Boston and Maine Railroad
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1898_Boston_and_Maine_Railroad.jpg
The Boston and Maine Railroad Template:Reporting mark, also known by the abbreviation B&M, was the dominant railroad of the northern New England region of the United States for a century. It is now part of the Guilford Rail System network.
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History
The Andover and Wilmington Railroad was incorporated March 15, 1833 to build a branch from the Boston and Lowell Railroad at Wilmington, Massachusetts north to Andover. The line opened to Andover on August 8, 1836. The name was changed to the Andover and Haverhill Railroad on April 18, 1837, reflecting plans to build further to Haverhill (opened later that year), and yet further to Portland, Maine with the renaming to the Boston and Portland Railroad on April 3, 1839, opening to the New Hampshire state line in 1840.
The Boston and Maine Railroad was chartered in New Hampshire on June 27, 1835, and the Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts Railroad was incorporated March 12, 1839 in Maine, both companies continuing the proposed line to South Berwick, Maine. The railroad opened in 1840 to Exeter, New Hampshire, and on January 1, 1842 the two companies merged with the Boston and Portland to form a new Boston and Maine Railroad.
On February 23, 1843 the B&M opened to Agamenticus, on the line of the Portland, Saco and Portsmouth Railroad in South Berwick. On January 28 of that year the B&M and Eastern Railroad came to an agreement to both lease the PS&P as a joint line to Portland.
The Boston and Maine Extension Railroad was incorporated March 16, 1844, due to a dispute with the Boston and Lowell Railroad over trackage rights rates between Wilmington and Boston. That company was merged into the main B&M on March 19, 1845, and opened July 1, leading to the abandonment of the old connection to the B&L (later reused by the B&L for their Wildcat Branch). In 1848 another original section was abandoned, as a new alignment was built from Wilmington north to North Andover in order to better serve Lawrence.
A new alignment to Portland opened in 1873, splitting from the old route at South Berwick. The old route was later abandoned.
As the B&M grew, it also gained control of its former rivals. These acquisitions included the following:
- Eastern
The Eastern Railroad was leased by the B&M on December 23, 1883. This provided a second route to Maine, as well as many local branches, ending competition along the immediate route between Boston and Portland.
- Worcester, Nashua and Portland
The Worcester and Nashua Railroad was organized in 1845 (opened 1848) and the Nashua and Rochester Railroad in 1847, forming a line between Worcester, Massachusetts and Rochester, New Hampshire via Nashua. The W&N leased the N&R in 1874, and the two companies merged into the Worcester, Nashua and Rochester Railroad in 1883. The B&M leased the line on January 1, 1886. This acquisition also included the continuation from Rochester to Portland, Maine, incorporated in 1846 as the York and Cumberland Railroad. It opened partially in 1851 and 1853, was reorganized as the Portland and Rochester Railroad in 1867, and opened the rest of the way in 1871. It was again reorganized in 1881 and then operated in conjunction with the line to Worcester.
- Boston and Lowell
On April 1, 1887 the B&M leased the Boston and Lowell Railroad, adding not only trackage in the Boston area, but also the Central Massachusetts Railroad west to Northampton, the Boston, Concord and Montreal Railroad into northern New Hampshire, the St. Johnsbury and Lake Champlain Railroad to northwestern Vermont, and the Connecticut and Passumpsic Rivers Railroad from White River Junction into Quebec. However, the BC&M was separated in 1889 and merged with the Concord Railroad to form the Concord and Montreal Railroad, which the B&M leased on April 1, 1895, gaining the Concord Railroad's direct line between Nashua and Concord. Additionally, the St. Johnsbury and Lake Champlain Railroad, owned by the B&M through stock, was leased to the Maine Central Railroad by 1912. The Central Massachusetts Railroad stayed a part of the B&M, as did the Connecticut and Passumpsic Rivers Railroad (as the Passumpsic Division).
- Connecticut River
On January 1, 1893, the B&M leased the Connecticut River Railroad, with a main line from Springfield, Massachusetts north along the Conencticut River to White River Junction, Vermont, where the Connecticut and Passumpsic Rivers Railroad (acquired in 1887) continued north.
- Concord and Montreal
As discussed above, the B&M acquired the Boston, Concord and Montreal Railroad in 1887, but gave it up in 1889, allowing it to merge with the Concord Railroad to form the Concord and Montreal Railroad. That company did poorly on its own, and was leased by the B&M on April 1, 1895, giving the B&M the majority of lines in New Hampshire.
- Fitchburg
The B&M leased the Fitchburg Railroad on July 1, 1900. This was primarily a main line from Boston west via the Hoosac Tunnel to the Albany, New York area, with various branches.
At one point, the B&M also owned a majority of stock of the Maine Central Railroad, stretching from Quebec via northern New Hampshire to southern and eastern Maine.
The B&M flourished with the growth of New England's mill towns in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, but still faced financial struggles. It came under the control of J. P. Morgan and his New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad around 1910, but anti-trust forces wrested control back. Later it faced heavy debt problems from track construction and from the cost of acquiring the Fitchburg Railroad, causing a reorganization in 1919.
Beginning in the 1930s, freight business was hurt by the leveling off of New England manufacturing growth, and by new competition from trucking.
The popularization of the automobile doomed B&M as a passenger carrier. It gave up on long distance passenger service around 1960 and was able to continue Boston commuter service only by the aid of subsidies from the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. In 1973 the MBTA bought the rolling stock and tracks near Boston from the ailing B&M. By 1976 the B&M was bankrupt, resulting in the purchase and reorganization of the B&M by Timothy Mellon's Guilford Transportation Industries in 1983.
Branches
In addition to the major systems described above, the B&M also built or leased many shorter lines.
- Medford
The Medford Branch Railroad was incorporated in 1845 and absorbed by the B&M in 1846, opening in 1847. It provided a short connection from Medford Junction to Medford center, which the Boston and Lowell Railroad had bypassed.
- Saugus
The Saugus Branch Railroad was incorporated in 1848, opening in 1853 as a branch from the B&M at Edgeworth to Lynn via Saugus. The Eastern Railroad bought the line soon after and cut the connection to the B&M in 1855, connecting it instead to their new main line (the Grand Junction Railroad) at Everett Junction.
- Newburyport
The Newburyport Railroad was incorporated in 1846. It opened from Newburyport on the Eastern Railroad to Georgetown in 1849 and 1850, and west to the B&M at Bradford in 1851. The Danvers and Georgetown Railroad was organized in 1851 and opened in 1853, running from the Newburyport Railroad at Georgetown south to Danvers on the Essex Branch Railroad. Finally, the Danvers Railroad was incorporated in 1852 and opened in 1855, continuing the line from Danvers southwest to the B&M in Wakefield. The first two companies merged in 1855 to form a new Newburyport Railroad. The B&M leased the Danvers Railroad in 1853, and the combined Newburyport Railroad in 1860, making the line from Wakefield to Newburyport the main line and the one line to Bradford a branch.
- Lowell
The Lowell and Andover Railroad was organized in 1873, after the Boston and Lowell Railroad's monopoly on Boston-Lowell service ended, and the line opened in 1874 from the B&M at Lowell Junction in Andover west to Lowell, immediately being leased to the B&M.
- Methuen/Manchester
The Methuen Branch Railroad from the B&M in Lawrence through Methuen to the New Hampshire state line opened in 1849. Concurrently, the Manchester and Lawrence Railroad was chartered in 1847 and opened in 1849, continuing the line in New Hampshire to Manchester. The company leased the Methuen Branch, and leased itself to the Concord Railroad in 1850. That contract was terminated, and the B&M leased the line in 1887.
- Merrimac
The West Amesbury Branch Railroad was organized in 1868 and opened in 1873, branching from the B&M at Newton Junction in New Hampshire to Merrimac, Massachusetts (originally West Amesbury). The B&M immediately leased it.
- Alton Bay
The Cocheco Railroad was chartered in 1847 and opened in 1849 and 1851, running from the B&M in Dover to Alton Bay, New Hampshire. It was reorganized in 1863 as the Dover and Winnipiseogee Railroad and leased to the B&M. When the B&M leased the Concord and Montreal Railroad in 1895, it acquired the Lake Shore Railroad, a continuation past Alton Bay to the old Boston, Concord and Montreal Railroad mainline at Lakeport.
- Somersworth
The Somersworth Branch, originally the Great Falls Branch, connected the main line at Rollinsford, New Hampshire to Somersworth, where the Great Falls and Conway Railroad (later part of the Eastern Railroad system) continued north.
- Kennebunkport
The Kennebunk and Kennebunkport Railroad was organized in 1882 and opened in 1883 as a branch of the B&M at Kennebunk, Maine to Kennebunkport. It was immediately leased by the B&M.
- Orchard Beach
The Orchard Beach Railroad was incorporated in 1876 as a branch from the B&M in Old Orchard Beach to Camp Ellis on the Saco River. It opened in 1880 and the B&M bought it in 1893.
External links
- Boston & Maine Railroad Historical Society (http://www.trainweb.org/bmrrhs)
References
- Railroad History Database (http://www.earlpleasants.com/search_1.asp)
- Edward Appleton, Massachusetts Railway Commissioner, History of the Railways of Massachusetts (http://www.catskillarchive.com/rrextra/abnere1.Html) (1871)