 30th of that year being as follows: There were a number of steep track equivalent of 54.71 miles. Miles grades between Lewiston and Tops­ Included in the route mileage Length of Railway Line 52.900 ham and between Brunswick and were the city lines in Lewiston and Length of Second Main T rack 1.320 Bath, and over the years efforts Auburn, the Brunswick - Topsham Length of Sidings and Turnouts 1.537 were made to reduce some of them and Bath local routes, and a line Total 55.757 10. TRANSPORTATION BULLETIN G-10. Portland & Brunswick Slreel Railway

THE FIRST public mention of a ing a wye so that cars entering be built that year due to sharp throuE;h trolley line between Port­ Brunswick via Pleasant Street increases in the costs of construc­ land and Brunswick was made in could continue on to either Lewis­ tion materials and the unwilling­ the late summer of 1899 when ton or Bath. ness of the company's directors to Portland newspapers noted that There was considerable discus­ route the line via South Freeport. such a route was being proposed sion over the route to be followed Apparently the company had at and stated that construction prob­ through Freeport, the LB&B favor­ least a partial change of heart a ably would begin the following ing a direct course along the exist­ few months later, for an applica­ spring. ing highway from Freeport Square tion for approval of a branch from According to the press accounts, to the Yarmouth boundary. Many Brunswick to Freeport Square was the Portland & Yarmouth Electric townspeople, however, wanted the submitted by the LB&B to the Rail­ Railway, then already in operation, railway to build via South Freeport, road Commissioners on June 13, was to be extended from Yarmouth on the shore of . 1900. Village to the Yarmouth-Freeport The company asserted the direct After the necessary public hear­ bo.undary, there to connect with a route would be less costly to build, ings, the petition was dismissed by projected branch of the Lewiston, while those favoring the South the Commissioners for the an­ Brunswick & Bath Street Railway Freeport detour maintained that it nounced reason that the street rail­ from Brunswick. would serve a greater number of way had not complied with certain Late in the year-on December people. provisions of state railroad laws. 20th-the selectmen of Brunswick At a special town meeting held The Lewiston, Brunswick & Bath granted the Lewiston, Brunswick & in early January 1900, Freeport Street Railway Company took no Bath a location on Pleasant Street voters favored the South Freeport further action on the Brunswick­ and Freeport Road from Maine route - - and the town selectmen Freeport project, but early in 1901, Street to the Freeport town line. granted the railway its franchise several directors of the LB&B or­ A physical connection with the accordingly. ganized the Portland & Brunswick LB&B's existing trackage on Maine But a few days later, General Street Railway to build from Bruns­ Street was to be provided through Manager Gerald of the Lewiston, wick to Freeport, South Freeport construction of two curves. one ex­ Brunswick & Bath said it was more and Yarmouth. tending north and one south, form- than likely that the line would not Incorporators included Amos F.

FREEPORT SQUARE, circa 1902. No. 11 heads four Portland & Brunswkk opens.-[Ronald Cummings collection G-11. TROLLEYS TO BRUNSWICK. MAINE Page 11.

Gerald, Stephen A. Nye, Edward J. new locations to the Portland & private right-of-way to Pine Street Lawrence and Albert B. Page, all of Brunswick, and on November 27, in South Freeport. Continuing Fairfield. The articles of associa­ 1901, the Railroad Commissioners along Pine Street to South Freeport tion of the new company were ap­ approved the proposed locations Road, it ran beside the latter to the proved by the Railroad Commis­ and found that public convenience present Route 1, which it followed sioners on April 22, 1901 and a and necessity required the building to and across Todd's Brook and the short time thereafter the LB&B of the line-despite strong opposi­ Cousins River into Yarmouth. released its rights on Pleasant tion registered by the Maine Cen­ The railway built its own bridges Street and Freeport Road in Bruns­ tral Railroad. across the two streams and entered wick and its locations in Freeport the town via Spring and East Main for the consideration of one dollar. CoNSTRUCTION of the Portland Streets. Continuing across the At about the same time, the & Brunswick Street Railway com­ existing highway bridge (1966) Portland & Brunswick Street Rail­ menced in the early spring of 1902, spanning the , it ran way Company applied to the Rail­ the route beginning at a connection through Lafayette Street and dead­ road Commissioners for approval with the Lewiston, Brunswick & ended at the junction with the pres­ of its proposed locations and for a Bath at Maine and Pleasant Streets, ent Route 88, just a short distance certificate of necessity and conven­ Brunswick, and extending through from the Portland & Yarmouth ience. And here the company ran the center of Pleasant Street to tracks. into trouble! Mill Street. Here it swung to the (Stock control of the Portland & On May 23rd the state body, in east side of the highway, which it Yarmouth Electric Railway had been effect, ruled that the LB&B did not generally paralleled to Kendall's obtained by the Portland Railroad have the legal right to convey its Corner in Freeport. Company in December 1900. Efforts in Brunswick and Freeport franchises 1901 and 1902 to induce the P ortland (Approximately 1.4 miles of private Railroad to agree to a track connec­ to the Portland & Brunswick be­ r ight-of-way were built in Brunswick tion in Yarmouth w ere unsuccessful cause such rights constituted a part - from Deep Cut, about 2 1h m iles out and for a bout four years the two Jines of the property securing mortgage of town, to Hillside, near the Freeport w ere separated by only a few feet of bonds of the LB&B and they could bo unda r y, to a void steep grades nego­ gravel pavem ent). tiated by the highway. The old trolley not be released for merely a token right-of-way is fo llowed by the present As constructed, the Portland & payment. There were other reasons U. S. Route 1 to avoid those same Brunswick was 15.4 miles long, but this appears to have been the grades.) with .6 mile of sidings and turn­ principal one. From Kendall's Corner the tracks outs, for a single track equivalent BE'cause of the Railroad Commis­ ran through the center of upper of 16 miles. Sixty-pound "T" rail sioners' stand, it was necessary for Main Street to Freeport Square and was used throughout and construc­ the promoters of the Portland & continued through the middle of tion standards were much the same Brunswick to initiate friendly liti­ lower Main Street to a point just as on the new lines built by the gation in the State Supreme Court, north of a grade crossing of the Lewiston, Brunswick & Bath four which issued a judgment ousting Maine Central Railroad. years earlier. the LB&B from its locations in Crossing the railroad, the trolley The overhead, which had double Brunswick and Freeport. line paralleled the east side of the trolley wire, was suspended from This paved the way for municipal highway for ne:.rly a half-mile and side brackets for the most part. In offic:als of those towns to grant then extended southeasterly over addition to the grade crossing of

FRED MITCHELL, left, and William Soule are the crew of Portland & Brunswick No. 3, "Alice," at South Frecport.­ [Ronald Cummings' collection 12. TRANSPORTATION BULLETIN G-12.

the Maine Central at Freeport, Railroad was unwilling to cooperate be more convenient to passengers. there was another on Pleasant and finally the Portland & Bruns­ The new location, beginning on Street, Brunswick. wick management decided that it Spring Street, extended over pri­ One of the incidents of the con­ had no alternative but to build its vate land and along the north side struction period was a strike of 60 own line between Yarmouth and of Willow Street to Bridge Street; track laborers on May 2, 1902. They Portland. over more private land to the Royal demanded an increase in wages, Because the Portland & Bruns­ River; across a steel truss bridge from 50 cents to $2 a day and they wick Street Railway Company did spanning the stream, and on more sought weekly payments. The rail­ not have the powers to build private way to connect with the way company refused to meet the such a line, it was necessary to Portland Railroad's existing track demands of the strikers and they organize a new company- the Port­ near the Grand Trunk Railway returned to work - probably for land & Brunswick Extension Rail­ station. the same pay-on May 5th. way Company. Amos F. Gerald, A certificate of safety for the Newspaper reports of the strike Edward J . Lawrence, Albert B. new trackage-.80 of a mile long­ noted that on the day after the Page, Stephen A. Nye and Cyrus W. was granted August 9, 1906, and trouble began, other track workers, Davis signed the articles of associ­ on the same day the Portland & who had remained on the job, car­ ation on December 2, 1905. Four Brunswick abandoned its original ried sidearms as protection against days later, the charter was granted line along East Main and Lafayette possible attack. by the Railroad Commissioners. On Streets to Route 88, a distance of A certificate of safety for the 12 December 8th, the new company .4 of a mile. The net gain was .4 of miles from Brunswick to South began seeking locations in Yar­ a mile and as of August 30, 1906, Freeport was granted by the Rail­ mouth, Cumberland, Falmouth and the Portland & Brunswick operated road Commissioners July 23, 1902, Portland. 15.8 miles of main line and 16.4 and on August 8th, the remaining This action brought the Portland miles of track. 4 miles, from South Freeport into Railroad to terms in short order; Yarmouth, was inspected and ap­ on January 24, 1906, the Portland Portland & Brunswick Street Railway proved by the state hoard. & Brunswick and the Portland Rail­ Portland Railroad Company road signed a contract providing for the Yarmouth connection and Brunswick-Portland O PERATION of through cars be­ operation of Portland - Brunswick Through Service tween Portland and Brunswick had through service. MAINE and PLEASANT STS. Timf' been envisioned by the promoters No construction was undertaken B RUNSWICK, TO: Mi. H r . Min. of the Portland & Brunswick, and under the charter of the Portlanrl Frteport Square 8.80 35 efforts to effect a physical connec­ Casco Castle, S. Freeport 11.66 45 & Brunswick Extension Railway, Yarmouth Waiting Sta . . 15.88 1 00 tion with the Portland Railroad at but during the spring of 1906, the Cumberland For e~ id e ...... 19.54 1 14 Yarmouth were continued after the Portland & Brunswick began re­ Underwood Springs Park, Portland & Brunswick commenced locating its line in Yarmouth Vil­ Falmouth F oreside ...... 21.24 1 25 operations. lage to provide a connection with East Deering (Marine Hospita l ...... 25.77 1 40 For some reason, the Portland the Portland Railroad that would !Vl o nument Sq., P ortland 28.32 2 00

FREEPORT carbarn and power station of the Portland & Brunswick is shown about 1906. -[Photo by Don Welch. DERAILED PLOW-Portland & Brunswick's single truck joh with its noses removed, is shown off the rails at Mallett's Farm in Freeport during the winter of 1902-03. -[Photograph from the collection of Ronald Cummings.

ROYAL RIVER BRIDGE, Yarmouth, showing a Portland & Brunswick 15-bench open crossing prior to 1906 when tracks \'ia this span were abandoned and a new route into Yarmouth Village was constructed to permit a more convenient connection with the Yarmouth Division of the Portland Railroad. -[Photo by courtesy of Don Welch. THE "CAMILLA" of the Portland & Brunswick Street Railway was nearly new when this picture was taken in front of Casco Castle at South Freeport during the winter of 1903-04. -[From the collection of Ronald Cummings

CASCO CASTLE, the Portlantl & Brunswick's casino at South Freeport. The stone tower at left is still standing in Hl66. -[0. R. Cummings' collection

HEADING for Brunswick is this 15-bench open car shown at Pine Street and South Free­ port Road in South Freeport. G-15. TROLLEYS TO BRUNSWICK, MAINE Page 15. Further Consolidation Lewislon, Augusla & Walerville Slreel Railway!

GERALD and his associates had 30, 1901) and a loss of $4,026 was ton, Brvnswick & Bath and the promoted and built the Lewiston, reported for the year ended Sep­ Augusta, Winthrop & Gardiner Brunswick & Bath Street Railway tember 30. 1903. Street Railways and the Augusta & for the express purpose of selling Dividends were paid in only two Waterville Railway. The actual con­ the property to investors, and early years-1899 and 1900-when the solidation, for accounting purposes, in 1900 they found a purchaser. road was new. Small surpluses became effective as of May 1st. This was a syndicate headed by were reported in 1904 and 1905 but The Lewiston, Brunswick & Bath E. Burton Hart Jr. and Theodore L. the company still had an accrued lines became the Lewiston Division Peters of New York City, which deficit of about $700 on the books and the former Augusta, Winthrop acquired more than 5,000 shares of as of June 30th of the latter year. & Gardiner routes became the the railway's capital stock. Company Changed Owners Augusta Division. Lines were built from Sabattus (At the same time, the syndicate Control of the Lewiston, Bruns­ to Gardiner, from Augusta to al:so purchased control of the Gerald­ wick & Bath Street Railway Com­ promoted Portsmouth, Kittery & York Waterville and from Auburn to Street Railway Company in the south­ pany was sold by the Harts-Peters Mechanic Falls. In 1910 the LA&W eastern part of Maine's York County). syndicate early in 1906 to a group took over the Auburn & Turner headed by John R. Graham of Railroad, extending from East Ivan L. Meloon, formerly of the Bangor, president of the Bangor Bangor, Orono & Old Town Rail­ Auburn to Turner. thus creating a Railway & Electric Company. system with 139.35 route miles and way, still another Gerald promo­ The Graham group also acquired tion, was the first superintendent 144.83 track miles as of June 30, control of the Augusta, Winthrop & 1911. of the Lewiston, Brunswick & Bath, Gardiner Street Railway Company, resigning in 1901 to become gen­ connecting the Maine capital with Portland & Brunswick Money-Loser eral manager of the Atlantic Shore Gardiner, Winthrop and Togus, and Messrs. Gerald, et al, also pro­ Line and the Sanford & Cape Por­ charters of the Auburn. Mechanic moted and built the Portland & poise Railways. His successor was Falls & Norway Street Railway Brunswick Street Railway on spec­ Fordyce C. Farr, who also assumed and the Augusta & Waterville Rail­ ulation but, alas, they were unable the post of general manager of the way Companies, both of which pro­ to dispose of its securities and were LB&B in 1902. posed to connect the points named forced to operate the road them­ (Fan· had been construction super­ in their corporate titles. selves. intendent during the building of the On April 3, 1907, the name of the The company managed to earn Lewiston, Brunswick & Bath). Auburn, Mechanic Falls & Norway small annual net profits through The LB&B was not a particularly Street Railway was changed to the 1907 (never sufficient, however, to profitable road. In fact, it had a Lewiston, Augusta & Waterville permit payment of dividends on the deficit of $13,274 during its second Street Railway; on April 24th the: stock). There was a deficit of nearly full year of operation (ended June new company absorbed the Lewi~- $11 ,000 for the year ended .June 30,

NEW MEADOWS INN station on the Lewiston-Bath line, showing one of the LA&W 300 class semi - convertible cars. -[Cummings' collection 16. TRANSPORTATION BULLETIN G-16.

1908, and from then on the road Because of a lack of funds, main­ The court ordered sale of the lost money every year. tenance work was neglected and property on September 25th and One of the factors contributing the Portland & Brunswick Street at the auction that day, the success­ to the poor financial record of the Railway gradually deteriorated. ful bid was made by Harry B. Ivers, Portland & Brunswick Street Rail­ general manager of the Lewiston, way was the concentration of traffic Yarmouth Line Purchased Augusta & Waterville Street Rail­ during the short summer season Finally, in 1910, officials of the way, who offered $225,000, the face when the road carried large num­ Lewiston, Augusta & Waterville value of the defaulted bonds. The bers of pleasure riders. Street Railway Company, who saw sale was ratified by the court on Patronage was very light other the Portland & Brunswick as a vital October 5th. times of the year as the area which connecting link between the LA& W About seven weeks later, on the the railway served had a very small system and that of the Portland 25th of November, the new operat­ year 'round population. For ex­ Railroad, moved in. They acquired ing company, the Brunswick & ample, the town of Freeport in most of the Portland & Brunswick's Yarmouth Street Railway Com­ 1905 had only 2,339 residents. $300,000 in capital stock and its pany, organized by Harry B. Ivers $225,000 in mortgage bonds and and others, filed its articles of Summer Riding Not Enough immediately began a program of association with the Railroad Com­ In short, as on many other New rehabilitation of the property. missioners, the charter being issued England street railways, the high The next step was the organiza­ December 21st. revenues during the short summer tion of a new operating company. For all practical purposes, the season were expected to carry the As of June 30, 1911, the Portland & Brunswick & Yarmouth, although company through the rest of the Brunswick's liabilities included a separate corporate entity, was a year-and this proved impossible $41,950 in unpaid bond interest part of the Lewiston, Augusta & after the first few years when the and early in July, the Augusta Waterville system. Formal merger maintenance expenses began a Trust Company petitioned the of the B&Y with the LA&W took steady increase as the rolling stock Maine Supreme Court for fore place on August 19, 1913, with the and track and overhead began to closure of the mortgage securing Brunswick-Yarmouth line becoming require extensive repairs. the railway company's bonds. the LA&W's Freeport Division. Reor g{14iizatio1i

THE LEWISTON, AUGUSTA & defaulted the payment of $42,500 bonds, and on September 5, 1919, WATERVILLE STREET RAILWAY interest on its major bond issue. the LA& W was sold at auction to a was a fairly profitable system for About 2112 months later, on Decem· bondholders' protective committee. several vears-its best year being ber 16th, Albert H. Ford, first vice A new operating company was that ended June 30, 1913, when a president of Cumberland County organized by the committee-the net income of more than $72,000 Power & Light Company, petitioned Androscoggin & Kennebec Railwav was reported. As late as 1917, the the State Supreme Court to declare which was incorporated on Sep­ company was able to pay a dividend the LA& W in receivership. On the tember 30th and took over the rail­ of 6 per cent - or $36,000 - on its ~ame day, Judge William H. Newell way system the following day. $600,000 in preferred stock. Df Lewiston and General Manager The Androscoggin & Kennebec But the road was burdened with Alfred Sweeney were named as Railway continued as the operating heavy fixed charges, largely inter­ receivers. company until April 1, 1941. Then, est on its bonded debt, and after During mid-1919, the Old Colony after another receivership and sale, the United States· entry into World Trust Company of Boston, trustee the property was taken over by the War I, operating expenses soared of the bond issue on which the Lewi1!ton-Auburn Transit Company, with higher wages and other costs. interest had been defaulted, fore­ controlled by the H. E. Salzberg On October 1, 1918, the LA&W closed the mortgage securin.g these interests of New York City. Lewiston-Bath Line

REGULAR SERVICE between but limited power made it impos­ head of Lisbon Street, Lewiston. On Brunswick and Bath was begun by sible to do so. Approximately 1,000 board the Briggs 14-bench open the Lewiston, Brunswick & Bath passengers were handled, however, were officials and directors of the Street Railway on July 18, 1898, and company officials expressed railway, representatives of the two new 14-bench 8-wheel opens, themselves as being very pleased press and invited guests. only recently delivered by the with the reception given by the To quote a newspaper description Briggs Carriage Company of Ames­ public to the new road. of the first trip: bury, Mass., going into operation. About 11h months later, on Sun­ The long open car rode fast and It was intended to maintain a day morning, September 4th, at !-moothly as it passed onto the new 30-minute headway on opening day 9:30, the first car for Bath left the rail on lower Lisbon Street. Through G-17. TROLLEYS TO BRUNSWICK, MAINE Page 17. the outskirts of Lewiston, people ton and Bath commenced the fol­ LEWISTON-BRUNSWICK-BATH cheered and waved as the car passed, lowing day. LINE one farmer even tiring a salute from The first schedule for the Lewis­ a rusty shotgun. Distances, Fares, Running Times ThE' trestles over the Maine Central ton-Bath route called for hourly at Crowley's Junction and in Lisbon. service except on Saturday after­ MAIN AND LISBON STS. Time which the Railroad Commissioners noons and Sundays when a 30 LEWISTON, To : Miles Hr.Min.Fare rteclared to be the finest and strongest minute headway was provided. Crowley's Junction 4.5 21 .05 in the state, constituted a new thrill Lisbon Village 7.6 35 .10 in trolley riding. The trolley 'seemed Riding was very heavy for several Lisbon Center 8.7 40 .10 to swoop over the Maine Central weeks and the company was hard Lisbon Falls 11.0 53 .15 tracks with a leap.' pressed to provide sufficient cars. Pejepscot Mills 14.7 1 10 .20 At Lisbon Falls, a group of 500 per­ Hourly service was run daily in Topsham 18.5 1 25 .25 sons greeted the car and after a speech late fall. winter and early spring Brunswick 19.1 1 30 .25 by I. C. Libby, treasurer of the Lewis­ Merrymeeting Park 21.4 1 43 .30 ton, Bath & Brunswick Street Railway months. Summer schedules in 1899 New Meadows Inn 24.6 1 55 .30 Company, crowded around the officials called for a 30-minute headway on Ba th 28.2 2 15 .35 for interviews. Many attempts were both weekdays and Sundays. The made to obtain permission to ride to increased service was undoubtedly Brunswick, even at the cost of return­ due to the opening of Merrymeeting trips as necessary. In fall, winter ing on foot. and spring, there were hourly cars Leaving Lisbon Falls, the ride to Park, a railway-owned pleasure Topsham was found to be very beau­ resort in Brunswick. between Lewiston and Brunswick tiful. Over this stretch of private right The final Lewiston, Brunswick & and a 30-minute headway between of way through woods and fi elds, the Bath operating plan for the Lewis­ Brunswick and Bath-the section open car was reported to have run at ton-Bath line called for 30-minute of the route on which local traffic a speed of 30 miles per hour. service over the entire route dur­ appears to have been heaviest. Regular service between Lewis- ing the summer months, with extra Bath-bound cars started from

ll )( j MERRYMEETING.

ENTRANCE to Merrymecting Park in Brunswick, showing the bridge over the Maine Central Railroad tracks. The Casino looms up in the back­ ground.-[Heseltine collection

THE CASINO at Merrymeet­ ing Park was the principal attraction there. Built in 1899 it was razed less than a dozen years later. -(Photo from collection of 0. R. Cummings. 18. TRANSPORTATION BULLETIN G-18.

lVfain and Lisbon Streets, Lewiston, in Topsham and part of the Bow­ summer months and hourly other ;md the distance from that point to doin College loop were removed times of the year, running time for Front and Center Streets, Bath, prior to April 30, 1907. The track the 28-mile trip remaining 2 hours was 28.2 miles, the running time on Summer Street. Topsham, from and 15 minutes. being 2 hours, 15 minutes. Main Street to the carhouse, was During the periods of hourly left in place until use of the car­ Originally .4 Operating Divisions service between Lewiston and Bath house was discontinued. half-hourly service continued to be The Lewiston, Brunswick & Bath By 1907, there were only three •un between Brunswick and Bath, system appears initially to have operating divisions, Lewiston, Lis­ a distance of 8.89 miles, with a been divided into four divisions, bon Falls and Bath. Each had it> running time of 45 minutes. Cars the first consisting of the local lines own superintendent - and each arriving in Bath from Lewiston in Lewiston and Auburn, the Sabat­ superintendent appears to have had provided this servce, making a tus branch, and that portion of the his own ideas about running cars. round trip to Brunswick before de­ Lewiston-Bath line lying within the Crews on the Lewiston-Bath cars parting from the Shipbuilding City city of Lewiston. were hard put at times to remem­ on the return run to Lewiston. The Second Division embraced ber whose rules they were follow­ Wartime Shortage of Cars the Lisbon and Lisbon Falls and ing and it is said there always was part of the Topsham trackage of an abundance of "brass hats" look­ A major change in passenger t·he Lewiston-Bath line. The Third ing for violations of regulations. service occurred on February 14, Division was located in Topsham To thwart them, motormen would 1918, when the headway was in­ and Brunswick and the Fourth place their switch irons at other creased from 60 to 75 minutes and Division in Bath. than normal positions on the car the running time was lengthened Shortly after the start of the dashers to indicate to other crews to 2 hours and 30 minutes because Lewiston-Bath through service, the that an official was on the loose. of wartime conditions. Topsham-Brunswick local car was The principal reason for this cur­ suspended and operation was not tailment was a shortage of cars resumed until the following spring. THERE WERE FEW CHANCrES in resulting from severe weather con­ Thereafter, this local car was oper­ operation of the Lewiston-Bath line ditions and the LA&W's inability to ated only from May until close of in the decade after the Lewiston, obtain adequate parts to repair the the Saga.dahoc County Fair in Top­ Brunswick & Bath was absorbed by disabled trolleys. sham in October. the Lewiston, Augusta & Waterville The situation was aggravated by In 1904 or 1905, the local run Street Railway Company. the fact that the Bath shipyards was abandoned altogether. As pre­ As before, through service be­ were operating at full capacity viously mentioned, the track from tween Lewiston and Bath was oper­ turning out naval vessels and Lib­ Walker's Corner to the fairgrounds ated on a 30-nunute headway in the erty ships. The transportation of

HEADING FOR LEWISTON is No. 126 in the woods between Pejepscot and the present Houte 201 in Topsham. G-19. TROLLEYS TO BRUNSWICK, MAINE Page 19. shipyard workers between their ing been effected, and the LA&W, and the acquisition of new rolling homes and places of employment which was about to go into receiver­ stock. was taxing the LA&W's facilities to ship, was forced to cancel the order New cars went into service in the breaking point-and sometimes for new rolling stock. As soon as a 1920 and permitted a long-desired beyond! sufficient number of its own cars reduction of the Lewiston-Bath The Emergency Fleet Corpora· became available, it did manage to running time to two hours flat. tion of the United States Shipping restore the hourly headway and Brunswick-Bath local cars were Board justifiably was concerned the 2 hour and 15 minute running operated in the morning, at noon over this curtailment of trolley time between Lewiston and Bath, and at night. service and on July 12, 1918, it but no attempt was made to restore The Lewiston-Bath hourly service approved a $165,000 rehabilitation 30-minute summer service. continued on weekdays through loan for the LA&W. After the Lewiston, Augusta & the 1920s and until abandonment Plans called for acquisition of six Waterville Street Railway was suc­ in 1937. However, during the late new passenger cars; improvement ceeded by the Androscoggin & 1920s or early 1930s, a two-hour of power facilities and large-scale Kennebec Railway Company, offi­ headway was placed in effect on track-work. The hourly service be­ cials of the latter initiated an inten­ Sundays. tween Lewiston and Bath was to be sive program of physical improve­ Four cars were required for the restored, with the running time cut ments, including the rehabilitation weekday base service, a fifth being to two hours flat, or 1 hour and 30 of the track, roadway and overhead used during the periods of half- minutes between Lewiston and Brunswick and 30 minutes between Brunswick and Bath. Actually the line was to be divided into two parts - Lewiston - Brunswick and Brunswick-Bath - with an hourly headway on each section. The end of the war came before the project could be completed, only the power improvements hav-

NO. 118 WAS ONE of the six "Hog Island" cars (Nos. 116-126) built by J. G. Brill for the Lewiston-Bath line in 1918. No. 118 wound up on the Northumberland County Rail­ way of Sunbury, Penna., after the Lewiston, Augusta & Waterville Street Railway Company cancelled the order for the equipment be­ cause of pending receivership. Also sent to the Northumberland road were Nos. 116 and 120. These ex­ terior and interior views are from the Brill Collection of photos at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. 20. TRANSPORTATION BULLETIN G-20.

hour service between Brunswick Lewiston, Augusla & Walerville B EFORE concluding the discus­ and Bath. Two cars were used on Slreel Railway Co. sion of the Lewiston-Bath line, Sundays. mention must be made of the worst All cars were two-man operated LEWISTON-BATH LINE accident in the history of the A&K until 1924 when they were con­ MILEAGE TABLE-1917 system and its predecessors. This verted to one-man cars in an effort occurred at Pejepscot Crossing, to reduce platform costs. LEWISTON WAITING ROOM TO: Miles about halfway between Lisbon Falb Automobile and truck competi­ Pine Street ...... 228 and Brunswick on December 12, tion began to increase sharply in Cedar Street ...... 429 1933. the late 'Twenties as improved Lewiston Carhouse ...... 691 The highway crossed the railway Bleachery Spur ...... 718 highways were built in south-ce~­ at this point and at the northwest tral Maine. In some cases, this Maine Central Spur ... . .803 Webber Avenue Junction .... 1.509 corner of the intersection was a required relocation and regrading Pleasant Street ...... 2.738 little waiting room in which were - and occasionally repaving - of Crooked Bridge Turnout . 2.845 six school children waiting for a street railway tracks, with heavy Cottage Road ..... 3.163 Lewiston-bound passenger car. expense for the A&K. Crowley's ...... 4.504 Grayton's Corner ...... 4.451 Running ahead of the passenger A particularly heavy ex~ense Metcalf House ...... 6.128 car was a freight motor and ap­ c;ame in 1931-32 when new bridges Willow Turnout ...... 7.128 proaching the crossing from the were constructed between Bruns­ Lisbon Gravel Pit Spur ...... 7.580 south was a large van-type truck. wick and Topsham, the railway Lisbon ...... 7.649 Lisbon Center ...... 8.728 The driver of the truck, who had being assessed a proportionate Lisbon Heights ...... 10.752 been on the road 12 to 15 hours, share of the cost. Lisbon Falls Carhouse ...... 11.096 reportedly was drowsy and had the ...... 11.837 New Highway Dooms Trolleys Cotton Place ...... 13.764 cab windows closed, as it was a very cold day. He did not hear the Early in 1937, the state decided Prosser Turnout ..... 14.246 Pejepscot ...... 14 . 78~• whistle of the freight car as it to build a new highway between Portland Star Match Co ...... 16.294 approached the crossing. Lisbon Falls and Topsham. This Walker's Corner, Topsham .. 18.513 The van crashed into the trolley, would have required the relocation Topsham Spur ...... 18.583 caromed into the waiting station, of several miles of street railway Brunswick Freight Spur ...... 19.1!16 Brunswick- Jct. Yarmouth Line 19.325 tearing off its roof and continuing track and because of the great ex­ Brunswick Medical Building into a nearby field. Two childrer penditure involved - an expendi­ (Bowdoin College) ...... Hl.729 were killed, a little girl lost om ture which the railway company Merrymeeting Turnout ...... 21.405 hand and the other three young could not afford to make-the A&K Cook's Corner ...... 22.213 Sand Pit Spur ...... 23.766 sters were injured less seriously. was forced to abandon all of its !\lew Meadows Boat Landing ...... 24.436 trackage south of Lisbon Falls, in­ Although the A&K felt no re­ New l\foadows Spur ...... 24.646 sponsibility, a party in an accident cluding the Bath local line. New Meadows Inn ...... 24.660 May 15, 1937, was the _final day Sanford's Turnout ...... 25.382 has the right to bring suit against of operation between Lewiston and Bath Carhouse ...... 27.374 any individual or corporation in­ Bath- Oak and Washington Sts. 27.863 Bath the last car from Lewiston to volved and the railway company Bath-Oak and Front Sts., spur was the defendant in a host of civil Bath' departing at 8 p. m., with to Commercial Street ...... 27.913 c. T. Meister as motorman. Upon Bath "Y"- Waiting Room ...... 28.213 action resulting from the collision. arrival at Bath two hours later, he At Bath, in and around "Y" ...... 124 Jt was assessed very heavy damagei! made a round trip to Brunswick in the courts, the juries being most sympathetic to the victims of the and returned to the Shipbuilding tragedy. City at 11. After discharging his Division of the General Motors Cor­ passengers, he ran the trolley car poration. The buses began arriving to the carbarn-and that was the in mid-summer; training of oper­ end. ators commenced, and on Septem­ Brunswick­ Service between Lewiston and ber 1, 1941, the last trolleys ran Lisbon Falls continued for more between Lewiston and Lisbon Falls. than four years longer. Hourly Rail and overhead removal began Yarmouth service was given on weekdays and almost immediately thereafter and a two-hour headway was main­ was completed before winter, with Line tained on Sundays, the scheduled the trestles over the Maine Central near Crowley's Junction and in running time for the 11.14-mile A HALF-HOUR headway was put trip being one hour. . Lisbon being dismantled. What re­ into effect after the Portland & A short time after the Lew1ston­ mained of the Lewiston-Bath line was dead! Brunswick Railway was completed Auburn Transit Company suc­ through to Yarmouth on August 8, ceeded the A&K in 1941, it applied A few years after the end of 1902. Running time for the 15.4- to the Public utilities Commission World War H, a new highway was mile trip was one hour- or 35 min­ for authority to replace the street built between Lewiston and Lisbon utes between Brunswick and Free­ cars with buses. Falls, part of the new road follow­ port Square and 25 minutes from Permission was granted without ing the railway's old private right­ Freeport to the end of the line in delay and orders for motor coaches of-way through Frost's Park be­ Yarmouth. were placed with the Yellow Coach tween Lisbon and Lisbon Falls. Hourly service was inaugurated G-21. TROLLEYS TO BRUNSWICK. MAINE Page 21.

ONE OF THE Portland & Brunswick's combination cars after rebuilding to an all­ passenger car is shown in this picture of No. 282 at Freeport Square. -[Photo from the Ronald Cummings collection.

during late September, additional Until 1918, cars ran from Wash­ ton, Augusta & Waterville Street trips being operated over all or ington Avenue through Oxford Railways in cooperation with the parts of the line at certain hours of Street and down Elm Street to Portland Railroad, made it possible the day. Through the spring of MonumPnt Square. The tracks on to ride by trolley from Portland to 1906, schedules called for a 30- Oxford and Elm Streets were Lewiston with only one change of minute headway in summer and abandoned during that year and cars-at Brunswick. The 42-mile hourly service in other seasons. thereafter cars from Brunswick trip had a running time of 3 hours Schedules of the Portland & continued down Washington Ave­ and 30 minutes. Brunswick and Lewiston, Bruns­ nue to Congress Street and along Interurban Gets Through Riding Congress to Monument Square. wick & Bath cars were coordinated There doesn't appear to have to provide positive connections at For a time, they continued down been too much Portland-Lewiston Brunswick. No such arrangement, Preble Street a short distance, traffic-and what little there was however, prevailed at Yarmouth. changed ends and returned to the virtually disappeared after the Passengers arriving there on either square to load passengers. Portland - Lewiston Interurban Portland & Brunswick or Portland Establishment of the Portland­ opened its direct route between the Railroad cars frequently were sub­ Brunswick through service, which two cities on July 2, 1914. jected to long waits if they wished was continued by both the Bruns­ The interurban had a running to continue through to Portland, wick & Yarmouth and the Lewis- time of 90 minutes, reduced to 80 Brunswick or intermediate points. Through Service to Portland Through service b0tween Port­ land and Brunswick commenced on August 15, 1906, the 28-mile trip having a two-hour running time. A 30-minute headway was maintained during the summer, hourly service being provided in the fall, winter and spring. Each company provided half the cars required for the joint opera· tion- eight opens being used for the 30-minute service and four closed cars being needed at other times. The intersection of Maine and Pleasant Streets was the Brunswick terminal for Portland-Brunswick through cars. ln Portland, cars en­ tered the city via Veranda Street, Tukey's Bridge and Washington AT FREEPORT SQUARE-The photographer was taking a picture of the Avenue. dog at the water fountain when A&K Birney car loomed up in background. 22. TRANSPORTATION BULLETIN G-22.

minutes after the establishment of was one hour, two cars being used overhead were removed. Except for limited service in 1915. in base service. some of the private right-of-way at By 1929, patronage had fallen off South Freeport and the abutments (An earlier effort to provide a more direct route bE>tween Portland and to such an extent that service could of the bridge spanning the Royal Lewiston was made late in 1906 when no longer be continued and the River in Yarmouth, there is little to Amos F. Gerald and several associates A&K applied for permission to indicate that trolleys once ran be· organized the Lisbon, Durham & Free­ abandon. At a hearing conducted tween Brunswick and Yarmouth. port Street Railway Company, which propsed to build a 9-mile line between in Freeport by the Public Utilities Lisbon on the Lewiston, Brunswick & Commission, the company pre­ Bath and Freeport on the Portland & sented figures showing a decline of Brunswick. This would have shortened 54 per cent in receipts between Passenger the Portland-Lewiston trip by about 1921 and 1928. 11 miles. Still another Gerald promo­ tion was the Auburn, Durham & Yar­ A Losing Operation mouth Electric Railway, which was to Fares extend from Auburn on the LB&B, General Manager Sweeney pointed through Puwnal and Durham to Yar­ out that losses on the Brunswick­ The Lewiston, Brunswick & Bath mouth and a connection with th(' Port­ Yarmouth line could not be ab­ land Railroad. Neither road ever went established seven fare zones be­ beyon,;j the projected stage, thE> latter sorbed by the company because tween Lewiston and Bath in 1898 dying in 1910 when construction of the other parts of the A&K system also and these were continued in effect Portland-Lewiston Interurban began.) were operating at substantial defi­ by the Lewiston, Augusta & Water­ Patronage of the Portland-Bruns­ cits and the company was barely ville until mid-1917. The first zone wick through cars gradually de­ able to keep its head above water. extended from Main and Lisbon clined as automobiles became more There were, of course, protests Streets, Lewiston, to Crowley's numerous. In 1918, headways were against the proposed abandonment, Junction in South Lewiston; the changed to provide hourly service particularly from residents of Free­ second, from Crowley's Junction to throughout the year. This continued port, but a suggestion that the town Lisbon Center; the third, from Lis­ until December 1, 1919, when the purchase the lme at salvage value bon Center to Lisbon Falls; the joint operation was discontinued, and operate it as a municipal enter­ fourth, from Lisbon Falls to Pejep­ through passengers again being re­ prise provoked only laughter. scot; the fifth, from Pejepscot to quired to change at Yarmouth. Permission to abandon the Bruns­ Brunswick; the sixth, from Bruns­ One-man operation on the Bruns­ wick-Yarmouth line was granted by wick to New Meadows, and the wick-Yarmouth line began in 1921 the Public Utilities Commission on seventh, from New Meadows to and hourly service was continued August 28th, and on Tuesday, Sep­ downtown Bath. despite a further drop in riding. tember 10, 1929, the last cars ran. The zone fare ·was 5 cents and Running time for the 15.8-mile trip Shortly thereafter, tracks and free transfers between main line

I I I ONE-MA!\" OPERATION on the 15.89-mile Brunswick-Yarmouth line beginning in IH21 was accomplished with Birney cars. Here is No. 252 at Hillside turnout in mid-winter. -[Photo from collection of Ronald Cummings. G-23. TROLLEYS TO BRUNSWICK, MAINE Page 23.

Lewiston, Augusta & Waterville The zone overlaps provided for This rate had been continued by 8-cent fares between Lewiston and the LB&B and the LA&W, but the Street Railway Co. Crowley's Junction; between Pejep­ A&K sought to collect 5 cents for Brunswick-Yarmouth Line scot and Lisbon Falls and between students, which it was receiving Pejepscot and Brunswick for the elsewere 0n its system, and a regu­ MILEAGE TABLE-1917 accommodation of regular com­ lar fare from teachers. BRUNSWICK WAITING muters between those points who Municipal officials of the two ROOM TO: Miles otherwise would have had to pay communities appealed to the Public Deep Cut 2.522 two full fares. Utilities Commission but got no Fern's ...... 2.970 The zone cash fare was increased satisfaction, the body ruling that if Hillside Turnout ...... 3.920 Fowler's Curve ...... 5.033 from 5 to 7 cents effective June 7, the A&K collected 5 cents for pupils Allen Range Road ...... 5.959 1918, and on that same date, the in such places as Lewiston and Kendall's Turnout , Freeport . .. 8.222 first fare zone out of Bath was ex­ Augusta, it had every right to get Freeport Square Turnout ...... 8.807 tended westerly from New Mead­ that same amount in Brunswick Me. Cent. R.R. Cross., Freeport 9.232 Sand Pit Spur ...... 10.219 ows to Harding's. and Topsham-and that the same South F reeport, Stone Corner .. 11.341 The zone rate was advanced to principle applied to teachers, who South Freeport, Casco Castle .. 11.663 9 cents, with tickets selling at 6 for were paying regular fares on other Marsh Bridge ...... 13.760 lines of the system. New Turnout ...... 15.359 50 cents on August 8, 1920, and on Yarmouth Waiting Room ...... 15.889 April 24, 1924, the tickets were Bargain Fare to Lisbon Falls abolished by the A&K and the fare became a flat 10 cents per ride or During April 1933, in an effort to and local cars were available in zone. This resulted in a $1.00 fare stimulate riding between Lewiston Lewiston, Brunswick and Bath. between Lewiston and Bath and a and Lisbon Falls, the through fare was reduced to 25 cents by creating An increase to 10 zones- seven 40-cent rate between Lewiston and Lisbon Falls. three short 5-cent zones beyond the between Lewiston and Brunswick 10-cent central or city zone. This and three between Brunswick and School Fare Increase Upheld was instituted for a 30-day trial Bath- was effected on July 1, 1917. One fare dispute that must be period and then made permanent. There were immediate and bitter There were no reductions in the protests by patrons of the line, who mentioned occurred in 1920 when the A&K increased its zone fare to rates between Lewiston and Bath appealed to the Public Utilities or Lewiston and Brunswick, which Commission, charging that the 50- 9 cents. It appears that when the Brunswick Electric Railroad got its remained at the $1 and 70-cent cent rate between Lewiston and rates respectively. Bath was excessive and that the franchises in Brunswick and Top­ new arrangement of fare limits was sham, it had agreed to transport Four 5-cent zones were estab­ unjust. pupils and teachers to and from lished between Brunswick and Yar­ schools in either town for a fare of mouth by the Portland & Brunswick After a series of hearings and Street Railway in 1902. The first after briefs were filed by the com­ 2 cents. pany, the PUC found that the in­ crease to 10 zones was reasonable. But it also ruled that the new limits were inequitable in that they had been ei,tablished without due re­ gard to the interests of important centers and the natural sources of travel from different communities. Ordering a rearrangement of the zones, the PUC stated that they were to take effect March 1, 1918. The new zones were: 1. Union Sq uare, Lewiston, to Cottage Road, South Lewiston 2. Pleasant St reet, South Lewiston, t o Metcalf House 3. Grayton's Corner to Lisbon Center -\. Lisbon Village to Little River Bridge 5. Lisbon Heights to Cotton Place, Pejepscot 6. Cotton P lace to Portland Star Ma tch Co., Topsham 7. Portla nd Star Match Co. to Medical Bldg., Bowdoin College 8. W alker's Corner to Cook's Corner 9. Cook's Corner to New Meadows AT BRUNSWICK-Portland Railroad No. 207 is ready for the 28-mile run 10. New Meadows to Bath to Yarmouth and Portland in the days when through cars were operated. 24. TRANSPORTATION BULLETIN G-24. On the Brunswick-Bath Line . ..

THE ONLY steam railroad grade crossing on the Lewiston-Bath line was on Maine Street, Brunswick, where the trolley crossed thE' main line of the Maine Central. Here is No. 120 waiting for the crossing tender's signal to go.

BOUND FOR LEWISTON, No. 126 passes a freight drag, headed by Maine Central No. 519, a Class W-70 (2-8-0) Consolidation built by Alco. The date was April 18, 1937, and the location West Bath, of G. Cunningham's photo. G-25. TROLLEYS TO BRUNSWICK. MAINE Page 25. P. M.

, ::;4 = ...... !?;"> !a. ,... ,... z ... ::?'! ~ ~ c: I» 0 ~ er... ; :;· ~ I~""' c: "' ... *' ...... c: ~ "' .... CD I er "' • ... .. ~- -... .,,, !f ...== ~ c: !:;- ~ -~ .,,.. ,... =c: =- N c:: = ,_ .,,... a :E a. ... oc = -= "" - "' ~ 3 - !9 F :- - "'CD ?' r - ~ 3 en 0) en c;; -·1-en - en - ~ -cn - CA.) - CA.) = = ~ ~-

: L.B.&~.StRy. ~ ~ NOTICE i_;-..;;;_..:.i....;....;;_.;;,..1 c .. Not sooct If ~ ctetaoheCI • • This c.oupen ~ denotes that : the hour •aQ07205 t ~ 11u"ched Ol'I ;: bodJ or = tranatar le zone extended from Brunswick to 0 Allea Range Road in Freeport; the ~ P. M. second from Allen Range Road to H 0 U R; ...-.;;;.:...... :..=J....-:---1~i...... ~i..-,,__,,__---1~.._-=-...;._..:...... 1 Pine Street; the third from Pine Street to Grover·s Crossing in South Freeport, and the fourth from Crover's Crossing to the end of the line in Yarmouth. the same as on the Lewiston-Bath EASTBOUND The initial fare was 5 cents per line from 1918 on. Yarmouth Waiting Room to Marsh zone. Because of the financial diffi­ Brunswick-Yarmouth fare zones Bridge culties of the P&B, additional rev­ from 1912 through 1929 were: Marsh Bridge to Stone Corner, enue became necessary and during South Freeport 1909 the number of fare zones were WESTBOUND Stone Corner to Kendall's Turnout increased from four to five. When Brunswick to Fern's Freeport ' this didn't do the job, the zone fare Fern's to Allen Range Road Kendall's Turnout to Fowler's Curve was increased from 5 to 6 cents. Fowler's Curve to Deep Cut, Allen Range Road to Maine Central Brunswick The five fare zones and the 6-cent Crossing Deep Cut to Maine and Pleasant rate remained in effect until reor­ Maine Central Crossing to Casco Streets, Brunswick ganization as the Brunswick & Yar­ Castle Turnout mouth. At that time, the number Casco Castle Turnout to Marsh Free transfer privileges between of fare zones was increased to si>: Bridge the Lewiston-Bath and Brunswick­ and the zone fare was reduced to Marsh Bridge to Waiting Room, Yarmouth cars were in effect in 5 cents. Changes in zone ratei:; were Yarmouth Brunswick from 1913 through 1929. PARKS. Merrymeeting Park embraces a tract of 147 acres, all enclosed with a wire fence, located 1Y, miles from Brunswick. The en­ closure embraces an area of cleared land, formerly farming land, which slopes away in two directions to the Androscoggin River, interspersed with .trees and bushes along some of the roughest portions, and a large section of a forest of native trees, in the edge of which is a deep ravine, where an open air theater is located. One of the attractions is a large pond, which is fed by numerous springs; this is divided by a wire fence, one side being known as the swan pond and the other the duck pond. The principal park building is a large three-story casino, shown in Fig. 5, which is located on the highest point of ground in the park, from which a fine view of the river can be had in either direction. In the river are numerous wooded islands, the shores of which are outlined by tall trees, presenting a scene of quiet beauty seldom equalled. The casino has broad verandas, and there is a very large dining room, also a dance hall, parlor and smoking rooms, all furnished in a tasteful manner and providing a charming resting place for the patrc;ms. A specialty is made of "shore dinners." FIG. 5- CASINO. The casino is surrounded by a beautiful lawn, with numerous beds of foliage and flowering plants, laid out in artistic designs, the Lake Grove Park is located three miles from Lewiston. The plants" growing more luxuriantly than is usual in parks of this kind. cars cross the river irom Lewiston and pass through the adjoining On the approach to the casino the visitor passes through the zoo­ city of Auburn, then out to the lake on which the park is located, logical department in which are numerous houses, cages and pens and from which the cities of Lewiston and Auburn receive their for the fine collection of animals which forms one of the principal water supply. The attractions here consist of a small rustic theater, attractions. The collection includes a herd of buffaloes, bears with open stage, where the seats are supported in tiers by timbers moose, elk, deer, foxes, among the large animals, most of them and braces. The place is well shaded, and scattered among the being natives of the state of Maine. There are cages of guinea trees are quite a number of animals including bears, moose and pigs, birds and other small specimens, while in the pond fine speci­ elk. On the lake a large number of boats are kept, which are mens of swans and ducks are to be found. hired to boating and fishing parties. This park, like the other, Under the trees in a grove are Fairfield lawn swings. Near the enjoys a liberal patronage, and very creditable vaudeville shows are theater a rustic bridge crosses the pond, and in the middle of the given both afternoon and evening. pond is a wide platform with rustic railings, which is designed for The street railway system embraces the local lines in Lewiston dancing parties. and Auburn, which are on opposite sides of the Androscoggin The stage of the theater is a wide open platform, with suitable River, with lines leading out into the country in different direc­ dressing rooms. The seats are arranged in rows on the sloping tions, three miles to East Auburn, two miles to the grounds of the bank of the glen, being well shaded. Maine State Agricultural Society, near the village of Barkerville, A typical audience at the Merrymeeting theater was illustrated in and 6;,.:( miles to Sabattus. In Bath is operated the "Bath Local" our issue for June last, page 327. The attractions for this park --4;4 miles in length-from the "North End" to Winegance. These

BUFFALO, DEER AND MOOSE AT MERRYMEETING PARK. have been secured through the J. W. Gorman agency, of Boston, lines are operated in connection with the main line running dired with most satisfactory results. from Lewiston to Bath, the run consuming 2;,.:( hours, and it is safe At the entrance to the park, which is over a high bridge crossing to say that a more beautiful ride of 2;,.:( hours cannot be found in the Maine Central R. R., which is parallel to the trolley line, is a New England. large covered platform with waiting rooms. After the afternoon The headquarters of the company are at Brunswick and its af­ and evening performances in the theater, the cars are banked along fairs are under the management of Mr. M. I. Masson, the treasurer the platform ready to receive the patrons. The cars are headed and general manager, who w«s elected to those offices May ro, in both directions, as the park attracts people from both Brunswick 1900. Mr. Masson has from an early age made New York City his and Bath, and many come from as far as Lewiston. The fare from home, where he has been connected with street railway interests Brunswick is 5 cents with a free admission to the theater and park since 1874. attractions, and frequently the attendance at the park entertain­ ments is from 2,000 to 4,000 people. The seating capacity of the The gross receipts of the Cleveland City Railway Co. for the theater is about 3,000. past year show an increase of $28,ooo. G-27. TROLLEYS TO BRUNSWICK, MAINE Page 27. Pleasure Resorts

N 0 SELF - RESPECTING street were attractively landscaped and held sway at the park, heralding railway company considered itself there was every variety of scenery. the anticipated departures of cars complete without a pleasure resort Stock companies presented regular for Bath and Lewiston and inter­ during the golden years of the performances at the theater and spersing these items of information trolley era, and both the Lewiston, bountiful and tasty shore dinners with "commercials" about sales Brunswick & Bath and the Portland were served at the casino. Light being held at various stores in the & Brunswick maintained such facil­ refreshments were available at a towns and cities served by the ities to help generate summer stand called the "Round House." street railway. excursion traffic. Attractions in the zoological gar· After its first popularity wore off, The LB&B's resort was Merry­ den included a herd of deer, a cage Merrymeeting Park experienced meeting Park in Brunswick, while of monkeys and several buffalo, as s 1 o w 1 y but steadily declining the P&B maintained Casco Castle well as a stuffed horse, advertised patronage and the costs of its oper­ Park, overlooking Casco Bay, in as being the largest in the world. ation became too great a burden South Freeport. According to an article in the for the Lewiston, Brunswick & Bath magazine section of the Lewiston Street Railway Company. Manage­ Merrymeefing Park Evening Journal of June 14, 1952, ment decreed that it must be closed Creation of Merrymeeting Park the dining room, which was reached and closed it was after the 1906 began in .July 1898 when the LB&B by an elevator, could seat about season. purchased a 120-acre tract of land, 100 diners at a sitting and would The casino and other buildings the former Humphrey Mills prop­ be filled about a half dozen times were razed and the animals were erty, on a point projecting into the throughout the day on the most taken away but the park grounds Androscoggin River, near the junc­ popular Sundays. Both foreign and were open for picnics and outings tion of the present Brunswick by­ American foods were served but until 1915 when the property was pass with the main highway be· the greatest emphasis was placed sold by the Lewiston, Augusta & tween Brunswick and Bath. The on the 50-cent shore dinners. Waterville Street Railway Company park took its name from Merry­ The ampitheater was located on for $17,800. meeting Bay, the confluence of the a sloping hillside, at the foot of The main gate at the Brunswick Androscoggin and Kennebec Rivers which was an open stage, flanked Naval Air Station is just about near Bath. by log cabin dressing rooms. There opposite the former entrance to Located in a wild natural dell, were seats for a thousand patrons Merrymeeting Park - of which no Merrymeeting Park was opened to and programs included band con­ traces remain today. certs, vaudeville, magic shows, min­ the public in the summer of 1899, New Meadows Inn its attractions including a $30,000 strels, comedies and dramas. Still casino, an outdoor ampitheater and remembered are two diving horses, Another attraction on the Lewis­ a zoological garden. white as snow, which leaped into a ton-Bath line was the privately­ The entrance to Merrymeeting large pool. owned New Meadows Inn. on the Park was a lofty trestle, spanning Moonlight Dancing on Ponrt bank of the New Meadows ·River in 1.he Maine Central tracks, which Bath. This inn was world renowned ran through a deep gorge between Among other attractions was a for the quality and abundance of its the trolley line and the resort. large pond divided by a wire fence. shore dinners. Because of heavv Above the bridge stood a large One side was known as the swan trolley traffic to and from this fa­ sign-"1898 - MERRYMEETING"­ pond and the other the duck pond. mous eating place, the railway pro­ for all to see. A rustic bridge crossed the pond, vided a passenger platform, a small The trolleys did not cross the in the center of which was a wide waiting station and a siding near trestle into the park but a long platform with rustic railings, de­ the inn. siding was constructed near the signed for dancing parties. This The original building was burned entrance and a covered platform platform normally was illuminated to the ground in 1938 but was soon was provided to shelter patrons by an arc light but on bright moon­ replaced-and New Meadows Inn is from the elements as they waited light nights, this usually was turned still in business. for their cars. off to create a more romantic at­ The park's extensive grounds mosphere. Casco Casile Park Thoi.1sands patronized the park annually in its first few years and r-f HE ATTRACTIONS at Casco Page at the left is reprinted from many were the chartered cars that Castle Park, created by the Port a Street Railway Review article in conveyed special parties there from land & Brunswick Street Railway the February 13, 1901 issue describ· Lewiston, Bath and Brunswick. Company during the summer of ing the Lewiston, Brunswick & Others came in carriages -- hoats, 1902, included a large stone toweT Bath Street Railway line and its too!-and perhaps a few arrived in called the ;'Castle," a three-story various features. chugging automobiles. casino of wood frame construction During the afternoons and eve· and a zoological garden. nings, a leather-lunged announcer A suspension bridge spanned a 28. TRANSPORTATION BULLETIN G-28. deep ravine between the park and tember 8, 1914, the casino wal-'. which had gone out of business the trolley line, beside which - as destroyed by fire and that was the about 1895. at Merrymeeting Park - was con­ end of Casco Castle Park. Ruins of The Bath shipbuilding influence structed a covered platform and an the casino were cleared away and was apparent in these buildings, enclosed waiting room for comfort the suspension bridge was removed as at all points where roof trusses and convenience of the passengers. but the stone tower was left stand­ rested on walls, wooden ships' Casco Castle Park also was served ing and is still in existence today. knees were used as reinforcements. by the Harpswell Steamboat Com­ A photograph of the Bath car­ pany, steamers of which stopped at house shows that it had two en­ South Freeport en route between Carhouses trance tracks (probably there were Portland and Harpswell Center. others-connected through a trans­ fer table-inside the building) and A favorite summer trip for many THE FIRST CARHOUSES of the was to ride on the steamer from indicates that, for a time, it housed Lewiston, Brunswick & Bath sys­ the body repair shops of the com­ Portland to South Freeport in the tem were those taken over from morning, spe_nd a few hours or so pany. These later were transferred the Lewiston & Auburn Horse Rail­ to Lewiston, where machine shop at Casco Castle, and return to Port­ road, the Brunswick Electric Rail­ land by trolley in the late afternoon facilities had been provided from road and the Bath Street Railway. the outset. or early evening. All were wood frame buildings of Bountiful meals were served in small size and were inadequate to (The old barns of the Lewiston & the casino dining room and over­ house the increased rolling stock of Auburn Horse Railroad and the Bath night accommodations were avail­ Street Railway appear to have been the consolidated company. closed at the time the new facilities able for those who might wish to During late 1898, the railway were provided but the former Bruns­ tarry longer. company purchased a large tract of wick Electric Railroad's carhouse on Summer Street, Topsham, continued in (Another popular trip, it might be land on lower Lisbon Street, near use for a number of years thereafter). noted was a steamboat ride from its intersection with Canal Street, Portl~nd to New Meadows Inn via in Lewiston, and in the spring of Early on the morning of Satur· Cundy's Harbor, Harpswell and Gur­ day, December 19, 1903, fire broke net. Many were the individuals and 1899, construction of an 8-track family groups from Portland who brick carhouse was undertaken. out in the new Lewiston carhouse journeyed to the inn by water anrl This building was 154 by 70 feet and by sunrise all that remained of returned by trolley - or vice versa. in area; had a roof of planks on the building were blackened walls The Maine Central Railroad had a and the smouldering remains of 25 depot near the inn and those who exposed steel trusses, and was pro­ wished could return to Portland via vided with ample pits for truck and cars and snow plows. Only three the steam railroad instead of trolley.) motor repairs. cars were saved and one of these was badly damaged. Also provided was a 4-track wood Unfortunately, Casco Castle Park, The Lewiston Weekly Journal of frame carbarn in Lisbon Falls. In like Merrymeeting Park, was not a December 24, 1903, said the fire Bath, the railway purchased the profitable undertaking for the rail­ was discovered about 5:30, but be­ remaining buildings of the old way company and on March 17, cause the nearest fire alarm box 1910, with the Portland & Bruns­ Patten car works, former builders was . in the yard of the adjoinmg of steam railroad cars, on N ortr. wick in the throes of financial diffi­ Lewiston Bleachery, to which access Street and converted the largest of culties, the property was sold to was blocked by a locked gate, there them into a carhouse. These build­ E. S. Everett of Cook, Everett & was some delay in calling the fire Pennell of Portland. ings had been occupied for a num­ department. About 4% years later, on Sep- ber of years by an oilcloth factory, When the apparatus did arrive, seven hose lines were directed at t~e burning building but they did httle good as the fire had gained t~o much of a headway by then. Firemen did manage to prevent the spread of flames to the adjoining power station, the main door of which was badly charred by heat. The carhouse was soon rebuilt­ with some minor changes in its architectural features- and served until abandonment of all trolley service in the Lewiston-Auburn area in the fall of 1941, when it was converted to a bus garage. During 1911, the Bath carhouse, deemed too large for the railway's needs, was razed and a smaller barn PORTLAND RAILROAD 231 at Freeport Square on Portland-Brunswick was erected with salvaged mate­ run. The motorman is Henry Cummings. -[Ronald Cummings Collection. rials. The new building had two G-29. TROLLEYS TO BRUNSWICK. MAINE Page 29.

tracks and a capacity of about six cars and it remained in use until Power· Facilities 1937. The Lisbon Falls carhouse was THE Lewiston, Brunswick & Bath ing current was conducted to a two· destroyed in a severe windstorm on Street Railway Company held the story brick substation about 45 feet October 20, 1913, and never was distinction of being one of the first from the generating plant, which replaced. Two of its four tracks street railways in the country to was equipped with six Westing­ were torn up, the other two being use a high tension power distribu­ house 125 kilowatt oil-insulated left in place to provide outdoor tion system employing transformers self-cooling transformers. storage facilities. and rotary converters. These transformers stepped up The Portland & Brunswick Street Railway Company built a combina­ The hydroelectric power station the line pressure to 10,000 volts for transmission over two high tension tion carhouse and power station on was located on the Androscoggin River in Brunswick, where water lines, one to Bath, 10 miles distant, the east side of lower Main Street. and the other to Lewiston, 20 miles Freeport, near the Maine Central rights had been leased from the Cabot Manufacturing Company for away. grade crossing. It was a brick structure and the carhouse section a 15-year period. Initial equipment High tension lines were mounted had four tracks, with a capacity of of the station included four Victor on the same poles that carried the about 20 double truck cars. A sec­ horizontal turbines of 250 horse­ railway's trolley and feeder wires. power each, all mounted on the ond story, at the front of the barn, Substations Located at Carbarns contained the company offices and same shaft and operated on a 17-ft. living quarters for the superintend­ head. Small brick substation buildings ent and his family. These wheels were controlled by were constructed next to the Bath The power station, on the south Lombard governors and by means and Lisbon Falls carhouses and a side of the barn, had only one story of a rope drive, operated the main much larger substation was pro­ -with a tall brick chimney at the countershaft, to which three West­ vided as an integral part of the end. inghouse 250 kilowatt double cur­ Lewiston carhouse setup. The carhouse was active until rent generators were belted. These Equipment of the Lewiston sub­ abandonment of the Brunswick­ generators were 12-pole machines, station included three Westing­ Yarmouth line and later saw a operated at 1,600 revolutions per house 200 Kw. rotary converters. variety of uses, mostly as a garage. minute and delivered both alter­ The substations at Lisbon Falls A few years ago, it was acquired by nating current at 300-330 volts, 60 and Bath each initially had one the town of Freeport and it now cycle, and 500-550 volts DC. 200 Kw. rotary converter and three houses the municipal offices. From the power station, alternat- 75 Kw. transformers, all of West-

CROOKED BHIDGE over the Maine Central Railroad in South Lewiston on the L<'wiston-Lisbon Falls line. as it looked when th<' lightweight cars ran in Smu.Jay service between 1937 and 1941. Note that high tension wires were carried on same pole line as the trolley wires. -[From a photograph taken by Gerald F. Cunningham. 30. TRANSPORTATION BULLETIN G-30. inghouse manufacture. (Direct cur­ tric 300 Kw. 550 volt direct current the Androscoggin Electric Corporation generator which was direct-coupled in 1935 and was merged with the Cen­ rent was applied directly to the tral Maine that same year.) overhead via a feeder from the to one of the engines. The other Brunswick hydro station). two engines, when necessary, drove From the Deer Rips plant, a The transformers all were of the the two rotary converters through 10,000 volt transmission line ex­ oil-insulated self-cooling type and a belt arrangement. tended to the Lewiston substation, the rotary converters were 10-pole The electrical setup of the station which was re-C'quipped with six machines, running at 720 r.p.m. was such that when the two rotary 200 Kw. single - phase step - down Overhanging the bearing at one converters were being driven by transformers, supplying current to end of the shaft was a three-phase the engines, the output of their two Westinghouse 500 Kw. 600 volt induction motor for starting and alternating current circuits could three-phase rotary converters, and overhanging the bearing at the be conducted to the transformeri. a 270-cell storage battery, with a other end was a pulley by which and increased to 10,000 volts for Western Electric booster. The bat­ the machine could be driven by a transmission to other substations. tery was operated in parallel with steam engine if necessary. the converters to facilitate handling Extensive improvements to the of peak loads. Brunswick Power Not Enough LB&B power system were begun in Thereafter, the Brunswick hydro It soon became apparent that the 1905 when the railway began pur­ chasing alternating current from station supplied only the Bath and Brunswick station, with a total out­ Lisbon Falls substation on a regular the Lewiston & Auburn Electric put of 750 Kw., was not of sutiicient basis, the transmission line between capacity to supply adequate power Light Company, which had built a modern hydroelectric plant at Deer Lewiston and Lisbon Falls being for the city lines in Lewiston and used only in emergencies. The Bath Auburn, particularly during periods Rips, on the Androscoggin River in Auburn. This later was supple­ substation, incidentally, had three of heavy traffic. Because the old more 75 Kw. transformers and a power plant of the former Lewiston mented by a steam turbine plant in second 200 Kw. rotary converter by & Auburn Horse Railroad had been Lewiston. this time. dismantled, it became necessary to

ON THE BRUNSWICK-BATH line at Thompson's Brook, this view of No. 126 was taken by Gerald Cunningham. G-31. TROLLEYS TO BRUNSWICK. MAINE Page 31.

station in 1910, and during 1913, verter was installed in the Lewiston Power Company, which purchased with the expiration of the water substation in 1921, probably replac­ alternating cuuent from the street rights at Brunswick, the Brunswick ing one of the machines provided railway and distributed the energy hydro station was abandoned and in 1905. to customers in Freeport. The con­ arrangements were made to pur­ In 1922 and 1923, semi-automatic cern was taken over by the LA&W chase additional alternating current control was installed in the Lewis­ in 1910 and continued in existence from the Lewiston & Auburn Elec­ ton, Lisbon Falls and Bath substa­ as a subsidiary of that road and the tric Light Company. tions. The rotary converters or A&K until 1922 when its stock was Thereafter, all power for the for­ motor generators at these points sold to the Central Maine Power mer Lewiston, Brunswick & Bath had to be started and stopped by Company. lines was purchased, a substation, attendants, but all three stations Indications are that, at first, all equipped with a General Electric were provided with automatic re­ power for the Brunswick-Yarmouth 400 Kw . motor generator set, being closing circuit breakers which line was supplied by the two direct provided in the Brunswick plant of cleared the station in event of line current generators and that the the Bath & Brunswick Light & trouble and restored the power to rotary converters were installed Power Company, which became a the overhead when the trouble was after a high tension line had been part of the Central Maine Power rectified. built between Freeport and Bruns­ Company system in 1920. There is no available information wick and the Portland & Brunswick about the initial power facilities of began purchasing power from the About the same time, a General the Portland & Brunswick Street Lewiston, Brunswick & Bath Street Electric 300 Kw . motor generator Railway but in 1907, according to Railway. set was provided at the Lisbon Falls the U. S. Street & Electric Railway Thereafter, the rotary converters substation, replacing the original Census, the station was equipped were used regularly, the direct 200 Kw. rotary converter. with four steam engines of 1,220 current generators being activated Bath Power Demands Heavier horsepower total; two 150 Kw. di­ only when Bruns\\·ick power was rect current generators; two alter­ unavailable or in short supply. Late in 1917, because of the need nators, with a total output of The rotary converters were re­ of additional power in Bath, a 140 Kw.; two 150 Kw. rotary con­ 500 Kw . rotary converter and the placed by a single 300 Kw. motor verters and a 216 - cell storage generator set in 1911 and the steam necessary transformers for the battery. Bath substation were ordered from plant was completely overhauled. Both Westinghouse and General The street railway thereafter was Westinghouse . The converter ar­ Electric generators were used; the rived on schedule but the trans­ operated almost exclusively \vith engines were of both Arlington & formers were long delayed in tran­ purchased power, the steam plant Sims and Mcintosh & Seymour being operated to supply commer­ sit. When they did come, they were manufacture, and steam was sup­ found to have been badly damaged cial power only in emergencies. plied by Babcock & Wilcox boilers. and were useless until repairs were After the sale of the Freeport concern to the Central Maine com­ made. Freeport Electric Light Tie-In To make matters worse, one of pany, the steam plant was shut The two alternators were used to down, and during 1923, the A&K the existing 200 Kw . rotary con­ supply the needs of the affiliated provided semi-automatic control for verters burned out on January 14, Freeport Electric Light, Heat & HHS, bringing operations in the the Freeport motor generator set. Bath area to a near standstill be­ cause the other 200 Kw. machine could not handle the load. Eventually the new rotary con­ verter was placed in service and later in 1918, with funds provided by a loan from the Emergency Fleet Corporation, a World War I government agency, the transmis­ sion lines between Lewiston and Bath were rehabilitated, the trans­ mission voltage between Lewiston and Brunswick being increased from 10,000 to 22,000 volts. Transmission Line Improvements About 21/2 miles of the power line through Lisbon were relocated and the 10,000 volt line between Brunswick and Bath was reinsu­ lated and increased in capacity. According to the 1922 report of the Maine Public Utilities Com­ "YES MA'M , I'll mail your letter,·' is what the motorman of this Brill 300 mission, a new 500 Kw . rotary con- series car might be saying as he is stopped in Lisbon enroute to Bath. 32. TRANSPORTATION BULLETIN G-32.

Scenes from 1900 • • •

MAINE STREET, BRUNSWICK, shortly after the turn of the century, showing a Briggs 14-bench open and two freight trolleys. The big brick block at the left which still stands (1961)) is at the corner of Pleasant Street where the Freeport-Yarmouth line branched from the Lewiston, Brunswick & Bath tracks. -[O. R. Cummings Collection

FIRST CARHOUSE at Lewisfon, as constructed in 189!J. Thr building was destroyed bv fire on December 19, I!Hl3, and was replaced by a new carhouse which continues to serve (1966) as a bus garag·e. -[Cummings Collection. G-33. TROLLEYS TO BRUNSWICK, MAINE Page 33. Rolling Stock· Porlland & Brunswick Slreel Railway PASSENGER equipment of the Two of the opens were sold to ing to straight passenger coaches, Portland & Brunswick Street Rail­ the Gerald-controlled Waterville & repainting and renumbering. In­ way in 1902 included five 30-ft. Oakland Street Railway in 190~ . stead of being renumbered into the double truck combination passen­ leaving the Portland & Brunswick LA&W system (with closed cars ger-baggage cars and seven 14- with 5 opens, the 5 combination having even numbers and open cars bench double truck opens, all built cars, a 4-wheel work car and two odd numbers) the cars were re­ by the John Stephenson Company snow plows. One of the plows was numbered into the Portland Rail­ of Elizabeth, New Jersey. a 4-wheeler and the other was road roster, becoming Nos. 280-284. Both type cars had steam coach double truck. Motors from open The five 14-bench opens, how­ roofs and were equipped with Tay­ cars were used under the snow ever, were repainted in the Lewis­ lot swing bolster trucks and air plows in winter. ton shops of the LA& W and were numbered 95 odd through 103. brakes. The open cars each had two (The two cars sold to the Waterville Westinghouse 56 (60 h.p.) motors & Oakland became Nos. 1 and 3 on The new single truck closed cars, and K-11 controllers, while the that road and retained the same num­ Nos. 206, 208 and 210, saw com­ combination cars each had four bers on the succeeding Waterville, paratively little service on the Fairfield & Oakland Railway until Brunswick-Yarmouth line - or on Westinghouse lOlB (40 h.p.) motors retired). and K-28C controllers. the LA&W either, for that matter. There were no changes in rolling They were sold to the Portland The combination cars had straight stock of the Portland & Brunswick Railroad Company in 1916 and vertically-sheathed sides and there until 1911 when three 21-ft. single became PRR Nos. 306, 308 and 310. were 8 windows on each side of the truck closed passengers cars, Nos. All three cars later were con­ passenger compartments, the bag. 206, 208 and 210, were purchased verted to sand cars and were still gage compartments having one from the Laconia Car Company by in use as late as 1940. The Taylor window and a large sliding door on the Lewiston, Augusta & Waterville trucks under these cars were re­ each side. The combination cars and were assigned to the Bruns­ placed with the Brill 21-E type by were named: "Alice," "Camilla," wick-Yarmouth line. the Portland Railroad and one of "Dorothy," "Flora," and "Lida." These cars had monitor roofs, these Brill trucks is now under the None of the open cars was given straight, vertically-sheathed sides restored parlor car "City of Man­ such honors. and 8 windows on each side. Fully chester" at the Seashore Trolley There is some confusion over the vestibuled, they had reversible Museum at Kennebunkport, Maine. original numbering system of the transverse seats and each car rode After rebuilding, the five former Portland & Brunswick, as at first on a Taylor truck. combination cars were returned to all the passenger cars had odd Equipment of each car included the Freeport carhouse and ran in numbers and photographs indicate two General Electric 203 (50 h.p.) Portland - Brunswick through serv­ there were some duplications. motors, K-36F controllers and hand ice until 1920. As rebuilt, the cars Later, the combination cars all brakes. had 11 windows on each side and were given even numbers, probably Later, the five combination cars probably seated 40 passengers on 2 even through 10. The open cars were sent to the shops of the Port­ a combination of reversible trans­ retained their odd numbers. land Railroad Company for rebuild- verse and longitudinal corner seats. Lewislon. Brunswick & Balh Slreel Railway SHORTLY after construction was four cars were delivered later in their letterboards. All rode on begun in 1898, the Lewiston, Bruns­ the summer and another 12 cars of Peckham swing-bolster trucks and wick & Bath Street Railway Com­ the same type were received prior had hand brakes. pany placed an order with the to June 30, 1899. According to the Street Railway Briggs Carriage Company for eight Numbered 51 odd through 89, all Journal of March 1899, each car 14-bench double truck open cars, were 40 feet Jong over-all and had was equipped with two Westing­ each seating 70 passengers. steam coach roofs and double run­ house 50 h.p. motors geared for The first four of these arrived in ning boards of stationary design. medium speed but there is reason July and two immediately were as­ They were painted in the LB&B to believe that some of the cars had signed to Bath, the other two re­ livery of crimson lake and straw four 25 h.p. motors. maining in Lewiston. The second and bore the company name on Also purchased from Briggs were 34. TRANSPORTATION BULLETIN G-34.

eight 21-foot single truck vestibuled closed cars, which arrived in the Semi-Converlible Observalion Cars fall of 1898. These had steam coach roofs, convex-concave panel sides LA1'E IN 1906, the Lewiston were all one color, except for the and seven drop-sash windows on Brunswick & Bath Street Railway windows. each side. Company, by then controlled by Because the new semi-convertible They seated 28 passengers each John R. Graham and his associates, cars could be operated from one on 10 reversible transverse and placed an order with the J. G. Brill end only, it was necessary to pro­ four longitudinal corner seats, Company of Philadelphia for 8 vide turning facilities at the termi­ probably upholstered in plush. single end, double truck semi-con­ nals. The track layout at Main and Each car rode on a Peckham vertibles with rear observation Lisbon Streets, Lewiston, supplied truck and was equipped with two platforms, Nos. 300 even through wyeing facilities in that city and 35 h.p. motors and hand brakes. 314. wyes were constructed at Lisbon The numbers of these cars, unfor­ The cars arrived in Lewiston Falls and Bath. tunately, are unknown and photo­ early in 1907 and were placed in In Brunswick, the cars could be graphs of the type are scarce. service on the Lewiston-Bath run. turned at the junction of the Lewis­ One of the '14-bench opens, No. replacing the rather motley collec­ ton-Bath and Brunswick-Yarmouth 69, and three of the closed cars are tion of single and double truck lines, at Maine and Pleasant believed to have been destroyed in closed cars which had been oper­ Streets. the Lewiston carhouse fire of 1903. ated on that route since early 1904. The single end semi-convertibles The remaining closed cars later be­ Description of New Cars were probably the most impractical came Nos. 18, 20, 22, 24 and 26 of cars that could have been pur­ These new cars had monitor the Lewiston, Augusta & Waterville chased for the Lewiston-Bath route roofs, smoking compartments. Street Railway Company, while the and it is said they were acquired motorman's cabs and hot water 19 opens retained their original because they struck the fancy of LB&B numbers on the LA&W. heating systems. They were fitted John R. Graham. Shortly after the fire, three 25- with Baldwin trucks, 4 GEBO mo­ foot double truck closed cars, built tors, K-28B controllers and General Additional Cars of Same Type by the Newburyport Car Company Electric air brakes. Eight similar cars, somewhat of Newburyport, Mass., were pur­ Each car seated 12 in the smok­ larger, were purchased for the chased second - hand, reportedly ing compartment and 24 in the Lewiston-Augusta-Waterville route from one of the roads later consoli­ main compartment, which were in 1908. Numbered 320-334 even dated into the Middlesex & Boston separated from each other by a they had been in service only ~ Street Railway Company in Massa­ bulkhead. short time when it was decided to chusetts. They had steam coach Each car had a single trolley provide controllers and brake roofs and were straight, vertically­ pole, mounted toward the rear, and valves on the observation platforms sheathed, with 8 windows on a side. roller-type destination signs were so that the cars could be operated The cars initially rode on Peck­ provided on each side and the from the rear end. No such change ham trucks and each was equipped front end of the roof monitors. was made on the Bath cars. anfor­ with air brakes. Similar brakes are The cars were painted red with tu nately, which remained · single­ believed to have been installed on ivory trim, the latter color appear­ enders until retired. the remaining 14-bench opens. ing on the convex side panels and Nos. 300-314 provided all the fall, Another 25-foot closed car, No. around the windows. In later years, winter and spring base service on 40, was purchased from the Laconia the concave panels were painted the Lewiston-Bath line until after Car Company of Laconia, N. H., in red, so that the sides of the car the LA& W was succeeded by the late 1905 or early 1906. This car also had a steam coach roof and ...... - ~ ...... straight, vertically-sheathed sides, ...... with 9 windows on each side. Bemis ...... double trucks were provided and the car had four 40 h p. motors and air brakes. For a time. it c:.irried Bath Street Railway lettering. Equipment owned by the Lewis­ ton, Brunswick & Bath Street Rail­ way Company as of June 30. 1906. consisted of 25 closed car:, and 31 opens. Of these, four clo'led and 19 opens were double truck. Other equipment included a parlor car. the "Merrymeeting"; two box ex­ press cars, one baggage car, one work car, one ice car, two gravel cars and 7 snow plows. Two of the CAR NO. 302, one of the single end observation platform cars placed in plows were 4-wheel rotaries. service between Lewiston and Hath in 1907 on Maine Street, Brunswick. G-35. TROLLEYS TO BRUNSWICK, MAINE Page 35.

Androscoggin & Kennebec Railway although, for a time in 1918, it New Inter-City Rolling Stock looked as if some new equipment were to be provided. In July of that year, after receipt DuRING 1920, the Androscoggin motors, K-35 controllers and West­ of the loan from the Emergency & Kennebec Railway, striving to inghouse air brakes. Fleet Corporation, the LA & W modernize its system, ordered 10 Peter Smith forced h o t air placed an order with J. G. Brill for double truck arch roof semi-steel heaters, located in one corner of 6 double truck semi-steel closed closed cars (Nos. 120 even through the car body, provided warmth in cars - to be numbered 116 even 138) from the Wason Manufactur­ cold weather, when storm sash through 126. They were scheduled ing Company of Springfield, Mass., were installed on the windows. for delivery in October but there Brill subsidiary. The cars were fitted with bar were numerous delays and the cars Purchased on equipment trust pilots and each had four roller-type were still under construction on certificates at a total cost of more destination signs, one over the cen­ November 11, 1918, when World than $150,000, the new cars were ter window of each vestibule and War I Armistice became effective. delivered late in the year and im­ one over each right-hand door. mediately were placed in service New Car Order Cancelled The new cars were much faster on the Lewiston-Bath and Lewiston­ than the old single enders and After the LA& W went into re­ Waterville routes. made possible the reduction to two ceivership, the receiver promptly Soon scrapped were the single hours of the running time between cancelled the order for the cars­ end semi-convertibles Nos. 300-314. Lewiston and Bath. by then completed. Three of them According to former A&K em­ All were converted to one-man were sold by Brill or the Emer­ ployes, they had been a "night­ cars during 1924. "Dead man" gency Fleet Corporation in 1919 to mare" to operate and their junking safety equipment was installed and the Northumberland County Rail­ was greeted with general approval. the left-hand doors were removed way in Sunbury, Penna. These were Description of New Cars and replaced with windows and Nos. 116, 118 and 120. The other sheathing. three, Nos. 122, 124 and 126, were The new cars were 45 feet over· After abandonment of the Lisbon purchased by the Schuylkill Valley all and had 13 divided drop-sash Falls-Bath trackage in 1937, the Railway in Girardville, Penna. windows on each side. cars continued to be used between According to specifications pub­ Each vestibule was fitted with Lewiston and Lisbon Falls week­ lished in the Electric Railway Jour­ two sets of four-leaf folding doors, days, with lightweight cars of the nal, they were to have a seating one on either side of the platform. A&K's 180 class being operated on capacity of 52 and were to be Each car had 20 reversible trans­ Sundays. equipped with Brill 77El trucks, verse seats and three longitudinal All 10 cars were scrapped in 1941. 4 Westinghouse 514C (40 h.p.J corner seats, upholstered in rattan, motors, K-35G2 controllers and accommodating 52 passengers. (Com plete deta ils on t he 120 a nd 180 The cars rode on Brill 77-E low classes were given in your a uthor's General Electric air brakes. Their publication, "Lewiston, Augusta & weight was 44,000 pounds and the level trucks and each was provided W aterville Street Railway; • issued in overall length was 45 ft. 6 in. with 4 Westinghouse 532-B (50 h.p.) 1964. Copies are a vailable for $1.25.)

BRIGGS 14-RENCH OPEN No. 77 at Lisbon Falls enroute from Bath in 1901. -[Collection of Wesley A. Lancaster 36. TRANSPORTATION BULLETIN U-::lti.

BIRNEY CAR NO. 242, which spent most of the 1920s in "high 'ipecd" ser vice on the Brunswick-Yarmouth line. ran out its days on the Lewiston-Auburn local lines. It is shown on Sabbatus Street, Lewiston, in this 1935 photo. Birney Cars of the A. & K.

TWENTY - ONE BIRNEY single "high speed" operation of Birney Lunt, who climbed to the roof to ad­ truck safety cars (Nos. 218-258J cars, which on the A&K were just the big trolley pole when the car· reached the car barn, bears evidence were purchased by the Andros­ equipped with two 25 h.p. motors. that a hog had met death in some un­ coggin & Kennebec Railway be­ Coincident with the introduction explain~d manner. tween 1920 and 1922. of the Birneys, three of the double Three of these, initially Nos. 248, truck closed cars of the 230 class, After abandonment of the Bruns­ 250 and 252, were assigned to the Nos. 280, 281 and 282, were con­ wick-Yarmouth line in 1929, one of Freeport carhouse to provide the verted for one-man operation and the Birneys, No.250, was reassigned base service between Brunswick two of them regularly were as­ to Bath and the other two were and Yarmouth. Later, No. 248 was signC'd to Freeport, being operated transferred to Lewiston. No. 250 transferred f r o m Freeport to on the more heavily patronized went to Lewiston in 1937 and all of Augusta and was replaced at Free­ trips, such as those on which school the A&K's Birneys were scrapp8d port by No. 242, from Lewiston. children were carried. in 1941. Birneys assigned to Freeport One of the Birneys, No. 242, was All of the remaining ex combina- all were equipped with small steel involved in somewhat of a mystery 1ion cars of the former Portland & pilots and air whistles. Two of them in 1924. To quote from an article Brunswick, Nos. 280, 281 and 282. were regularly in service, the third in the Portland Evening Express: were retired by the A&K after being held as a spare. abandonment of the Lisbon Falls­ It is reported that between the Mystery surrounds the finding of a pork roast on the roof of a trolley on Bath trackage in 1937. They and infrequent stops along the line, the its return trip frcm Freeport to Bruns­ other double truck closed cars con­ Birneys were operated at top speed wick t0day. Henry Cummings, operator verted for one-man operation had because they had only one hour to of the one-man car Number 242, has been used to replace cars of the cover the 15.8 miles between ter­ no recollection of hitting a pig on his trir between Freeport and Brunswicl;, 120-138 class when any of the latter minals-and they made the time. yet the piece of pork found on the roof were in the shops for overhaul or This certainly must be a record for of the car by the electrician, Herbert repair. G-37. TROLLEYS TO BRUNSWICK, MAINE Page 37. Freight and Express Cars

JT IS DIFFICULT to present an others, including No. 504, had been couplers so that it could tow stand­ adequate description vf freight constructed in the LA&W shops in ard steam railroad freight cars. As and express equipment of the 1909-10. a matter of fact, all of the box Lewiston, Augusta & Waterville The fiat trailers included six of motors at this time had MCB coup­ Street Railway and the Androscog­ the double truck type built by the lers and Westinghouse automatic gin & Kennebec Railway because of LA&W itself in 1909 and 1910; air brakes. the lack of an accurate roster and three more of the double truck According to the June 26, 1915 the complete absence of company type (Nos. 501, 503 and 505) built issue of Street Railway Journal, records. by Laconia in 1911, and two of the the LA&W at that time had 8 motor The annual equipment reports of single truck variety, probably from freight cars, 17 fiat trailers and two the LA&W to the Maine Railroad the Auburn & Turner. box trailers of 60,000-lb. capacity Commissioners from June 30, 1907, Three additional double truck fiat each. The fiat cars, which could be through that same date in 1909 list trailers (Nos. 507, 509 and 511) fitted with side boards, were used only three express cars and one were purchased from Laconia in for handling granite, wood, lumber, freight car. As of June 30, 1910, 1913 and during January 1915, the coal, farming tools and general there were 5 express cars and 6 LA&W placed orders with Laconia freight, while the box cars were double truck fiat trailers; a year for one motor freight car body with used for potatoes, apples, grain, later the roster included 7 express a steel underframe, two dovble hay and perishable goods. cars and 8 fiat trailers. Three more truck box trailers with wood under­ Another double truck box motor fiat trailers had been added by frames and 8 double truck fiat !believed to have been No. 504, re­ .June 30, 1912. trailers, also with wood under­ placing the original car of the same There is reason to believe that frames. number) was ordered from Laconia the express motors at this time in­ The motor freight car had a 40- in April 1915. Five more fiat cars cluded Nos. 500 even through 512, foot body and rode on Laconia were ordered in September and all being of the double truck box diamond-frame arch bar trucks. seven more in October. type. No. 500 had been built by the Numbered 514, it was equipped (The total of 20 flat cars ordered Laconia Car Company in 1911, and with four Westinghouse 56 (55 h.p.) from Laconia in 1915 are believed to No. 506 had been constructed by motors and K-35G controllers. have been Nos. 519, 523 odd through Westinghouse automatic air brake 535, and 541 odd through 563. The box Laconia in 1904 as No. 4 of the trailers were Nos. 537 and 539.) Auburn & Turner Railroad, taken equipment was provided and the over by the LA&W in 1910. Tw(l car was fitted with MCB radial Another three motor freight cars

GONDOLA MOTOU No. 652 at the Bates College heating plant in Lewiston. -[Photo by Roger Borrup in 1935. 38. TRANSPORTATION BULLETIN G-38.

LINE CAR ON THE JOB - No. 702 is shown in front of the Lewiston carbarn on Lisbon Street while lineman makes some minor repairs on the overhead trolley wire. -[Photograph taken on June 30, 1937, by Roger Borrup. G-39. TROLLEYS TO BRUNSWICK, MAINE Page 39.

place in the freight equipment thereafter until 1932 when 4 motor cars and 6 trailers were scrapped. Five more motor cars and all but • two trailers were scrapped in 1937. t Few Freight Cars Left After 1937 Those remaining after 1937 were one box motor, No. 516, and one gondola motor, No. 652, the latter being used to shift freight cars in and out of the bleachery at Lewis­ ton, and two flat cars, Nos. 651 and 655, both former gondola cars that had been cut down. Your author recalls that in the spring of 1940, when abandonment of trolley service in Lewiston and Auburn was near, shopmen at the Lewiston carhouse gave No. 516, which had been inoperable for two or three years, a quick repair job so that it could be used as an auxil­ THE SCENERY of the Mile-a-Minute Company, a vaudeville troupe, went iarv line car for removal of trolley into the ditch when box motor 516, towing a box trailer, was derailed three wire. (It had been equipped with a miles south of Brunswick on January 21, 1917. It took quite a bit of doing roof platform in 1937.) to get the box motor back on the rails again. -[O. R. Cummings Collection.

Freight and Express Service

ExPRESS SERVICE was estab­ dling lumber shipments between Street, through Commercial, Front lished by both the Lewiston, Bruns­ Turner and Lewiston. and Bowery Streets to the Texas wick & Bath and the Portland & Shortly thereafter, the electric Company and Kelley & Spear ship­ Brunswick Street Railways at a railway and the Maine Central Rail­ yards. comparatively early date. In each road established a physical inter­ Because of the unwillingness of case, the business was conducted change off Lisbon Street in Lewis­ the city of Bath to have Maine by an outside concern, which made ton and the LA& W started switch­ Central steam locomotives huffing all rates and handled all operations, ing service between the railroad and puffing along Front and Bow­ paying a proportion of its revenues yard and the Lewiston Bleachery, ery Streets, the city made arrange­ (or an annual flat fee) for the use of adjacent to the railway's carhouse. ments with LA&W to electrify and cars and track, for power and for During 1914, the LA&W and the operate the new trackage. The wages of motormen. Maine Central agreed to establish street railway laid tracks down Oak Small shipments of light weight an interchange in Bath so that the Street from Front Street to Com­ were handled for the most part, no former could provide switching mercial Street to provide the nec­ attempt being made to develop car­ service for the shipyards and other essary connection. load traffic. plants in the city. This interchange (The track along Commercial, Front By 1913, the express business on was effected in HHS on Washington and Bowery Streets was purchased the Lewiston, Augusta & Waterville Street, at the Maine Central freight from the city by thE' Androscoggin & was being conducted by the Atlan­ yard. That same year, the LA&W Kennebec Railway Company in 1923.) tic Express Company, with head­ built a spur track into the yard of In the meantime, the manage­ quarters in Portland and a terminal the Bath Box Company, on lower ment of the Cumberland County at 76 Cross Street in that city. Washington Street, opposite Hinck­ Power & Light Company, which This same concern also operated ley Street. controlled both the LA&W and the the express business on the Port­ Spurs from lower Washington Portland Railroad, decided to estab­ land Railroad system and the Atlan­ Street into the Deering and Percy lish a unified freight service on the tic Shore Railway and provided & Small shipyards were provided two systems. Both carload and less­ pickup and delivery service in the in 1916. Later, another spur served than-carload shipments were to be larger communities. the Cummings Feldspar Company. handled at rates governed by the Development of freight service The major project in 1916, how­ official steam railroad classification. on the Lewiston, Augusta & Water­ Such service was established as of ever, was construction of a 4, 750-ft. January 1, 1915. ville appears to have begun in 1910 track by the city of Bath from the when it acquired the Auburn & end of the Maine Central's Com­ The Portland Railroad built a Turner Railroad and began han- mercial Street spur, near Summer large freight terminal between 40. TRANSPORTATION BULLETIN G-40.

Commercial and Fore Streets on bricks. Express service, including Company off Commercial Street, the Portland waterfront and built pickup and delivery of package Bath, and announced plans for the a spur track into the plant of the freight, was provided in the box establishment of a coal business Royal River Packing Company in motors under an agreement with over its entire system. Yarmouth. The LA&W built freight the Atlantic Express Company, the !It was also proposed to haul coal houses in Lewiston, Lisbon Falls, railway not being a party to this from a wharf in Gardiner but later Brunswick and Bath, that at Bath service other than furnishing the it was decided to concentrate every­ being located on the wharf of the transportation. thing in Bath.) The Bath facilities Eastern Steamship Company to Theatrical troupes found the were completed during the latter facilitate the interchange of ship­ electric freight service a convenient part of the year and in cooperation ments with that prominent water way to move scenery and other with the Kennebec Wharf & Coal carrier. properties from city to city and Company, the LA&W began mov­ Through freight trains were oper­ frequently chartered special cars ing coal from the Shipbuilding City ated between Portland and Water­ for such purposes. to points as far away as North ville via Brunswick, Lewiston and One of these specials, consisting Vassalboro. Augusta and there were regularly of a box motor and a trailer, carry­ Among the first customers of the scheduled trips between Lewiston ing the scenery of the Mile-A-Min­ new coal service were Bowdoin and Portland, Lewiston and Bath ute Company from Lewiston to College in Brunswick and Bates and probably Portland and Bath. Portland, met disaster .January 21 , College in Lewiston. Bowdoin's The typical freight train consisted 1917, when it left the rails on the heating plant was located on Harps­ of a box motor towing one or more Brunswick - Yarmouth line about well Street, requiring only the con­ box or flat trailers. three miles south of Brunswick. struction of a short spur from the The motor car plunged down a LA&W track to the coal bunkers, Everything Hauled by Trolley 25 - foot embankment and over­ but at Bates, it was necessary to According to the Electric Rail­ turned, but the trailer remained build a fairly long track from way Journal of March 11, 1916, upright. Motorman .John Osgood Campus Avenue through Bardwell less-than-carload shipments, which and the freight messenger, William Street to the heating plant at the were handled in the box motors, Cotton, escaped injury. The scenery rear of Hathorne Hall. included fruits, vegetables, meats, was transferred from the over­ Portland R.R. Quit Freight Early groceries, hardware, drygoods and turned car to another box motor, other commodities drawn from the the trailer was rerailed and the trip The Portland Railroad discontin­ ued its freight service on .July 13, larger centers to the smaller cities to Portland was completed. 1920, terminating the joint opera­ Coal Hauling a Boon to Freight and towns. tion inaugurated 5112 years earlier. The trailers were used for the The LA& W freight business took The Androscoggin & Kennebec carload shipments of livestock, on a new dimension in 1917 when Railway, LA&W successor, took canned factory products, coal, lum­ the railway company purchased the over the Portland Railroad's freight ber cordwood, stone, gravel and wharf of the former Whitmore Coal rights between Portland and Yar-

BOX MOTOR 508 and gondola motor 652 on Commercial Street, neur Oak Street, Bath.-[Photo by Roger Borrup

" G-41. TROLLEYS TO BRUNSWICK, MAINE Page 41.

PLOW No. 1018 of the An· droscoggin & Kennebec Rail­ way is shown on Pleasant Street, Brunswick. -[Photo­ graph from Edward D. Leavitt .·

mouth and continued operating Portland - Lewiston freight service abandonment of the Lisbon Falls­ freight trains into Portland. on its own and operated motor Bath trackage in 1937 but the A&K However, because the new ter­ trucks through part of the former and the Lewiston-Auburn Transit minal on the Portland waterfront A&K territory north and east of Company continued to haul freight had been sold by the Portland Rail­ Lewiston - to G a r d i n e r and cars between the Lewiston inter­ road, the A&K ran to the Atlantic Augusta. change with the Maine Central and Express Company's terminal on After 1932, the freight business the Lewiston Bleachery until the Cross Street. of the A&K consisted only of the late summer of 1941. Freight service between Portland coal traffic between Bath and Lew­ After motorization of the Lewis­ and Lewiston also was provided by iston and the switching services in ton and Auburn lines by the transit the Portland - Lewiston Interurban the two cities. company, the Maine Central built and for a few years, there was The coal business and the switch­ its own track from the freight yard enough business for both the A&K ing service in Bath ended with the into the bleachery. and the P-LI. But, as motor truck competition increased in the mid-1920s, patron­ Transportation Bulletin age of the trolley freight and ex­ Published by the Publication Committee of the Connecticut Valley Chapter, Inc., of the press service decreased and soon National Railway Historical Society, Inc., at Warehouse Point, Connecticut. Roger Borrup, Editor, P. o. Box 232, warehouse Point, Conn. 06088. there wasn't enough traffic to war­ rant competition between the two No. 7:{ January - December 1966 railways. We regret to inform our reader!> Conn., a charter member and Trip So, on February 1, 1929, the two of the demise of four of our con­ Committee chairman of Connecti­ companies joined forces with a uni­ tributors, supporters and fellow cut Valley Chapter, Inc., N.R.H.S., fied freight operation between railfans during the last year. died March 29, 1966. He was a Portland and Lewiston via the e Everett L. Murray, who was supervisor in the Yale University interurban and the service via Yar­ the spark plug behind Bulletin 66 Library. mouth and Brunswick was discon­ on his favorite Norfolk & Bristol O Carleton E. Tucker of Whit­ tinued. This was an important Street Railway, died in July 1965. man, Mass., electrical engineering factor in abandonment of the line He was helping gather information professor at M.I.T., died in April between Brunswick and Yarmouth on the Athol & Orange trolley line 1966. He had written Brockton later in the year. at the time of his death. Most re­ Street Railway for No. 63 and This joint freight service was cently he had lived in a converted Taunton Street Railway for No. 68 continued by the Portland-Lewiston Rutland passenger car at Naukeag of Transportation Bulletin and was Interurban and the A&K until station near Ashburnham, Mass . working on other Eastern Mass. .July 31, 1932, when the A&K e Donald E. Shaw of Springfield, stories at the time of his death. abandoned its entire Augusta Di­ Mass., died in November 1965. He All of these men had wonderful vision - from Sabattus northeast­ had written some of our earlier recollections of New England's rail erly to Gardiner, Augusta and histories such as Claremont Rail­ and trolley systems, and various Waterville and from Augusta to way, Bennington & Glastenbu~y plans were underway to set down the present Veterans Administra­ and Conway Electric Street Rail­ in print things they were familiar tion Ilospital in Togus. way. with. We shall sorely miss their Until the interurban was aban­ e Edward G. Kelly of New Haven, knowledge and talents. doned on June 29, 1933, it provided 42. TRANSPORTATION BULLETIN G-42. Trolleys lo Brunswick, Maine

CHARLES A. DUNCAN snapped this view of Bath-bound No. 122 on Maine Street. Brunswick i:n 1937. Running ahead of the paso;enger car is a freight motor hauling a coal trailer-the last over-the-line freight haul business.

CROSSl:\TG the new Rrullswiek-Topsham bridge, No. 126 is shown enroute to Lewiston. -[G. Cunningham Photo