\nThanks to Jack Baker of Waterville’s Donald Street who is a retired engineer of the Maine Central, after 53 years with that railroad, I have recently seen an official Maine Central timetable that is 97 years old. This is not the small, publicly circulated timetable, but the more complete item issued only to railroad employees. The inscription on the cover says: “No. 63, Maine Central Railroad Time Book, Nov. 27, 1876. Read with care. Important changes have been made.”<\/p>\n
In 1876, the Maine Central was only six years old, having been formed in 1870 by a merger of the Androscoggin and Kennebec, the Somerset and Kennebec, and the Penobscot and Kennebec. Mr. Baker is now placing the old timetable in the Redington Museum, where are already deposited many historic railroad momentoes, including the diary of George Flood, who was an official of the A & K at the time of the merger, and who, shortly before this timetable came out, superintended the change of gauge from the wider 5 feet, 6 inches, to the standard 4 feet, 8 inches.<\/p>\n
In more recent years, the Maine Central trains between Portland and Bangor were spoken of as moving east or west. The 1876 timetable calls the same direction’s north and south. Going south, that is from Bangor to Portland, all the way through, were only two passenger trains each week day, and none on Sunday. Those trains left Bangor at 8:30 A.M. and 7:30 P.M., arriving in Portland at 2:50 P.M. and 1:15 A.M. The route from Waterville was via Augusta and Brunswick. Both trains were met at Waterville by trains from Skowhegan.<\/p>\n
Besides the two passenger trains, there were two regular freights daily out of Bangor, at 7:00 A.M. and 1:20 P.M. But at Waterville the morning freight switched at Waterville to the back road, going to Portland via Lewiston. The afternoon freight joined at Waterville by cars from Skowhegan, went on to Portland via Augusta.<\/p>\n
The two passenger trains in the other direction, from Portland to Bangor left Portland respectively at 12:35 A.M. and 12:40 P.M., arriving in Bangor at 6:45 A.M. and 6:58 P.M. At 7:00 A.M. a train from Portland went only as far as Augusta, and a similar train left Portland at 5:20 P.M. There were also two shuttle trains daily between Gardiner and Augusta. Freights corresponded generally with those in the opposite direction, only one going through to Bangor, while several were scheduled only to Waterville.<\/p>\n
Some of the stations, afterwards abandoned, on the line from Portland to Waterville via Augusta, were Oak Hill in Freeport, Harvard’s Road in Bowdoinham, Richmond Camp Ground, State House Siding, East Turnout in Augusta, and Riverside. By 1876 the Maine Central had taken over the old Androscoggin R. R. from Farmington to Bath via Lewiston and Brunswick. Some of the forgotten stations on that line were Jay Bridge, Strickland’s Ferry, Curtis Corner, Sabbatisville, and Crowleys.<\/p>\n
For the back road from Waterville through Oakland and Belgrade, the 1876 timetable gave the stations only to Cumberland Junction, because from there to Portland trains ran over the same track as those via Augusta. The timetable of course listed the old name for Oakland, West Waterville.<\/p>\n
The line from Newport into Piscataquis County had not then been built through to Dover-Foxcroft. It went only as far as Dexter. The Belfast branch was, however, in operation. Besides the stations still known on that branch, such as City Point, Brooks, Knox, Thorndikeand Unity, trains stopped at Seward’s Crossing between Unity and Burnham.<\/p>\n
Very interesting are the instructions to trainmen printed in this timetable of nearly a hundred years ago. Here’s one of them. “The stations where regular trains cross or pass each other are designated by full face figures. Trains cross when they meet and go by each other, they pass when one overtakes another and goes by it.”<\/p>\n
“All trains approaching Lewiston Upper Station going south must run at a slow rate of speed.”<\/p>\n
Note the instructions concerning snowplows. “Snowplows and scrapers on the main line will be in charge of the division road master. On the Belfast branch they will be in charge of the car repairer, who will run them when called upon by J. A. Mann, conductor. It is the conductor’s duty to keep the track clear between Burnham and Belfast. On the Skowhegan branch plow and scraper are in charge of B. F. Eaton, station agent. He must keep plow and scraper properly oiled and in good order. In case of snow obstructing the road, all freight trains will assist passenger trains with engine and men when called upon by the conductor of a passenger train. At Brunswick and at Lewiston an extra engine will be ready to assist when needed. When the engine of a freight is taken by a passenger train, the caboose of the freight must also be taken.”<\/p>\n
All orders in the old timetable were signed by the renowned superintendent of the Maine Central, Payson Tucker.<\/p>\n
Here are a few of the many other orders: “Wild, extra, or special trains will be run over the road by order of the superintendent, with or without notice to other parties, and therefore the main track must always be clear for the passage of such trains.<\/p>\n
“A blue flag or blue light shown at stations signifies that orders or telegrams are awaiting the train. Under no consideration shall a train or engine pass those signals without stopping for orders. A red flag or red light denotes that an extra train is following in the same direction. A white flag denotes that an extra is coming in the opposite direction.<\/p>\n
“No gravel, wood, or construction trains will be allowed to occupy the main track between 9 P.M. and 6 A.M., without special orders.<\/p>\n
“Wood trains working in places off the main line must not come upon the main line without first ascertaining if there has been any extra signaled. ”<\/p>\n
The references to wood trains show that in 1876 the Maine Central was still using wood for fuel. The change to coal was not fully made until the 1880’s. George Flood’s diary tells us that every spring hundreds of cords of wood were stacked beside the track.all the way between Waterville and Bangor. The timetable carried a warning to section crews.<\/p>\n
“Section men on or about the track or fence are enjoined to the utmost caution in regard to wild or irregular trains. When they have reason to suppose that any such train will be run, they should inquire of all sources within their reach in regard to it, so that they may get, as well as the property of the company, out of the way. In running their hand cars over the road, they should so work it as to enable the men in the car to look in both directions up and down the track in order to avoid a collision.”<\/p>\n
Printed in bold capitals was this injunction: “Whoever throws a switch on a side track must see it lock on the main line. When switching is not taking place, all switches must be kept locked for the main line, and it is the duty of each station agent to see that that is done.”<\/p>\n
Here’s another precaution. “Whenever for any cause a train is delayed between two stations, the conductor must send a man back 800 yards or 17 telegraph poles to warn the following train.”<\/p>\n
When we consider how fast trains were running at the time when passenger traffic ceased on the Maine Central a few years ago, the speed regulations of 1876 are amazing. The rules said: “For passenger trains the prescribed speed is 25 miles per hour; for freight, wood and construction trains 15 miles per hour. Speed of all trains must be reduced as follows: at West Waterville to 8 miles per hour; at Danville Junction and Cumberland Junction, full stop before crossing; at street crossings in Brunswick, 6 miles per hour; all streets in Hallowell, four miles per hour. All trains will use two minutes crossing the bridge over the Kennebec at Augusta. Ticonic Bridge at Waterville must not be crossed at a speed exceeding 10 miles per hour. If heavy freights cannot be hauled up the grade over the bridge within the speed prescribed, conductor will divide the train, taking such part as can be hauled in compliance with this order, returning immediately with their engine for the remainder of the cars.”<\/p>\n
And that completes our study of an old Maine Central timetable of 97 years ago.<\/p>\n
Year: 1973<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Read the script for “Little Talks” program #987, Broadcast on November 11, 1973<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":405,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[35313,35296],"tags":[],"builder_content":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9390"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/405"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9390"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9390\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9390"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9390"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9390"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}