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friendfeedMy Vacation – Day 3 & 4 of 10
Tuesday, August 26th, 2008
by Jeff
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I said I was going to post to the blog every day of my vacation, and I knew I’d forget one of these days. That day was yesterday. So events written about today will span Monday and Tuesday of my vacation.
Ever since my son recently took a liking to trains, I’ve renewed my liking and have become fascinated with tracks and yards in Maine that no longer exist in their former glory. Over the past two days I’ve been doing a lot of research into railroads in Maine and have actually learned a lot of history.
I grew up in South Paris on Nichols Street just a mere 200 or so yards from the tracks that ran across the street as they passed the old Paris Manufacting Company. As a kid, anytime I heard a train in the distance I’d hop on my bike and ride it down the street to the crossing to watch it pass. The line was the old Grand Trunk line and was now operated by Canadian National Railway. It ran from India Street in Portland Maine up to Quebec. The video below is of that very crossing that I would watch the train from. The line is now operated by St. Lawrence & Atlantic and the Paris Manufacturing building burned down years ago with the smoke stack the only recognizable piece of it left.
The sad part of this is how much was lost in Portland after the Grand Trunk ceased operation. The train used to run past B&M Baked Beans plant, across Back Cove, along Eastern Prom to the Grand Trunk station at India Street. If the Grand Trunk had any freight to get over to South Portland on the Maine Central line, they would haul it over on tracks that ran right down the middle of Commercial Street. Next time you’re on Commercial, look carefully and you’ll see some of those tracks are still there paved over.
Grand Trunk Station - The only building standing is the Grand Trunk office building to the far right
Grand Trunk Office Today - This is all that remains of the Grand Trunk Station. The tracks used to run to the right of this building, while the main building stood where the parking lot to the left is now. Look closely and you can still see "Grand Trunk" above the doorway
The beautiful Grand Trunk station on India Street was torn down in the 60’s, with the office building the only remaning piece standing. The Back Cove bridge burned in the 80’s, which is why when you drive by it on Tukey’s Bridge you see it still open. There was even a round house and yard in the Deering area that has since been converted to office space.
The tracks that run from India Street to the bridge have been converted to a narrow gague and the Maine Narrow Gague Railroad now uses them. Next time you’re down that way, take a look around and imagine what it was like when full size trains ran across Eastern Prom.
If you want to learn more, Tim Sullivan has a great site with lots of history and pictures on the Grand Trunk Railway. I hope he doesn’t mind that I borrow a couple.
I’ve been so fascinated by the history of the Grand Trunk, that I’ve actually been using Google Maps to try to recreate it in Microsoft Train Simulator. Yes I just went full geek right there.
It’s actually kind of fun, but it’s a LOT of work. I may never complete the project, but I have learned a lot about the history of this line and it really has been fascinating.
All of this has made me wonder. With fuel prices the way they are, wouldn’t this be the perfect time to start utilizing rail transportation to ship freight, rather than trucks on the highways? One diesel locomotive can typically haul fifty times what one eighteen wheel truck can haul. A lot of the rails are still there and the government still owns most of the right of way where they don’t exist anymore. Businesses who aren’t located near tracks can keep the trucks to transport their goods a few miles to and from the tracks rather than across country door to door. I’m no economist, but this seems logical to me.
I’ll try to go back to my bitter sarcastic self next time. If you can’t wait, you can always follow my sacrcasm on twitter.
