MEC station at Fryeburg, Maine

According to the Wikipedia article on the MEC Mountain Division, Fryeburg maintained a staffed agency until 1971. Anyone have any pictures of the passenger or freight station at Fryeburg? Anyone know where they might have been located?

-otto-

Otto Vondrak wrote:According to the Wikipedia article on the MEC Mountain Division, Fryeburg maintained a staffed agency until 1971. Anyone have any pictures of the passenger or freight station at Fryeburg? Anyone know where they might have been located?

-otto-

I don't have any pictures but Maine Central in Color Volume 3 by my MEC idol George Melvin has two fine color photos on page 26. One (by John Ames) shows a view from the east end of the station platform in fall 1957, the other (by George Pitarys) shows a picture of the freight house across the tracks in 1969. According to the captions, the freight agency closed 9/3/71. Freight business included lumber, plastic pellets, and sugar beets. As for where they were, I can't help you any more than to say they were at mileage 49.81. Actually, looking at my MEC sidetrack diagram book, I can copy the pertinent section and it should give you an idea of where things were situated. I'll try to do it tonight or this weekend if I can remember how to post a link to the picture-sharing website.
-Alan S.

I want to say Depot Street but don't hold me to that. I don't remember there being a Depot Street in Fryeburg. The station was located on the west side of town, next to the former Bailey Manufacturing plant. There are still some sidings left in the area, and the outline of what looks like a wye that could have been there once.

There seems to be some considerable trackage left in Fryeburg, including a passing siding and a few customer sidings (like one for the old sawmill/millwork place). Thanks for posting the track diagram, can you help me identify the sidings?

-otto-

Otto:
From Mapquest the station and freight house were at the end of Smith St off of 302 and Bailey Mfg is on Porter off 113. The tracks and a few sidings are still in place and the freight house was still there across the tracks at least a few years ago. hope that helps.
Bob M

When did passenger service end on the Mountain Division, 1958 with the rest of the system, or earlier? Trying to figure out if a family friend could have traveled from New York to Fryeburg by train, and how late he could have done this...

According to the "Maine Central RR, Mountain Division", Edited by
Ron Johnson and published by the 470 Club in 1985, "the last trains
#162 and #163 (Porland to St. Johnsbury and return) ran on April 26,
1958 with loco #708. The train, which had been running with a
baggage car and a combine in its last months, had six coaches on
the last run loaded with railfans and the general public, who
wanted one last ride pver the scenic Mountain Subdivision".

There are several photos of the last train in the book.
Long out of print, the book is available on the used book
marketr for $150 and up.

The Fryeburg station was located on the north side of the mainline just west of the passing siding west switch, accross from and slightly to the west of the freight house, which was used as the freight agency office after the station was sold in 1960. Info from the afore mentioned MEC Mountain Division book by Ron Johnson. Pictures on pages 166 and 279. The picture on the bottom of page 279 also appears on page 67 in New England Country Depots by Edward A Lewis, 1973.

On a related note, the track in Fryeburg is currently surveyed from Porter Street west. I can only figure it's related to a water pipeline that runs to E Conway - and due for replacement by some accounts. The stakes are all over the right-of-way, which makes me wonder if the track is going to be ripped up in the process.

Cowford wrote:On a related note, the track in Fryeburg is currently surveyed from Porter Street west. I can only figure it's related to a water pipeline that runs to E Conway - and due for replacement by some accounts. The stakes are all over the right-of-way, which makes me wonder if the track is going to be ripped up in the process.

As of this past weekend, the south side of the line had been cleared, but the track still in place. You could be right as to its purpose, Cowford, but I had assumed it was for another section of the Mountain Division Trail.

Eric

As a followup, I was through the area this past weekend. As I suspected, the south side of the tracks have been cleared and there has been grading and gravel work done for a trail along side the right of way. I'm not sure how far east the trail goes, but appears to start at the visitors center along 302.

Eric

Eric, if this is a trail, it's certainly being built on the QT - a quick internet search pulls up nothing. What organization is behind the trail? It's odd that the stakes end(ed?) at Porter Street. Not exactly a logical place for a trailhead.

Cowford wrote:Eric, if this is a trail, it's certainly being built on the QT - a quick internet search pulls up nothing. What organization is behind the trail? It's odd that the stakes end(ed?) at Porter Street. Not exactly a logical place for a trailhead.

Cowford,

Can't really say whom might be behind it. I can say with certainty, that the work they've done certainly isn't solely for a water main (not saying that there isn't one subsurface), as the area was well graded, compacted and clearly meant for some sort of trail. As for start and end points, all I have seen is the area near the ME / NH border along 302.

Actually, if you look on page 7 here, this may be it:
http://www.maine.gov/mdot/major-constru ... urrent.pdf

Eric

Maybe this will help - Accoring to the Conway Daily Sun, It's part of the Biking Trail (aka Rail Trail) being built along the Mountain Division tracks. Hopefully this link will work. If not, try conwaydailysun.com and search for Bike Trail.
http://www.conwaydailysun.com/community ... -17-2011-0