. . . And Never the Trains Shall Meet

I got to thinking a day or two ago about rail lines that (in my opinion) should have been connected, never were, and why that was the case. Examples:
1. The Lewiston Lower Branch and the Back Road of the MEC. They come within about a mile of each other in Lewiston, but a connection was never made.
2. Ditto the old Saratoga & Schuylerville Branch of the B&M and the Delaware & Hudson main, which originally ran through downtown Saratoga.
3. The Rockland Branch of the MEC and the Belfast & Moosehead Lake, which at one time was also part of the MEC (leased thereto). This would have required going around Mount Battie somehow, but the mountain could have been circumvented to the west. For that matter, why was a through line all the way up the coast to Bucksport never built?
4. The most glaringly obvious: a connection between North and South Station, especially given that Mellen at one time owned both the B&M and the New Haven.

Any insights, or am I just venting my stupidity?

trainsinmaine wrote:I got to thinking a day or two ago about rail lines that (in my opinion) should have been connected, never were, and why that was the case. Examples:
1. The Lewiston Lower Branch and the Back Road of the MEC. They come within about a mile of each other in Lewiston, but a connection was never made.
2. Ditto the old Saratoga & Schuylerville Branch of the B&M and the Delaware & Hudson main, which originally ran through downtown Saratoga.
3. The Rockland Branch of the MEC and the Belfast & Moosehead Lake, which at one time was also part of the MEC (leased thereto). This would have required going around Mount Battie somehow, but the mountain could have been circumvented to the west. For that matter, why was a through line all the way up the coast to Bucksport never built?
4. The most glaringly obvious: a connection between North and South Station, especially given that Mellen at one time owned both the B&M and the New Haven.

Any insights, or am I just venting my stupidity?

Different railroads built those lines as competing routes to the same geographical regions, which is why they never connected even after the railroad monopolists started buying up route in sight...no matter how duplicate. That's certainly the reason for #1 and #2. In some cases like North Station and South Station they were never under unified ownership right through to the very end of the private era. It was 1976 before the MBTA took over outright ownership of the northside and southside commuter rail networks and was even able to intermingle equipment and ops between the two halves under a common operator. By that point downtown Boston was as built-up as it is today, and they were already talking about the need for the Big Dig.

Aside from the competitive corporate aspect mentioned by Mr. F-Line, what real economic incentive was there to build those lines? Your examples 1, 2, and 3 involve lightly used branchlines (even back in the good ol' days) with minimal prospect for any significant new business had your proposed connections been built. (Plus in the case of Lewiston there was a geographical impediment in the form of a significant difference in elevation between the branch and the back road.) As for North Station and South Station, then as now the overwhelming majority of passengers using those stations were headed for Boston as a final destination rather than connecting to the other side of town, and for those who were, the Atlantic Avenue El provided a direct connection during the first part of the twentieth century when the B&M, NH, and B&A might have conceivably collaborated on building a connection through downtown Boston. And at that time through service between Maine and NH points existed via Worcester, and B&M-B&A connections could also be made at Worcester Union Station, so potential through passengers had another alternative. The economic incentive for a cross-Boston connection was minimal compared to the cost, and my opinion is that it remains so today.

Is one of the reasons the Lewiston Branch and the Back Road did not connect a significant difference in elevation, like at Fall River where the Fall River RR and the Watuppa Branch never connected, major abrupt change in elevation.

And the New Haven and B&M branches in Marlboro, MA which are shown in many old maps as connecting: although there was maybe a quarter of a mile distance between the two, the B&M ended on a ridge more than 50 feet higher than the New Haven.

Except the idea for connecting the Watuppa and Fall River main was actually
proposed and drawn up. The Watuppa Branch would have joined the Fall River main
just south of Davol Street via a long tunnel!

D

Boston North and South stations were directly connected for freight by surface street-running tracks, and for passengers by the Atlantic Avenue EL. Theoretically you could have run a passenger train on those freight rails directly.

As mentioned, Boston was the destination for most. And cheap 3-seat solutions are available via subway/EL, so there were not enough thru passengers to justify the cost either in the 1890's or today. If steam passenger trains would have been run over the Atlantic EL, that would have been a one or two seat solution.

Couple of white mountain routes from Lincoln, NH. Heading north toward thru Franconia notch(I believe a narrow gauge line made it as far south as Profile lake), and also from Lincoln heading east along the Kangamgus toward Conway. I know a patchwork of logging lines almost connected Lincoln-Conway areas.