Boston and Maine Railroad

History

The Andover and Wilmington Railroad was incorporated March 15, 1833, to build a branch from the Boston and Lowell Railroad at Wilmington, Massachusetts, north to Andover, Massachusetts. The line opened to Andover on August 8, 1836. The name was changed to the Andover and Haverhill Railroad on April 18, 1837, reflecting plans to build further to Haverhill, Massachusetts (opened later that year), and yet further to Portland, Maine, with renaming to the Boston and Portland Railroad on April 3, 1839, opening to the New Hampshire state line in 1840.

The Boston and Maine Railroad was chartered in New Hampshire on June 27, 1835, and the Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts Railroad was incorporated March 12, 1839, in Maine, both companies continuing the proposed line to South Berwick, Maine. The railroad opened in 1840 to Exeter, New Hampshire, and on January 1, 1842, the two companies merged with the Boston and Portland to form a new Boston and Maine Railroad.

On February 23, 1843, the B&M opened to 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 Railroad Extension was incorporated on 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 on July 1, leading to the abandonment of the old connection to the B&L (later reused by the B&L for its Wildcat Branch). In 1848, another original section was abandoned, as a new alignment was built from Wilmington north to North Andover, Massachusetts in order to better serve Lawrence, Massachusetts.

A new alignment to Portland opened in 1873, splitting from the old route at South Berwick, Maine. The old route remained a part of the Eastern Railroad's Main Line (described below). This completed the B&M "main line", which would become known as the Western Route Main Line.

Acquisitions

As the B&M grew, it also gained control of former rivals, including:

On March 28, 1883, the boards of directors of B&M and the Eastern Railroad Company voted to ratify the proposition that Eastern Railroad would be leased by B&M. However, a disagreement about the wording of the contract delayed its execution until December 2, 1884. On May 9, 1890, B&M purchased Eastern Railroad outright. This provided a second route to Maine, ending competition along the immediate route between Boston and Portland. Along with the Eastern, the B&M also acquired many branch lines, including the Conway Branch, the Saugus Branch, the South Reading Branch, and branches to Marblehead and Rockport, Massachusetts.

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.

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).

The Northern Railroad was leased to the Boston and Lowell in 1884, but that lease was canceled and the Northern was on its own until 1890, when it was re-leased to the B&L, then part of the B&M. The Northern owned a number of lines running west from Concord.

20th century

The B&M flourished with the growth of New England's mill towns in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, but still faced financial struggles. It came under the control of J. P. Morgan and his New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad around 1910, but anti-trust forces wrested control back. Coal merchant John Leander Billard attempted a hostile takeover in 1914. Later, it faced heavy debt problems from track construction and from the cost of acquiring the Fitchburg Railroad, causing a corporate reorganization in 1919.

Beginning in the 1930s, freight business was hurt by the leveling-off of New England manufacturing growth and by new competition from trucking. In 1925, B&M reported 2956 million net ton-miles of revenue freight and 740 million passenger-miles; at the end of the year it operated 2291 route-miles, including "42.85 miles of electric street railway". (Those totals do not include B&C, M&WR, StJ&LC or YH&B.)

The B&M's most traveled and well known passenger trains included the Alouette, Ambassador, Cheshire, Day White Mountains, East Wind, Green Mountain Flyer, Gull, Kennebec, Minute Man, Montrealer/Washingtonian, Mountaineer, Pine Tree, Red Wing, and State of Maine. The B&M even promoted its passenger trains with the Timetable Marble radio advertisement. However, the popularization of the automobile doomed B&M as a passenger carrier.

After steady growth from 1901 to 1913, passenger rail ridership around Boston peaked in 1920 and began to decline due to competition from private automobiles and service cuts during World War I. In the mid-1920s, after several difficult years, the B&M discontinued service on some marginal lines and began using small self-propelled railcars on others. A second round of discontinuances occurred from 1931 to 1936 as the Great Depression reduced traffic. Ridership sharply increased during World War II; the B&M had a slower postwar decline than its contemporaries, though major frequency reductions occurred in 1949–1950. The B&M began testing Budd Rail Diesel Cars (RDCs) in 1952; in 1954, the railroad decided to switch all commuter service to RDCs to cut costs.

Discontinuances in the 1920s and 1930s primarily affected minor branches and rural intercity routes, but the 1950s saw the loss of more significant intercity routes. September, 1952 saw the first cut to the four main intercity mainlines, as Eastern Route service was cut from Portland, Maine to Portsmouth, New Hampshire. (Portland continued to see service to Boston on the Western Route through Dover, New Hampshire.) The New York–Montreal Green Mountain Flyer/Mount Royal, which had Boston sections running on the B&M via Bellows Falls, ended when the Rutland Railroad discontinued all passenger service, in 1953. The northern section of the Boston–Wells River, Vermont route ended in 1954 (thus ending connections to Quebec City), as did Manchester–Portsmouth service. Concord–Claremont Junction service ended in 1955, and the Boston section of the Ambassador was reduced to a Boston–White River Junction RDC connecting train in 1956. Fitchburg mainline service was trimmed from Troy, New York, to Williamstown, Massachusetts, in January 1958, and discontinued soon afterward.

21st century

Guilford Rail System changed its name to Pan Am Railways in 2006. Up until CSX Transportation acquired Pan Am Railways on June 1, 2022, Boston & Maine Corporation continued to exist, but only as a non-operating ward of PAR. Boston & Maine owned the property (and also employed its own railroad police), while Springfield Terminal Railway, a B&M subsidiary created by owner Timothy Mellon to break the unions' higher wage scales, operated the trains and performed maintenance. Pan Am Railways and all its subsidiaries are now owned by CSX.

Pan Am entered a joint venture with Norfolk Southern Railway (NS) in April, 2009 to form Pan Am Southern (PAS). PAR transferred to the PAS assets that included its 155-mile (249 km) main line track between Mechanicville, New York, and Ayer, Massachusetts, including the Hoosac Tunnel and Fitchburg line as far as Littleton, Massachusetts, and 281 miles (452 km) of secondary and branch lines, plus trackage rights, in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York and Vermont. NS transferred cash and other property valued at $140 million to the joint venture, $87.5 million of which was expected to be invested within a three-year period in capital improvements on the Patriot Corridor, such as terminal expansions, track and signal upgrades. Springfield Terminal provides all railroad services for the joint venture.

Service at B&M's former yard in Mechanicville, New York, was restored as an intermodal and automotive terminal in January 2012, under PAS.

Incidents

A number of accidents and train wrecks occurred during the railroad's history; various examples of incidents that were reported in local or regional newspapers follow. All equipment involved was Boston & Maine, unless noted as a third party.

On November 26, 1905, an express train rear-ended a local passenger train in Lincoln, Massachusetts, resulting in the deaths of 15 passengers and two railroad employees.

On October 4, 1906, a military special train rear-ended a stopped passenger train at Lansingburgh, New York, resulting in the deaths of five people on the passenger train; a sixth died later in hospital.

On September 15, 1907, a significant wreck occurred near Canaan, New Hampshire. Four miles (6.4 km) west of Canaan Station, the southbound Quebec to Boston express, crowded with passengers returning from the Sherbrooke Fair, collided head-on with a northbound freight train. The accident claimed 26 lives, and 17 others were seriously injured. The accident was found to be due to a mistake made by a dispatcher, who mis-identified a train in one of his communications.

On October 2, 1907, a passenger train and a freight train suffered a head-on collision in Worcester, Massachusetts, at Barber's Crossing. There were no fatalities, but multiple passengers and crew members were injured. The accident was attributed to the engineer of the passenger train violating a block signal.

On March 20, 1908, two freight trains had a head-on collision approximately 1+1⁄2 miles (2.4 km) south of Haverhill, New Hampshire, resulting in the deaths of four crew members.

On September 21, 1909, near the Pattee station in the West Canaan village of Canaan, New Hampshire, the Montreal Express had a rear-end collision with the Quebec Express. The Quebec Express had trouble maintaining speed and failed to adequately warn the Montreal Express. No passengers died, but an engineer and fireman on the Montreal Express were killed, as was a trespasser who had been riding on that train outside the baggage car.

Named passenger trains

The B&M operated a number of named passenger trains, which were often the premier intercity service on their routes. Most were through service that were shared between the B&M and other railroads, including the Canadian National Railway (CN), Canadian Pacific Railway (CP), Central Vermont Railway (CV), Maine Central Railroad (MEC), New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad (NH), Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR), Quebec Central Railway (QC), and Rutland Railroad (RUT). Trains originating in New York City or Washington, D.C., ran through Springfield (using the Connecticut River Line) or Worcester (using the Worcester Branch) and bypassed Boston. Certain commuter trains with wealthy clientele were also named; several of these lasted into the MBTA era. These tables list major named intercity trains operated by the B&M.

Surviving equipment

The 1935 three-car trainset known as the Flying Yankee, virtually identical to the streamlined equipment the Budd Company built for the Chicago Burlington & Quincy Pioneer Zephyr, was retired in 1957 and was then displayed at the Railroad for another 36 years. The equipment was relocated and eventually purchased by the State of Maine, but both public and private restoration efforts were unsuccessful. In November 2023, the state of New Hampshire put the equipment up for sale, with a focus on "the relocation and encouraged restoration" of the trainset. In April 2024, the trainset was sold to the Flying Yankee Association, who hopes to restore and operate the set in the Mt. Washington Valley, with a possibility of running it on the Conway Scenic Railroad. The trainset was moved to North Conway where it regained its trucks.

Five steam locomotives are also preserved with all being located in the northeast. These consist of 0-6-0 no. 410 in Lowell, Massachusetts, 0-6-0 no. 444 in Dunkirk, New York, 4-4-0 no. 494 at the White River Junction station in White River Junction, Vermont, 2-6-0 no. 1455 at the Danbury Railway Museum in Danbury, Connecticut, and 4-6-2 no. 3713 at Steamtown National Historic Site in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Additionally, a sixth locomotive (4-6-2 no. 3666) is still around being submerged in the Piscataqua River in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.