Maine Bicentennial Series - The Benton and Fairfield Railway 1898-1928

 

Benton and Fairfield Railway Company circa 1900. One of the
original single-truck passenger cars seen here on Neck Road,
Benton, Maine
O. R. Cummings Collection 2009_2_40_127

Courtesy Seashore Trolley Museum Library

Here is the newest release in the Maine Bicentennial series of electric railways in Maine. This blog post features the summary of the Benton and Fairfield Railway as written by O. R. Cummings in his 1955 book, Toonervilles of Maine: The Pine Tree State. 

Additional photos will be credited accordingly. This material is taken from a copy of the Toonervilles of Maine book acquired by this blogger.

To see the online version of the 1955 book, Toonevilles of Maine at Bangor Public Library here

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Click Here for the post: Maine Bicentennial series - Bangor, Hampden & Winterport Rwy 1896-1905

Click Here for the post: Maine Bicentennial series - Penobscot Central Railway 1898-1906

Click Here for the post: Maine Bicentennial series - Bangor Hydro-Electric Company 1925-1945

Click Here for the post: Maine Bicentennial series - Lewiston, Brunswick & Bath St Rwy 1898-1907

Click Here for the post: Maine Bicentennial series - Lewiston, Augusta & Waterville St Rwy 1907-19

Click Here for the post: Maine Bicentennial series - Androscoggin & Kennebec Railway 1919-1941

Click Here for the post: Maine Bicentennial series - Portland & Brunswick Street Railway 1902-1911

Click Here for the post: Maine Bicentennial series - Auburn & Turner Railroad 1905-1928

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Click Here for the post: Maine Bicentennial series - Portsmouth, Dover & York St Rwy 1903-1906

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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. 

Click Here for the post on Artifacts from the Benton & Fairfield Railway

The Benton and Fairfield Railway

     The Benton and Fairfield Railway was organized on June 21, 1898, and sought a charter to build from a point near the Maine Central Railroad station in Fairfield, easterly, to Benton Falls in the town of Benton. John T. Richards of Gardiner, Charles D. Brown of Salem, Mass., Elisha Morgan of Springfield, Mass., Edward W. Heath of Waterville, and H. M. Mansfield of Fairfield were the first directors and signed the articles of association which were approved by the Railroad Commissioners on June 29.

Photo from O.R. Cummings 1955 publication,

Toonervilles of Maine: The Pine Tree State

     The first portion of the road to be built extended from the Maine Central station in Benton to the Sebasticook River, near the Kennebec Fibre Company's mill, a distance of slightly more than two and a quarter miles. The route was approved by the Railroad Commissioners on August 3, and construction began immediately. The operation commenced on December 7, 1898.

     A 700-foot extension - from the Maine Central depot in Benton to the bridge between the towns of Benton and Fairfield was opened on January 19, 1899, and on July 20, a second extension - across the bridges over the Kennebec River to Main and Bridge Streets in Fairfield - was completed.

     Two more short extensions were built in 1900. The first, in Fairfield, extended from Bridge Street, via Island Street and the property of the Somerset Fibre Company, to an interchange with the Maine Central Railroad, a distance of .63 miles. The second, in Benton, extended from the original terminus at Benton Falls, across the Sebasticook River to the Somerset and Kennebec Companies' paper mills, a distance of .13 of a mile. In 1901, .71 miles of track was laid along Main Street in Fairfield to a connection with the Waterville and Fairfield Railway at Fairfield Village.

Map from the 2015 NEERHS book,

"The Illustrated Atlas of Maine's Street &

Electric Railways 1863-1946."

     When finally completed, the railway owned 4.37 miles of track, including 4.12 miles of mainline and .25 miles in sidings and turnouts, built with 56 and 60-pound, T-rail. The carhouse was located at Benton Falls and the power station was located in Fairfield. For power equipment, there were two 250 h.p. waterwheels driving two 75 KW. Westinghouse generators.

     The initial rolling stock consisted of one single-truck closed car, reportedly built by Laconia (Car Company Works); one combination snowplow and work car, one four-wheel flat car, and one tower car. A box freight motor and another snowplow were added in 1900 and as of June 30, 1902, the roster of equipment included the single-truck closed car, two freight motors, five platform freight cars, and one other car. Four additional platform freight cars were acquired in 1903-04.

The second passenger car of the Benton and Fairfield Railway
at the Benton Falls carbarn.
O. R. Cummings Collection 2009_2_40_131

Courtesy Seashore Trolley Museum Library

     The B&F, in the course of construction, built two iron bridges, one, 100 feet in length, over the canal at the head of Island Avenue, in Fairfield, and the second, 200 feet long, across the Sebasticook River at Benton Falls. Public highway bridges crossed by the railway. The span over the east channel of the Kennebec River, from the Benton shore to the east shore of Bunker's Island; the bridge over the central channel of the Kennebec River from the west shore of Bunker's Island to the east shore of Mill Island, and the bridge over the west channel or canal of the Kennebec, leading from the west channel or canal of the Kennebec, leading from the west shore of Mill Island to the west shore of the Kennebec.

     An additional .30 mile in sidings was added in 1904 and in 1907 and 1908, the track was thoroughly reconditioned and new ballast added. Fifteen hundred new ties were installed and .125 miles in additional sidings were built. The bridge at Benton Falls had new wood planks installed, and one side rerailed and the overhead was given considerable attention. The carbarn was rebuilt with a galvanized corrugated steel roof and steel sides.

Two-track carbarn at Benton Falls

O. R. Cummings Collection 2009_2_40_131

Courtesy Seashore Trolley Museum Library

     Four of the older freight cars were scrapped in 1909 but one was replaced in 1910 and a second in 1911 - and another closed passenger car was purchased second-hand in 1914. Equipment owned by the road in 1915 included two closed passenger cars, three freight cars with electric equipment, five freight cars without electric equipment, and one combination work car and snowplow.

                                     *                                            *                                         *

     The Benton and Fairfield was essentially a freight carrier, its passenger business was more or less insignificant, and was owned by one of the mills which it served, the Kennebec Fibre Company, later taken over by the United Paperboard Company, Inc., of New York City. The line's primary purpose was to the paper mills in Benton and Fairfield and this traffic accounted for about five-sixths of the railway's revenue.

Benton Falls Mill - trolley car near the entrance to the yard.
O. R. Cummings Collection 2009_2_40_128

Courtesy Seashore Trolley Museum Library

     In some years, the road operated at a profit: in other years, it did not. In 1904, for example, its traffic was considerably reduced when low water in the Sebasticook and Kennebec Rivers forced curtailment of the operations at the various mills. The loss for the year ended June 30, 1904, was $261.44. Conditions improved in 1905 when a profit of $2,450 was reported but there was another deficit, this one of $1,400, in 1907 - and still another of $700 in 1909.

     The uncertain financial status of the railway made it nearly impossible to properly maintain the roadway, overhead, and equipment which, (less than) frequent reports of the Railroad Commissioners, were described as being in from fair to poor conditions. Only the most necessary repairs were made and in 1913, the Commissioners mentioned that the single-passenger car (apparently one had been scrapped) was in bad shape and in need of paint.

     The 1915 inspection report of the Public Utilities Commission stated that one passenger car, on an hourly schedule, the railway's carbarn at Benton Falls had been destroyed by fire in April 1914 - but had been rebuilt larger and better than before.

     Some power had been purchased from the Waterville and Fairfield Railway as early as 1909 and in 1911, the B&F shut down its own generating station and purchased all of its power from the Waterville, Fairfield & Oakland Railway.

     Fares on the B&F were set at five cents when the road opened but were later increased to 10 cents, remaining at that figure until abandonment.

     After 1916, there isn't much available information on Benton and Fairfield. The road continued operation until the trucks took away the freight business and the passenger traffic, never large, shrunk to the vanishing point. Service was discontinued in 1928 and most of the rolling stock was scrapped. One passenger car remained in the boarded-up carbarn at Benton Falls until the mid-thirties when it too was junked. The carbarn was sold and removed in the early 1940s.

One of the very few photos of a Benton and Fairfield car.

This view was snapped in the early thirties by

George King Jr., When the car was still stored inside the

carhouse. Photo from O.R. Cummings 1955 publication,

Toonervilles of Maine: The Pine Tree State

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

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!

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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.

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     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.

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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