Original handbrake handles from early trolley cars of the
Benton and Fairfield Railway were acquired for Seashore
Trolley Museum this spring from Alice Brown Hanson.
Alice's father, Herman L. Brown, was the corporate clerk for
the Benton and Fairfield Railway. Photo by Alice B. Hanson
As we approach Maine's Bicentennial year (2020), this blog will release posts that relate to many electric railway operations throughout the State of Maine. Here is the newest release in the Maine Bicentennial series of electric railways in Maine.
Seashore Trolley Museum, - Museum of Mass Transit, is celebrating its 80th Birthday in 2019!
Special Events are scheduled - Public operations started on May 4, 2019.
Click Here for the 2019 Events & Special Activities for the 80th Anniversary Season, with hot links.
On February 26, 2019, this blogger released the Maine Bicentennial post about the Benton and Fairfield Railway. The post was shared on FaceBook and on March 3, 2019, to the closed group, Fairfield and Waterville Maine...Sharing Memories. That share to the group prompted a private message to this blogger from Alice Brown Hanson. I am so grateful to Alice for reaching out to me. Seashore Trolley Museum is owned and operated by the New England Electric Railway Historical Society. The Museum's Library will be the recipient of all the items that Alice so kindly made available to the Museum. Here is a post describing those items and a short bio on Alice's father, Herman L. Brown, who was the corporate clerk for the Benton and Fairfield Railway. The items were passed down to Alice. I hope you enjoy these summary images of what will become the Herman L. Brown Collection.
March 5 & 6, 2019
Message from Alice Brown Hanson:
Hello Phil.
My Dad left a couple of "handles from one of the Fairfield electric cars. Also, in his things were some letters from the man who wrote the book you mentioned in your (blog) post (Cummings?). I wanted to establish communication with you after seeing your Facebook post. I no longer live in Fairfield, although I grew up there. Amos Gerald was my 1st cousin, 3x removed. My Dad, Herman L. Brown died in 1969.
I have found the paper good items:
* Three real-photo postcards of a trolley on tracks walled in by 8'-10' of snow; a crew of six shovelers is shown in two. These were likely taken between Benton and Fairfield.
* One small catalog from John Stephenson Company, Ltd., Car Builders, New York, illustrated with photographs
* 1955 correspondence between Herman L. Brown and OR Cummings
* 1935 annual report of the Benton and Fairfield Railway Company to the PUC (filed by Dad, as "Clerk")
* Agreement between MCRR & B&F Ry - Poles and trolley wire at Fairfield, April 8, 1916
* Large, fragile, map of Street Railroads of Maine - patented in 1891, printed in 1898
& Five tickets to ride on the Benton and Fairfield Railway
A single original page from the 1890s for tracking the freight shipping of merchandise on the Benton and Fairfield.
Benton, April 29, 1901 - Looks like a draft Freight agreement between the Benton Mill and the Benton and Fairfield Railway. This original letter is clearly in very fragile condition and requires emergency room-type conservation attention. This page along with the map below will be dropped off at the Northeast Document Conservation Center (NEDCC) in Andover, MA next week (June 5) when I visit to pick up the conserved, cleaned, repaired, and professionally photographed, 1909, 28.5-foot-long, original elevation, and grade map of the Portland, Gray, and Lewiston Railroad (name before becoming the Portland-Lewiston Interurban in 1914). Also being picked up at the same time will be, a one-to-one 28.5-foot-long high-quality facsimile map that will be used as part of the interpretation of the Narcissus Project programming being developed now for 2021.
Five tickets for passage on the Benton and Fairfield Railway were clearly stamped as prepaid and for use probably by employees of a mill. When asked what she thought the "U.B.B. & P. Co., Benton Falls, Me." referred to, Alice's reply was; "I'd say, the BB is for boxboard. I remember a stack of sample products that were in our attic; it was an amazing array of heavy-duty materials that Dad brought home with him from his study of the manufacturing process in Indiana. It was definitely not corrugated cardboard!"
U. B. B. & P. Co. Benton Falls, Me., is most likely for United Box Board & Paper Company as seen in the postcard below. Benton and Fairfield Railway electric vehicles would provide the freight service to the mill.
Postcard courtesy of Alice Brown Hanson
One of the two, brass brake handles (goosenecks) from electric railway vehicles of the Benton and Fairfield Railway. This one with a patent-pending date of December 13, 1892.
Cover and a couple images from the John Stephenson Company promotional booklet...no dates :(
Correspondence between O. R. Cummings and Herman L. Brown 1953/54 about information concerning the Benton and Fairfield Railway that O. R. would publish in a 1955 book.
O. R.'s September 1, 1955 publication below included those few pages on the Benton and Fairfield Railway.
In the first image below, read the first paragraph in O.R.'s book about the Benton and Fairfield Railway...then look at the last paragraph in the 2nd image below. That image is of the draft of the book sent in a letter to Mr. Brown in December 1953 seen in the above correspondence.
Cover page of the 1935 annual report of the Benton and Fairfield Railway to the PUC and signed by Alice's father as the corporate clerk.
Cover letter from Maine Central RR to Benton and Fairfield Ry. October 16, 1916, concerning the blueprints and agreement for poles
A section of the blueprints
Signature page of the agreement
The map is indeed very fragile and is in dire need of conservation work, including repair, cleaning and to be professionally photographed. Then the original map can be properly stored and the digital file(s) could be utilized in exhibits, displays, and online programs.
The signature of A. J. Long is written on the outside edge of the map. Alice emailed me with some background on A. J. Long: Alonzo Jasper Long was born on June 23, 1849, in Bluehill, Maine, and died on March 25, 1919. Alonzo was married to Alice's great-aunt, Alice Anna Brown, for whom Alice Brown Hanson was named. Alonzo was a traveling piano salesman. Alice does not know why or how Alonzo happened to have the map. Perhaps, she surmised, it was to help him in his travels throughout Maine during his sales trips. Thank you, Alice, this additional info will be great to add to the provenance of this map and the entire Herman L. Brown Collection.
Herman L. Brown - 1902-1969
By Alice Brown Hanson:Herman L. Brown was born in Benton, Maine on March 23, 1902, and died on June 19, 1969.
Dad was employed by the United Paperboard Company, during the time the Benton and
Fairfield Railway operated. He was also the clerk for the railway, which was used by the paperboard company to transport materials between its two factories, one in Benton, and one in Fairfield.
After attending Lawrence High School in Fairfield, Dad graduated from Thomas Business College in Waterville. The paper company sent him to Indiana to learn the paperboard manufacturing business. I
have his 1928 list of "Office Work for Each Day of the Week," which included Saturday. It involved handling the payroll and invoices and making/filing many kinds of reports. "Form 9" was used "for charging or crediting any person or firm, as we credit the B&F Ry. Co. at the end of each month for the amount of freight hauled, or, we charge any concern that ships in any materials and overcharges us the same. This form is made up of sets of five sheets. The pink sheet is kept for our files and the rest are sent to the New York Office attached to form 41 or 41-A according to whether it is a credit or a charge, with the exception that when made against the B&F Ry. Co., or the Fairfield mill when the white copy is also kept with the pink copy for our files."
In 1947, both Benton & Fairfield mills were purchased by Joseph P. Day, Inc. a real estate and auction company. Dad was involved in liquidating the properties and purchased some of the real estate, which he rented and eventually sold. I remember visiting the old cement building in Benton, which was used to raise broiler chickens. We enjoyed the beautiful wool blankets made from the "felts" which were used in the papermaking process. Dad had one dried red and made it into a hunting jacket.
In addition to the two trolley handles, Dad had a rather large device that counted passengers. Each time someone boarded, the driver (conductor/motorman) would pull a rope and a bell would ring and the number on the face of the "counter" would increase by one. This device hung in our garage for years and I rang it every time I passed by. When my mother sold the house, it went into a yard sale. I have a bell, which my husband says is too large to have been on a trolley; perhaps it was used to mark lunch breaks for the Benton mill workers? I still have the old roll-top desk from the Benton mill office, which my Dad used in his insurance agency office.
Other posts that feature Street Railways in Maine
Click Here for the post: Ninety Communities in Maine with Electric Railway Service!
Click Here for the post: 57 Million Passengers Carried on Electric Railways in Maine in 1915!
Click Here for the post: Maine Bicentennial series - A Look Back - Riverton Park 1896-1933
Click Here for the post: Maine Bicentennial series - History of the Portland Railroad 1860-1941
Click Here for the post: Maine Bicentennial series - History of the Calais Street Railway 1894-1929
Click Here for the post: Maine Bicentennial series - History of Aroostook Valley Railroad 1909-1946
Click Here for the post: Maine Bicentennial series - Fryeburg Horse Railroad 1887-1913
Click Here for the post: Maine Bicentennial series - "The" Norway and Paris Street Railway 1894-1918
Click Here for the post: Maine Bicentennial series - Skowhegan & Norridgewock Railway 1894-1903
Click Here for the post: Maine Bicentennial series - Benton and Fairfield Railway 1898-1928
Click Here for the post: Maine Bicentennial series - The Somerset Traction Company 1895-1928
Click Here for the post: Maine Bicentennial series - The Fairfield and Shawmut Railway 1903-1927
Click Here for the post: Maine Bicentennial series - Waterville, Fairfield, & Oakland Rwy 1887-1937
Click Here for the post: Maine Bicentennial series - Trolleys to Augusta, Maine 1889-1932
Click Here for the post: Maine Bicentennial series - Rockland, South Thomaston, & St. George Rwy
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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
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