Maine Bicentennial - History of the Aroostook Valley Railroad Co. 1909 - 1946

1909 AVR box motor No. 52 hauling four steam railroad

passenger coaches. Circa 1910
O. R. Cummings Collection 2009_2_3_001

Courtesy Seashore Trolley Museum Library

1909 AVR No. 52, is at Seashore Trolley Museum

and has been listed in the National

Register of Historic Places since 1980.

     Here is the newest release in the Maine Bicentennial series of electric railways in Maine. This blog post features an Aroostook Valley Railroad Company history as told by Richard L. Day in Bulletin 65, November - 1946, published by the Central Electric Railfan's Association, Chicago, Il.

Story by Richard L. Day, MCERA

Cover drawing by John E. Amlaw, MCERA (an early member of Seashore Trolley Museum - ed.)

Edited by George Krambles, CERA Publication Director

Additional photos will be credited accordingly. This material is taken from a personal copy of the bulletin belonging to this blogger.

• 3.15.2020 - Maine Bicentennial Series - York Utilities Company 1923-1949
• 3.14.2020 - Maine Bicentennial Series - Atlantic Shore Railway 1911-1923
• 3.11.2020 - Maine Bicentennial Series - Portsmouth, Dover & York St Rwy 1903-1906
• 3.9.2020 - Maine Bicentennial Series - Auburn, Mechanic Falls & NorwayStRwy1902-3
• 3.7.2020 - Maine Bicentennial Series - Portland & Brunswick Electric Railway 1902-1911
• 3.7.2020 - Maine Bicentennial Series - Androscoggin & Kennebec Railway Co. 1919-1941
• 3.7.2020 - Maine Bicentennial Series - Lewiston, Augusta & Waterville St Rwy 1907-1919
• 3.6.2020 - Maine Bicentennial Series - Lewiston, Brunswick & Bath St Rwy 1898-1907
• 3.4.2020 - Maine Bicentennial Series - Bangor Hydro-Electric Company 1925-1945
• 3.4.2020 - Maine Bicentennial Series - Penobscot Central Railway 1898-1906
• 3.3.2020 - Maine Bicentennial Series - Bangor. Hampden & Winterport Rwy 1896-1905
• 3.2.2020 - Maine Bicentennial Series - Bangor, Orono & Old Town Railway 1895-1905
• 3.2.2020 - Maine Bicentennial Series - Bangor Railway & Electric Company 1905-1925
• 3.1.2020  - Maine Bicentennial Series - Bangor Street Railway 1889-1905
• 2.23.2020 -Maine Bicentennial Series - Portsmouth, Kittery & York St. Rwy 1897-1903
• 2.22.2020 - Maine Bicentennial Series - Sanford & Cape Porpoise Railway 1899-1904
• 2.21.2020 - Maine Bicentennial Series - Mousam River Railroad 1892-1899
• 1.31.2019 - Maine Bicentennial Series - The Norway and Paris Street Railway 1894-1918
• 1.27.2019 - Maine Bicentennial Series - Aroostook Valley Railroad 1909-1946
• 10.17.2018 - Maine Bicentennial - Portland Railroad History 1860-1941

Seashore Trolley Museum, the Museum of Mass Transit in Kennebunkport, Maine, is celebrating its 80th Birthday year in 2019! Many events are scheduled and many more will be scheduled before the opening of public operations on May 4, 2019. 

A glimpse into the workings and history of the eastern United States' most northerly electric railroad

Front cover of the 12-page publication.

Cover by John E. Amlaw, an early member

of Seashore Trolley Museum. Drawing of 

1912 Aroostook Valley Railroad

Passenger & freight interurban, No. 70.

No. 70 is at the Seashore Trolley Museum

and has been listed in the National

Register of Historic Places since 1980.

      * Aroostook Valley Railroad Company
* The last line to operate interurban electric passenger cars in New England
* With only 4 round trips daily even when in its heyday, probably the least frequent passenger service of any New England trolley line
* The only electric railway in northern Maine
* No passenger ever was seriously injured in its history

     What electric railway property is this? It's the Aroostook Valley Railroad Company, Presque Isle, Maine, which operated its last regular electric car on Wednesday, August 7, 1946, and joined the ranks of freight-only railroads, using what Mono President John W. Barriger, III, terms "self-contained electric locomotives" (in this case, with internal-combustion prime-mover).

Historical:
     The Aroostook Valley Railroad is irrevocably linked with the name of Arthur R. Gould. In 1889 Mr. Gould purchased a lumber mill in Presque Isle. Around 1900 he began to see that his supply of lumber from the Presque  Isle basin was running out. This made it necessary to obtain logs floated down the Aroostook River to a good holding ground at Bull's Point, about 5 miles from Presque Isle, and Mr. Gould decided to build a railroad to this point and on beyond to Washburn, 11 miles up the river.
     A study of Aroostook Falls indicated that a power development could be made and the first step consisted of harnessing Aroostook Falls's electricity. Gould then turned his attention to the railroad which was to use Falls energy, and although Washburn was anxious to obtain the rail line, there seemed endless opposition and complications to be overcome (as had previously been the case with the power development) and it was several years more before the necessary financial support had been secured. Construction was begun in 1909.

1909 No. 51 and the tower car, stretching "hot " wire while

traveling on an unballasted track. Circa 1910 

Photo from O. R. Cummings Collection 2009_2_3_012

Courtesy Seashore Trolley Museum Library

     When the Bangor and Aroostook Railroad saw the Washburn-Sweden territory about to be served by another carrier, it set about briskly building into the same towns so that there was competition from the first.
     Finally, on June 20, 1910, the operation was begun between Washburn Junction, Washburn, and Presque Isle. In the next two or three years, it was extended to Sweden and Caribou, which brought it up to its full extent. Studies were made and plans were formulated for a 111-mile extension from
Washburn, west to the Quebec Border at Lac Frontier, where the connection was to be made with the
Quebec Central Railway. This would have opened a new short route to the west and would have developed the lumber in the unbroken wilderness of northwestern Maine. The entire route was surveyed and many good water-power sites were located, but, along with a scheme to acquire from the Canadian Pacific Railway 34-mile Aroostook Junction - Presque Isle branch, the project eventually was forgotten.

AVR No. 51 is seen here carrying passengers while the crew,

with the Tower Car, is still stretching "hot" wire on

unballasted tracks. During the ten days between "officially"

opening on June 20 and the grand opening gala on July 1,

more than 17,000 passengers were carried on the

new line. Text & stats are from the 1987 book,

"Aroostook Valley Railroad: History of the Potaoland

Interurban in Northern Maine" by Charles D. Heseltine

& Edwin B. Robertson.

Photo from O. R. Cummings Collection 2009_2_3_011

Courtesy Seashore Trolley Museum Library

This grand opening day photo was taken on July 1, 1910. 

It was acclaimed as "Washburns' Greatest Day". Text & stats

are from the 1987 book, "Aroostook Valley Railroad:

History of the Potatoland Interurban in Northern

Maine" by Charles D. Heseltine & Edwin B. Robertson.

Photo from O. R. Cummings Collection 2009_2_3_013

Courtesy Seashore Trolley Museum Library

The next photo in the opening day series has 1909 AVR

baggage-express box motor No. 52 with flat car No. 20.

No. 52, is at Seashore Trolley Museum and has been listed

on the National Register of Historic Places since 1980.

Photo from O. R. Cummings Collection 2009_2_3_014

Courtesy Seashore Trolley Museum Library

Passenger Rolling Stock:
     For passenger service, the equipment consisted of two lots of two cars each, the "50" class and the "70" class. The 50 and 51 came first, of course, opening the railroad in 1910 when they arrived from the Brill Works. They were arranged as combination baggage-passenger cars, with a vestibule at each end, and they were 44 feet in length, 8 feet 6 inches in width, and 12 feet 6 inches in height, rail-over-roof. Brill trucks and General Electric motor and control equipment for 1200-volt DC operation were furnished. Each car seated 32 in the main body plus 6 in the baggage compartment and the running weight was 22 tons.

Late in 1911 shares of the stock were selling for $100 each.

At one point in 1932, Mr. Gould sold his shares for $225 ea.

AVR stock certificate PWM collection

     The 70 and 71 came in 1913 from the plant of the Wason people, and these cars followed closely the conventional lines of the interurban cars in the central and western states. They were 53 feet in length, 8 feet 8 inches in width, and 12 feet high. Unlike 50 and 51, which had type M control, the 70s, although larger cars, were fitted with platform-type controllers. As is evident from the photographs, the 70 class had the typical lines of the arch-windowed, railroad-roof wooden combo, a very pleasing design from the heydey of the interurban.

Aroostook Valley Railroad Company 1912 No. 70 at

Washburn before the track was moved from the street to the

private right-of-way circa 1915. PWM postcard

1912 Aroostook Valley Railroad Company No. 70

on September 26, 2009, following being on display during

the ribbon-cutting ceremony celebrating the completion of

the restoration of the 1906 Atlantic Shore Line electric

locomotive No. 100 on September 25, 2009. PWM photo

     Both types of cars were painted maroon, with gray roofs, and the interiors were in the natural wood grain stained to a deep red while the headlining was finished in light green. Seating consisted of reversible rattan seats; all cars were double-ended and did not turn at the ends of the line. While not fast as judged by present-day railroad standards, Aroostook Valley passenger cars were notable for the smooth ride they gave over the relatively lightly built tracks.

Granville "Granny" Allen at work inside No. 71.

R. L. Day photo in the

O. R. Cummings Collection 2009_2_3_046

Courtesy Seashore Trolley Museum Library

The interior restoration of 1912 AVRR No. 70 is not complete,

though the rattan seats have been restored.

At Seashore Trolley Museum 2016 photo PWM

Service:
     Up to less than ten years ago, passenger service consisted of only four round trips daily (one on Sunday) with an extra trip on Saturday nights, so in the sense of frequent service, Aroostook Valley hardly came into a class with the usual interurban road. On the other hand, the population of Caribou even today is only about 8,500, Presque Isle, 4,700, Washburn, 675, Carson, 45, and Sweden --?? Hardly a territory to support hourly cars.

1912 AVR passenger and baggage interurban No. 70

crossing the Aroostook River circa 1915.

Photo from O. R. Cummings Collection 2009_2_3_023

Courtesy Seashore Trolley Museum Library

     The average number of passengers carried each day on the Aroostook Valley line is said to have been 600 to 700 twenty or more years ago and the maximum number was 999. A great drop in passenger traffic was experienced with the advent of the hard road and private automobile and traffic dropped to a mere 150 to 200 daily passengers during winter and 45 or 50 during summer. During the war, Presque Isle became an important base for the Air Transport Command and the territory received stimulation that was reflected in a considerable gain in freight traffic, and even passenger flow on its not entirely direct route rose substantially. The decision to change to bus passenger service, in this case, seems to have been motivated by a desire to secure a more flexible operation and better routing that would not have justified rail extensions under existing or anticipated traffic. At the same time, the rails have been freed for freight operation.

Granville "Granny" Allen is seen here in the vestibule

of 1912 passenger and freight interurban No. 71.

No. 71 is at Seashore Trolley Museum.

No photo credit is given in the publication.

     No more personal or friendly service could be found on any public carrier than on the Aroostook Valley Railroad. Granville Allen is practically synonymous with passenger service on A-V-R, for he has been the principal motorman on passenger trains of the road for the past quarter of a century. He has driven the car over 1,000,000 miles. Before the Sweden branch passenger run was dropped in the late thirties there was another motorman, and also a conductor for each car, but for the last several years "Granny" has performed all passenger train duties single-handedly. The hour-long trip between Presque Isle and Caribou was packed with action for him. He lined switches, loaded passengers and collected their fares, attended to all sorts of local express all along the line, and even pouched U.S. Mail between Presque Isle and Washburn. Still, he found time to give all a smile and friendly greeting and did those little extra things to accommodate the passengers - helping mothers by taking baby carriages aboard and lifting the kids and packages aboard, and not forgetting the boys and Dad when heavy shopping, bicycles, and the like had to be hustled into the baggage compartment.

Loading mail on No. 71 at Washburn, July 1945.

1912 Aroostook Valley Railroad passenger & freight

interurban, No. 71 is at Seashore Trolley Museum.

R. L. Day photo in the

O. R. Cummings Collection 2009_2_3_031

Courtesy Seashore Trolley Museum Library

     But the bread and butter of this railroad lie in its freight business and a large share of this comes from the annual potato crop. In the autumn and winter, some 500 refrigerator cars are loaded with this crop on their lines. Sidings running along beside potato sheds are to be found every few miles for this is the very heart of the Aroostook Potato Empire. Only about four years ago more than 2 1/2 miles of trackage was constructed into the Presque Isle Army Air Base which, after the spud trade, is the most important source of freight traffic, yielding eight to ten cars on a good day. Otherwise, three of the four cars of merchandise and a caboose rocking along behind GE locomotive 53, Westinghouse hog #54, or in a pinch even box motor #52, constituted a normal load for the daily freight.

AVR baggage-express box motor No 52. Caption reads:

This picture was taken by the General Electric engineers

and was used for many years in advertising in trade

magazines. It shows the frame and mounting for

the air controlled "Nose Plow".

Photo from the book, "Aroostook Valley Railroad:

History of the Potaoland Interurban in Northern

Maine" by Charles D. Heseltine & Edwin B. Robertson.

1909 AVR No. 52, is at Seashore Trolley Museum

and has been listed in the National

Register of Historic Places since 1980.

     Of the freight motive power, #52, with its box motor car type body, was the oldest, having opened the line in 1910. It was built by Brill and was 35 feet long, 8 feet 6 inches wide, and 13 feet 4 inches high, had 33" wheels and General Electric equipment. Then, about 1911, came #53, built by American Locomotive Works and General Electric; a steeple cab steel job, 32 feet long, 9 feet 8 inches wide, and 13 feet 3 inches high, with 36-inch wheels and tipping the scales at around 40 tons. For the extra heavy crop-moving job, #54 was purchased in 1924 from Baldwin-Westinghouse. It is a 60-tonner, semi-steeple cab, 38 feet long, 9 feet 10 inches wide, and 13 feet 6 inches high, with 36-inch drivers. Formerly, #52 was assigned to local freight and LCL, but in recent years its job was line car and light snow plowing, Freight during the lighter seasons was handled by #53, while plowing was its occasional winter assignment. The engines were painted black, while the box motor had the passenger car maroon and grey livery.

1909 AVR freight box motor plow No. 52 during shifting at

Seashore Trolley Museum in the summer of 2016.

No. 52 needs restoration. Eric Gilman photo

     Other rolling stock used during the electric operation included caboose #102, a tower car, and a flatcar. Freight cars were from the interchange. With the change early this year to diesel-electric freight power, freight is now handled with two General electric 44-ton machines having a top speed of 35 mph. These engines arrived on the road on July 9, 1945.

Miscellaneous:
     The total mainline mileage of the Aroostook Valley Railroad amounts to about 34 miles, of which 8 miles is the Sweden Branch and 2 miles to the Washburn Junction Branch. It is probably true that at least 5 additional miles could be measured in sidings, the Air Base spur, and the gravel pit spur at Washburn. The line is almost entirely on private right-of-way, following the highway for only about 0.75 miles in Caribou and Presque Isle. The line is well laid out and well-graded, and, until the war-born labor shortage came along, possessed an almost weedless roadbed. Untreated crossties have been used. Trolley suspension is direct, bracket-type from wood line poles.

No credit is given in the publication as to the creator of the

 map.

     The railroad passes through an attractive farming country with stretches of woods. The most scenic portion of the route is that along the broad, slow-flowing Aroostook River about halfway between Presque Isle and Washburn, climaxed with a majestic crossing of the river on a high deck-girder bridge. Another delightful feature of the landscape is the sweet-smelling spire-shaped fir spruce that abounds the area. Small games such as rabbits and woodchucks are seen nearly on every trip. Not long ago a bear with her two cubs stood in plain view of a passing interurban.

No. 51 stops briefly while crossing the Androscoggin River

near Washburn, Maine. Photo in the

O. R. Cummings Collection 2009_2_3_031

Courtesy Seashore Trolley Museum Library

     The remains of the small-way station waiting rooms can be seen at some road crossings, while complete, if small, stations are situated in Presque Isle, Washburn, Sweden, and Caribou. In all cases, these stations are very close to the business centers of the towns. Small mimeographed schedules were prepared after somewhat crudely printed cards were given up. Fares were paid on cars and round-trip tickets could be purchased between terminal points.

1912 AVR passenger and baggage No. 71 at the Center

Sweden station circa 1915.

O. R. Cummings Collection 2009_2_3_034

Courtesy Seashore Trolley Museum Library

Finale:
     As an interurban electric railway, Aroostook Valley Railroad now takes its place in the ranks of the departed, but its traditions will be carried on by its shiny and compact new diesel for freight operation. The chime of the diesel's horn may now and then remind an old-time Maine farmer of Maine's last interurbans but we, through these pages, may take time occasionally to review its life and, infancy, and award it (like any other old soldier who retires after the last campaign successfully concluded) a medal of honor for an important chore well done.

Back cover of the publication.

No credit is given in the publication to the

creator of the back cover.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We continue the restoration work on the 1912, Narcissus, the only surviving high-speed, luxury interurban coach of the Portland-Lewiston Interurban. 

Click Here: Narcissus Restoration-Related Posts

Being more than a century old, the stately, "Elegant Ride," Narcissus, is a gem.  This shimmering precious stone of Maine transportation history is brilliantly resplendent as it emanates so many elements of history, including; time, places, people, and events, that it was coupled to, that when just a smattering of its seemingly innumerable stories are shared, the contents captivates, fascinates, then generates, interest to learn more 🙋. The majestic Narcissus is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

Please consider joining the epic journey to complete the Narcissus Project by making a donation today!

Click Here: Donation Options

The restoration of this majestic icon of Maine's electric railway history is but one in a series of captivating stories containing an abundance of incredible coalition of narratives.

Click Here: History-Related Posts - Narcissus and Portland-Lewiston Interurban

     The Narcissus is featured in the national Gold Award-winning novel, Teddy Roosevelt, Millie, and the Elegant Ride. The "Elegant Ride" is the Narcissus. Theodore Roosevelt was a passenger on the Narcissus on August 18, 1914, between Lewiston and Portland, Maine, while campaigning for the Progressive Party candidates.

Click Here: Bookstores and Businesses promoting the Narcissus Project

Independent book publisher, Phil Morse, holding

the Gold Book Award Winner plaque for

 the Middle Reader category for The Eric

Hoffer Book Award. Congratulations to

award-winning Maine author,

Jean M. Flahive