why did the eastern route fail?

[tom18287]

i dont get it. its was a direct route from boston to portland, stopped in york, kittery, portstmouth, etc. many tourist areas. not to mention it seem slike the quickest route from boston compared to the western route.

[Gerry6309]

Don't think passenger - think freight, B&M was redirectingits freight operations from Mechanicville - Boston and Boston - Portland to Mechanicville - Portland, hence the Eastern was superfluous.

[alexander]

Eastern Route was not more "direct" than the Western Route anyway. Once it reached Kittery, the Eastern Route took a sharp turn inland to rejoin the Western Route near Berwick.

Western Route has the connections through the Lowell Branch and Stony Brook to be the bridge line between Maine Central and the West. Eastern Route has nothing but a redundant connection to Boston, a decreasingly important connection over the last 50 years. That's why Maine state highway Route 236 was built on the abandoned Easten Route grade between Kittery and Berwick in 1958.

I don't think any of you who talk of the Eastern Route and the Downeaster realize that the Eastern Route has been _gone_ east of Kittery for more than 50 years.

[Cowford]

Tom, are you referring to the Eastern route as a whole or certain segments?

[Noel Weaver]

The Boston and Maine did not need two main lines between Boston and
Portland. They put a lot of money in the Western Route years ago to
make it a good piece of railroad between Boston and Portland and some
trains were able to make the run between the two points in about two
hours in years past. The Eastern Route on the other hand had much
single track, speed restrictions and weight restrictions too. A few through
trains ran that way but they took longer to make the run between Boston
and Portland.
Even when they kept the two lines, the biggest benefit the Eastern Route
was to the B & M was an emergency route in case of a derailment or other
problem on the Western Route. I have many timetables showing the two
routes.
Noel Weaver

[Gerry6309]

Here is a question for the experts. Why did the Eastern take the jog west to Berwick instead of a more direct route through York? Today there isn't much industry in that area and both routes miss Sanford.

[b&m 1566]

There was a line to York (York Beach) but it was a dead-end and I'm not sure when it was abandoned. The track going to the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard was once part of the line to York. The switch was located just west of Pine Street in Kittery. There was supposedly another track that joined the line further up but I cannot find any traces of it.

Eastern Route was not more "direct" than the Western Route anyway. Once it reached Kittery, the Eastern Route took a sharp turn inland to rejoin the Western Route near Berwick.

I though the Eastern Route went all the way to Portland crossing over the Western Route in Berwick?
Was the Eastern Route double tracked the entire length or did that end in Portsmouth?

[Mattydred]

Don't forget there was a turntable for Moguls at a place called Jewett in South Berwick, ME. West of Agamenticus station, It served a junction between the two routes, and a shortcut to the Conway branch. That was a busy place until the Western route became more popular.

Here's a Google map. Look closely you'll see the pit. I plan to get some photos soon.

[truman]

Here is a question for the experts. Why did the Eastern take the jog west to Berwick instead of a more direct route through York? Today there isn't much industry in that area and both routes miss Sanford.

This was the route of the Portland, Saco, and Portsmouth Railroad. You have to think in terms of then, not now. There were mills and other industry in the Berwicks, and in Saco/Biddeford. There wasn't, and still isn't, much along the coast between Portsmouth and Saco. To take this line to Saco via Sanford for what revenue might have been there probably wouldn't justify the expense.

B&M 1566: You are correct, the eastern route did go all the way to Portland after crossing the western route in Berwick. There was an elaborate interlocking plant controlled by a tower there , if memory serves.

I don't know what bearing it had on the demise of the eastern route, but in the early part of the 20th century, specifically during WW1, there was a real concern for the security of the route, its proximity to the coast (south if Portsmouth) making it vulnerable to naval bombardment.

[Mattydred]

Sanford was on a main line, until the 1920s. The Worcester, Nashua & Portland ran through Sanford and Springvale. Towards the end, it was served as a branch on the Sanford & Eastern until the mid-50's. I'm not sure where S&E's railhead was however. Either in Rochester, NH or somewhere in Maine on the Western road. Anyone?

[TomNelligan]

I'm not sure where S&E's railhead was however. Either in Rochester, NH or somewhere in Maine on the Western road. Anyone?

The Sanford & Eastern was created in 1949 by shortline entrepreneur Samuel Pinsley, who also created the Claremont & Concord, Montpelier & Barre, and Saratoga & Schuylerville from other castoff lines, and at one time also owned the Hoosac Tunnel & Wilmington and the St. Johnsbury & Lamoille County, as well as a couple other lines down south. (His company also created the Pioneer Valley RR years later.) The S&E ran from a B&M/Portland Terminal connection at Westbrook to Rochester on former B&M (WN&P Division) trackage and also included a couple miles of the former Atlantic Shore Line electric trackage into Sanford. Unlike Pinsley's other ventures it didn't last very long; the west end was abandoned after just a few years and the portion east of Springvale only lasted until 1961. Motive power was GE 44 and 70 Tonners.

[Mattydred]

Awesome post Tom.

Thanks so much for shedding light on that. It's a ghost road I've always had a soft spot for. I knew the railhead was in Rochester, there's still pieces of the RoW intact here and there.

If I'm not mistaken, Pinsley had bought the Suncook Valley Railroad as well then promptly closed in the early 1950s, right? With one of those 44 Tonners going to the S&E property?

[truman]

The WN&P was a fairly late development, completed almost thirty years after what would become the B&M's western and eastern divisions, though it did do a booming business in the late teens. A somewhat contrived route, it was plagued by steep grades, spectacular wrecks, and had no signals.

[cpf354]

The WN&P was a fairly late development, completed almost thirty years after what would become the B&M's western and eastern divisions, though it did do a booming business in the late teens. A somewhat contrived route, it was plagued by steep grades, spectacular wrecks, and had no signals.

Actually there were block signals over the entire route. It was an important freight route in and out of Maine on the B&M until signal and track upgrades were made on the Stony Brook Branch and the Western Route in the 1920s.

[truman]

Actually there were block signals over the entire route.

True. The line had block signals after 1913, but according to H.B. Crouch, most of the through freight had been diverted to the Western division by 1911.