Battis wrote:Basically, if you boarded a train in the 1890s in Lewiston, ME, would it have been a non-stop trip to Portland? If the train did make stops, would you have to change trains?
To get from my town (Amesbury, MA), to Boston, you'd take a train to Newburyport (3.8 miles), where you'd board another train to Boston.
The railroad situation in Maine in the 1890s was more complicated than it is today. There were at least three ways to get from Lewiston to Portland, each involving what were originally different railroads.
• One way was what is now Pan Am Railways' Freight Main Line, formerly Maine Central's "Back Road," from Lewiston Upper station* via Auburn and Danville Junction to Portland Union Station. This route is still an active freight line.
• Another way was what is now Pan Am/MeDOT's Lewiston Industrial Track, formerly Maine Central's "Lewiston Lower Road," from Lewiston Lower station* via Lisbon Falls to Brunswick, thence Maine Central's "Lower Road" from Brunswick via Freeport and Yarmouth Junction to Portland Union. This route is largely out of service; the tracks no longer go all the way to Lewiston. Between Brunswick and Portland, of course, the line is intact. It is PAR's Brunswick Branch and is the route of the
Downeaster.
• A third was what is now St. Lawrence & Atlantic, formerly Grand Trunk's, branch from Lewiston's Grand Trunk station* west through Auburn to the Montreal-Portland main line at Lewiston Junction, then on to Danville Junction and Yarmouth Junction to the Grand Trunk station at India Street on the Portland waterfront. This route is still largely active, except that the tracks from the Lewiston Grand Trunk station to Lewiston Junction have mostly been torn up and replaced by a trail, and the tracks on the Portland waterfront are gone because the line was severed when the Back Cove bridge burned and was not rebuilt.
• Finally, there was the Portland-Lewiston Interurban, an electric line that ran in city streets much like a streetcar in both Portland and Lewiston. Service ceased in 1933. I do not know if it was in service in 1890. Parts of the right-of-way are still visible in places.
As you can see, the Grand Trunk line paralleled, and crossed, the Maine Central's lines in several places.
You can easily trace all of the still-existing lines, and even most of the abandoned rights-of-way, on Google Maps or Bing. Here is a
public map that one of our members made for the Lewiston Lower Road. And here is
another public map of the Portland-Lewiston Interurban.
The first route would have provided through service without change. Whether any trains were non-stop, I do not know. The records I have do not go back to 1890.
The second route would have required a change in Brunswick, and I am certain any train on this branch would have made intermediate stops.
The third route may have required a change at Lewiston Junction or Danville Junction. Again, I do not know about service on this line in 1890.
The electric line of course made intermediate stops along the way, but I do not know where or how many.
*For the locations of stations in Lewiston, see the
Lewiston & Auburn Maine Passenger Stations thread.
Does this help to answer your questions?
--eastwind
Formerly of Pittsfield and Waterville (Maine), New York City, Montréal, and San Francisco.
