February 1918, of Calais Shops

First In A Series Mountain Road Is Rugged Railroading Railroad shops and enginehouses represent a giant industry providing Subdivision Provides Important Traffic Gateway employment to a large army of work• ers and contributing through payrolls to the prosperity of hundreds of cities (Feature Pictures on Page* 12-13) and towns throughout the country. It Performance of service per freight is estimated that these construction car is one measure of efficiency in the and repair plants embrace 2,825 build• The Maine Central's Mountain Sub• vision, is a story in itself. Briefly, railroad business. The average rail• ings. way-owned freight car in the United * * # division stands unique not only on 82 years ago the Portland and Ogdens- burg Railroad sought a passageway States in 1950 performed the equiv• our system, but also as representative for east-west traffic through the alent of moving a ton of freight 972 In October, 1951, for the first of some of the most colorful railroad• formidable barrier of the White miles daily, compared with 858 miles month since the outbreak of the ing in the East. Mountains. A one-time Indian war• daily in 1949. The peace-time record Korean War, railroads and car build• path was chosen as the only possible was reached in 1947, when the average ers succeeded in completing and de• It is the only part of our railroad livering 10,000 new freight cars. that operates in three states—Maine, route. From 1870-1875 the track was freight car performed the equivalent This means that a freight car came New Hampshire and Vermont. It laid, sections at a time, from Port• of moving a ton of freight 1,057 miles off the assembly lines every 4% min• has the steepest grades in the short• land, Me., to Fabyan, N. H. and from daily. Daily freight car performance utes night and day, seven days a est distances on the system. It has Scott's Junction, the other side of reached its all-time peak during week, throughout the month. the highest trestle, the shortest track Whitefield, N. H., to Lunenburg, Vt. World War II when an average of * * * sections. At one point in Crawford A 17-mile gap from Fabyans to 1,113 ton-miles daily was attained. Notch the sun never touches the iron Scott's remained until 1888 when the Before the war, the greatest average Height, not age, determines the for five months of the year. line was rushed to completion before daily performance for a freight car fare to be collected from passengers its charter expired. Then leased to was reached in 1940 when 664 ton- on the railroads of North China. All The early history of the Mountain the Maine Central, the Mountain road miles were reported. passengers over 4 ft. 3 in. pay full road, called "Subdivision" because it's connected with the St. Johnsbury * * * fare; those from 4 ft. 3 in. to 2 ft. 6 actually a part of our Portland di• and Lake Champlain Railroad (now in. pay one-half fare; and those under Fifty years ago the railroads could 2 ft. 6 in. travel free. have purchased locomotive and cars to form a 100-car freight train for not * * * more than $100,000. Today a 100-car Seventeen years ago the first suc• diesel-powered freight train (exclu• cessful streamliner passenger trains sive of cargo) may represent an in• were introduced. There are now more vestment of more than $1,000,000. than 300 streamliners in service in A three-unit diesel locomotive, cost• the United States—by far the largest ing about $153,000 per unit, adds up number operated in any country on to $459,000. Ninety-nine steel freight the globe. cars, averaging around $5,700 each, will cost $564,000; and a caboose will cost $11,000, bringing the total cost In 1950, wood preserving plants in up to $1,034,000. the United States subjected 109,498,- 000 cubic feet of cross ties and 8,974,- For every man, woman and child in 000 cubic feet of switch ties to chem• the United States and every soldier in ical pressure treatment. In addition, foreign service the railroads last year they treated by the same process, performed the equivalent of hauling a 170,316,000 cubic feet of poles, piles, ton of freight 4,146 miles, according lumber, fence posts, telegraph and to preliminary estimates. This com• telephone cross arms and other woods pares with an all-time high of 5,363 —a total of 289,000,000 cubic, feet, miles in 1944, the peak year of World much of which was for use by the railroads. THE FAMOUS Frankenstein Trestle in Crawford Notch is 518 feet long and towers 1,300 feet above the Saco River War II. through the valley floor below Bartlett on our line is the skiers' and Quebec Junction and Beecher paradise, the resort country, the fa• Falls. mous Eastern Slopes Region, but up When big freight RY-2 strains in in here through the Notch the mountains the pre-dawn darkness, the Bartlett reach straight up, and they're all force have the helpers serviced and rock. Responsible for keeping the the crew ready. The big job has Notch plowed out in the Winter and usually hauled out of Rigby with two on constant guard for ice and sliding or three 1,500 hp diesels on the head shale in the Spring is Track Super• end, so Bartlett engine 334 since it is visor A. S. Dodge and his force. a multiple unit, is coupled up with There are no motor cars up here. 331, 332 or 333 on the rear ahead of The men walk their sections, the the caboose as pushers over the hill. shortest on the system—3% miles as When the big job roars into Craw- compared to 8 miles on the mainline. fords, there's been 8,100 "horses" get• This is the site of our Frankenstein ting it there. The helpers are taken trestle, 518 feet long and towering off, RY-2 heads for St. Johnsbury and 1,300 feet above the valley floor be• the helpers go back down the hill to low. First built in 1875, it was re• Bartlett. placed in 1893 and again in 1929 when a second steel trestle was prac• HERE'S the Gilman Extra approaching Sawyer's River tically built around it. Two miles west of the trestle is Willey House, Lamoille County) and with the Ca• A single startling example of what former station and now company- nadian Pacific at St. Johnsbury, and this traffic means to the Maine Cen• supplied home for Foreman Joe Burke. It's here that from November to the Grand Trunk at North Stratford. tral was recorded Jan. 9. On that date Conductor C. J. Boutwell and March the sun never strikes the build• THE TRAFFIC STORY Engineer Herb Amidon on Train RY2 ing or track, huddled as it is, in the watched records fall as they hauled lee of the mountains. Then there's To the layman, and to some rail• Foreman J. B. McCann and his men roaders for that matter, it's difficult 69 cars and 15 empties into St. Johnsbury for a total of 4,260 tons, at Sawyer's River and Foreman Cor• to picture the Mountain Subdivision nelius J. Griffin and his crew at Craw• as an important gateway for our east- the most tonnage ever into that point and they hung up a mark of handling ford's. And no story of the Mountain west traffic. 93 loaded and 19 empties for a total would be complete without mention of A glance at any railroad map re• of 5,714 tons! Jim Chadbourne and his extra crew veals our delivery to the Canadian that man the plows up through the An equally illuminating example of Notch. Technically, track mainte• Pacific and Grand Tiunk on a direct, the Subdivision's major role as a practically straight line with Detroit, nance is no different on the Mountain, revenue-producer lies in its "over• there's just more to it, and there's Mich. head" traffic, i.e., traffic not origi• ASSISTANT TRAINMASTER on the Mountain is much silent admiration for the moun• John Robertson The Mountain Subdivision offers nating on our lines. In one month as tain men. an extremely desirable service to ship• many as 800-900 cars of overhead pers on Maine Central lines who have traffic may be handled eastbound and THE OPERATING STORY from 900-1,000 cars westbound. Paper BARTLETT, AND THE HELPERS commodities destined for the Mid- A single passenger train, 162 up to and paper products often account for West, both in cost and in delivery For five miles out of Bartlett the St. Johnsbury and 163 returning, 500 cars per month; forest products time. For example, our trains 375- upgrade is a relatively easy 1.5 per operates on the Mountain Subdivision, from 100-125. We receive some 376, the big night freights from Port• cent, but beginning at Notchland and and while lightly patronized, still of• months as many as 100 cars of cotton land to St. Johnsbury, offer "fourth for eight miles up the Notch, our mo• fers for the railroad enthusiast year and 200 cars of grain and grain prod• a.m." service between Chicago and tive power must overcome 2.2 per 'round, some of the most spectacular ucts along with many cars of packing Portland, which means merchandise cent grade and continuous rugged scenic splendor in New England.

Load more