Boston and Maine Corporation
The Boston and Maine Railroad (BM, and B & M) is a former railway company in the northeastern United States of America. It had its headquarters in Boston (Massachusetts ) and was owned by an independent 1835 until 1983. The main axis of the railway ran from Boston to Portland ( Maine). The Boston & Maine took over in the course of its history numerous branch and parallel paths that route, including some competitors. Most sections of the society pointed to the 1435 millimeters ( standard gauge ), only the route of the former Profile and Franconia Notch Railroad was built in 914 -mm track, but was later partially umgespurt.
Since 1983, the B & M Guilford Transportation, the railroad company was spun off in 2006 as Pan Am Railways heard. The transport to Boston has been operated since 1973 by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, the distance passenger transport on the main routes Boston - Portland and Springfield - White River Junction Amtrak operates by.
- 4.1 References
- 4.2 Literature
- 4.3 External links
History
Development of the axis Boston - Maine
In the early days of the railroad had first begun to tap into the more densely populated areas. The sparsely populated Maine was in 1833 still remained entirely without railway connection. In order to develop at least the somewhat more densely populated south-west of the state, the plan was the mid- 1830s a train track parallel to the coast from Boston to Portland erect. Already on 15 March 1833, the Andover and Wilmington Railroad was established, which built a short connecting route from Wilmington to the existing line of the Boston and Lowell Railroad to Andover and opened in 1836. This railway was renamed changing the Bauziels on 7 April 1837 in Andover and Haverhill Railroad. The railway reached Bradford still 1837. Finally done with the beginning of the continuing construction in the direction of Maine, on 3 April 1839, renamed in Boston and Portland Railroad. However, the company only had a license for the approximately 32 kilometer stretch in the state of Massachusetts, which was completed in 1840.
In New Hampshire, one founded on 27 June 1835, the Boston and Maine Railroad of New Hampshire, serving from the beginning only as a link between Boston and Portland in Massachusetts and a yet to be established railway company in Maine and located in New Hampshire portion of the main railway Boston should build - Portland. This date is therefore considered the birth of the Boston & Maine. She opened the route from the border to Exeter in 1840.
In Maine, finally, the Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts Railroad was established on 30 March 1836. You should lengthen the distance from the border with New Hampshire initially to South Berwick.
From the three names of the companies already the ultimate goal of the states of Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine showed join. For this reason, the three lanes merged with effect from January 1, 1842 for the Boston and Maine Railroad. The remaining distance to Agamenticus went on 2 February 1843 in operation. The section from there to Portland, the Portland, Saco and Portsmouth Railroad had already opened the end of 1842 as part of their main line Portland Portsmouth.
After a dispute over the rights of the shared route Boston - Wilmington B & M decided to build their own route on this section. For the B & M specifically the Boston and Maine Railroad Extension founded on 16 March 1844 but which has been already incorporated on March 19, 1845 in the Boston & Maine. The route via Reading was opened on 1 July 1845, the link from Wilmington to Wilmington Junction decommissioned in 1848. This section was later reopened by the Boston & Lowell.
To help to bind the City Lawrence to the main line, moved the Boston & Maine in 1848 its main line between North Andover and Ballardvale a few kilometers to the west. The old route was shut down.
1873 opened the Boston & Maine own route between South Berwick and Portland, which ran over Kennebunk, Saco and Old Orchard Beach.
Acquisition of branch - and competing routes
The Medford Branch Railroad was founded on March 7, 1845 was planning to join the site Medford ( Massachusetts ) to the Boston & Maine. The small company was bought as early as 1846 by the B & M, which opened the 2.91 km long branch line north of Boston the following year.
The Eastern Railroad, the eastern competition on the way from Boston to Maine, had their distance from Boston completed until after Portsmouth and also about the Portland, Saco and Portsmouth Railroad ( PSPR ) a railway connection to Maine in operation. The Boston & Maine then entered into a contract with the Eastern on the common leasing of PSPR, which became effective on 28 April 1847. Operated until the takeover of the Eastern Railroad by the Boston & Maine on December 23, 1883, two companies 82.5 kilometer route Portsmouth Portland together.
With the Danvers Railroad on May 1, 1853, the Newburyport Railroad on 21 February 1860 the Dover and Winnipiseogee Railroad on November 1, 1863, of West Amesbury Branch Railroad on January 9, 1873 the Lowell and Andover Railroad on December 1 1874 and the Kennebunk Kennebunkport and Railroad on May 15, 1883, then leased in the following years, six smaller companies, which operated together about 134 km distances.
In the following years after they began more and more to take on rival companies and larger branch railways in New Hampshire and Vermont. The end of 1883 made the Eastern Railroad, as mentioned to start with. On January 1, 1886, the Worcester, Nashua and Rochester Railroad followed, the 152 km long railway line Worcester (Massachusetts ) to Rochester (New Hampshire) combined.
The Boston and Lowell Railroad, the Boston & Maine with the already in the 1840s had disputes could be leased, including the self leased by that company tracks on 1 April 1887. Thus, the contracts went to the Central Massachusetts Railroad, Boston, Concord and Montreal Railroad, St. Johnsbury and Lake Champlain Railroad and the Connecticut and Passumpsic Rivers Railroad at the B & M on. However, the Boston, Concord & Montreal seceded from September 19, 1889, merged with the Concord Railroad to Concord and Montreal Railroad. The Boston & Maine leased this company again on 1 April 1895. The lease, which the Boston & Lowell for 99 years had with the Northern Railroad, initially was not transferred to the B & M. It was only on January 1, 1890, the extensive network was west of Concord (New Hampshire ) will be taken.
In the meantime, leased for 50 years from 1 June 1887, the Manchester and Lawrence Railroad, the same year they took over the York Harbor and Beach Railroad. With the beginning of 1893 was also the Connecticut River Railroad, which ran the main route between Springfield (Massachusetts ) and White River Junction, on the Boston & Maine. In the same year the Orchard Beach Railroad was incorporated.
A second connection to Portland won the Boston and Maine Railroad on New Year's Day 1900, when it acquired the Portland and Rochester Railroad. The nearly 85 -kilometer-long railway between Rochester and Portland had been a major competitor for the traffic to Maine.
The Fitchburg Railroad, which was leased on 1 July 1900, represented the western reaches of the B & M network represents the route went from Boston to Albany ( New York) and ran through the Hoosac Tunnel, a 7.6 kilometer railway tunnel through the Hoosac Range, the longest mountain tunnel in North America until 1928 and is still the longest outside of the Rocky Mountains. The route through the tunnel was from 1911 one of the first electric railway in North America.
Beginning of the 20th century acquired the Boston & Maine also the majority shareholder in the Maine Central Railroad, which operated a vast railway network in Maine and New Hampshire. This had almost a monopoly of the B & M in New England. But this society remained largely independent.
The Boston and Maine Railroad itself was taken over in 1910 for a short time by JP Morgan, the owner of New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad. Since the shareholders of B & M, however, rebelled against it, soon to take over the control could already be undone. Due to financial difficulties had to 1919, the Boston & Maine are translated founded to give the name of what you took the opportunity to take over the leased companies final.
The end of the railway company
1925 sold the Boston & Maine route Wells River Sherbrooke, who had come through the acquisition of the Boston & Lowell in their possession, to the Quebec Central Railway, which was later adopted by the Canadian Pacific Railway. The last expansion of the network took place in 1949 through the purchase of the Springfield Terminal Railway, which continued to exist as Springfield Terminal Co. as a subsidiary.
After the freight and passenger transport declined sharply as early as the 1930s, presented the Boston & Maine 1966 remote passenger one. Only the transport to Boston remained under the help of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority ( MBTA ) is obtained, which acquired 1973 vehicles and commuter trains to Boston.
In December 1970, the B & M declared bankruptcy. There was a new reorganization. After the financial restructuring we modernized the tracks and signaling systems and leased new rail vehicles. Finally, the Guilford Transportation in 1983 acquired the ailing company for only 24 million U.S. dollars. The operation of the railway network was transferred to the Springfield Terminal, which operated as ST Rail system from that date. In 2001, Amtrak opened on the tracks of the former Boston & Maine an express train ( " Downeaster " ) Boston - Portland with four daily trains in each direction. In Portland, but the trains do not stop at Union Station, the former main railway station of the city, but at a new station at Thompson 's Point on the former MEC route to Vermont, where they can be switched to Bangor in the long distance buses.
In addition, the Vermonter is traveling once daily the route of the former Connecticut River Railroad ( Springfield - White River Junction ).
Accidents
On January 6, 1853, the express train derailed from Boston to Lawrence at a speed of 64 km / h than at Andover an axle broke. Three coaches plunged down the embankment and broke. The baggage car and the locomotive remain on the track bed. Among the three dead was the twelve -year-old son of the future U.S. President Franklin Pierce. Initially it was reported that even the politicians themselves lost his life because he was on board the train. However, this survived with severe bruising.
In the early morning of September 15, 1907, due to human error six kilometers north of Canaan (New Hampshire), a head-on collision of an express train from Quebec took to Boston with a moving northward freight train. The Express transported the guests a trade back to the south and was accordingly crowded. 25 people died and many more were seriously injured. Since that day, there was fog, the Express was late. Then moved a dispatcher Train meeting in West Canaan, but were mistakenly " Canaan " on, whereupon the Express in West Canaan went through and on the open road with the freight train that had received the correct station, crashed. The Boston & Maine named then to the West Railway Station in Canaan " Pattee ".
Statistics
In fiscal year 1909/10, net sales amounted to about 12.8 million U.S. dollars. There were transported 47.3 million passengers and 22.8 million tons of goods. On June 30, 1910, the Company 1,133 locomotives, 1,826 passenger cars (including 285 baggage - mail car and 34 ), 25 195 freight cars and 999 other vehicles were available.