Maine Bicentennial Series - Androscoggin & Kennebec Railway Company 1919-1941

The Crooked Bridge over Maine Central Railroad in South
Lewiston on the Lewiston-Lisbon Falls line, as it looked when
the lightweight cars ran in Sunday service between 1937 and
1941. Photo by Gerald F. Cunningham in the O. R.
Cummings Collection

Here is the newest release in the Maine Bicentennial series of electric railways in Maine. This blog post features the Androscoggin & Kennebec Railway (A&K) summary/images from the book, "Trolleys to Brunswick, Maine 1896-1937" by O. R. Cummings, presented as Transportation Volume 73 by the Connecticut Valley Chapter and the National Railway Historical Society- January-December 1966.  Also, there are materials from O. R. Cummings' 1963 publication, "Lewiston, Augusta & Waterville Street Railway. In addition, there are materials from O. R. Cummings and edited by Roger Borrup in O. R. Cummings' book, "Transportation Bulletin No. 76-Trolleys to Augusta, Maine", issued by the Connecticut Valley Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society, January-August 1969. All books were acquired by this blogger. Additional photos will be credited accordingly.

Bound for Lewiston, No. 126 passes a freight drag, headed

by Maine Central No. 519, a Class W-70 (2-8-0) Consolidated

built by Alco. The date is c 1930 photo in the O. R. Cummings Collection

The A & K was a large system, starting with more than 145 miles of mainline track. With that in mind, the Kennebec Division (formerly the Augusta Division of the LA&W) details are in a separate blog post titled: Trolleys To Augusta and covers primarily the trolley lines extending from Augusta to Hallowell, Farmingdale, Sabattus, and Gardiner; to Vassalboro, Winslow, and Waterville; to Manchester and Winthrop, and to the National Soldiers' Home in Togus, as well as a short local line in Augusta itself. The Lewiston Division details are in a separate blog post titled: Lewiston, Brunswick & Bath and cover primarily trolley lines from Lewiston, Auburn, Webster, Lisbon, Lisbon Falls, Topsham, Brunswick, and Bath. There is some overlap of coverage and ownership descriptions in many of the various posts.

• 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

The only steam railroad crossing on the Lewiston-Bath line
was on Maine Street, Brunswick, where the trolley crossed
the mainline of the Maine Central. Here is No. 120 waiting
for the crossing tender's signal to go.
O. R. Cummings Collection

         
The end of the Lewiston, Augusta & Waterville (LA&W) 1918 Losses Brought Receivership - Reorganization Decided Upon
     With losses approaching $100,000, on December 16, 1918, the Lewiston, Augusta & Waterville line was in receivership. When the financial conditions failed to improve in 1919, the company was reorganized and foreclosed on July 1, 1919. A public auction took place.
     The sale was held on September 5, and the assets, properties, and franchises of the LA&W were conveyed to the protective committee for $50, contingent upon acceptance of the outstanding liabilities and debts totaling $3,100,000.
     The Augusta Division of the former LA&W became the Kennebec Division of the Androscoggin & Kennebec Railway (A&K), and it eventually was expanded to include the Sabattus-Gardiner trackage in addition to that from Gardiner through Augusta to Waterville; from Augusta to Winthrop, and from Augusta to Togus.
     George W. Bowie continued as superintendent of the Kennebec Division, Alfred B. Sweeney being the general manager of the A&K.

Androscoggin & Kennebec Railway (A&K)
     A new operating company, the Androscoggin & Kennebec Railway Company (A&K), was incorporated on September 30, 1919, and the following day it took over the former LA&W system.
     Excluded from the property acquired by A&K was the Auburn & Turner Railroad, which was conveyed to the town of Turner for $30,000.
     The system conveyed to the A&K consisted of 145.97 miles of mainline track, 1.65 miles of secondary mainline track, 7.86 miles of siding and turnouts, and 1.86 miles of carhouse and shop tracks for a total of 157.14 single-track miles.

Off to a Rough Start
     The A&K began operation in one of the most severe winters in New England history - 1919-20. About six feet of snow fell in a month, followed by, the "storm of the century" on March 6. A&K service was suspended throughout the system.

Circa 1920 - "Jenny," possibly No. 006 plow.

O. R. Cummings Collection 2009_2_21_138

Courtesy Seashore Trolley Museum Library

Near North Vassalboro. Circa Jan./Feb. 1920

O. R. Cummings Collection 2009_2_21_144

Courtesy Seashore Trolley Museum Library

     Despite the poor start, A&K reported a profit in 1920. In 1921, 12,842,576 passengers were carried and the company also reported a profit. A sharp drop in ridership in 1922 became the trend as private automobile competition increased. In 1927, ridership was down to 7,863,810, and the company reported a profit.

Freight and Express were important sources of revenue.

Here, gondola motor No. 652 is at the Bates College heating

plant in Lewiston in 1935. Photo by Roger Borrup in

O. R. Cummings Collection

     The weak line of the Kennebec Division was the Winthrop route. The last cars ran on the Winthrop line on Thursday, August 23, 1928, and the railway company began removing the rails and overhead shortly thereafter.

Winthrop Village.

O. R. Cummings Collection 2009_2_21_124

Courtesy Seashore Trolley Museum Library

     The company's first deficit was reported in 1930, followed by a deficit in 1931, as the Great Depression increased its stranglehold on the American economy.

Line car no. 702 is shown in front of the Lewiston carbarn

on Lisbon Street while the lineman makes some minor repairs on

the overhead trolley wire. Photo by Roger Borrup on

June 30, 1937, in the O. R. Cummings Collection

     Ridership dropped to 4,824,027 in 1931. Then the state announced plans for extensive improvements to the present Route 201 - which the railway paralleled for a few miles out of Augusta towards Waterville. This would require the relocation of the track and overhead.  The anticipated expense to do so dictated the decision to abandon the line. The entire 53 miles of the Kennebec Division were abandoned. The last cars between Lewiston and Waterville, between Gardiner and Augusta, and between Augusta and Togus, ran on Sunday, July 31, 1932.

After its conversion to being the "Quick Lunch" car, No. 108,

"Maranacook," spent time in South Hallowell. Here is

how it looked in the late 1930s - photo from L. C. Leighton 

in the O. R. Cummings Collection 2009_2_22_037

Courtesy Seashore Trolley Museum Library

     The abandoned line still had outstanding mortgage bonds of the former Augusta, Hallowell, & Gardiner Railroad Company. Debtors foreclosed on the properties and the properties were liquidated.

1932 scene at the Augusta carbarn. Henry L. C. Leighton of

Augusta, who supplied several photos for the book used

for this blog post is seen here posing by the receiver's sale sign.

O. R. Cummings Collection 2009_2_25_035

Courtesy Seashore Trolley Museum Library

     All that remained of the Lewiston-Waterville route thereafter was the approximately 6 miles between Lewiston and Sabattus and another 1.1 miles from Sabattus Village to Sabattus Lake and a gravel pit a short distance east of Long Beach.

Motorman Charles Mason and conductor Robert Hurley

standing by car No. 40 at the original end-of-the-line, near

Cooperative Block, near Sabattus.

O. R. Cummings Collection 2009_2_21_014

Courtesy Seashore Trolley Museum Library

     The Lewiston-Bath route and local line in Bath was abandoned in 1937.

Birney safety car No. 242, which spent most of the 1920s in

the "high speed" service on the Brunswick-Yarmouth line,

ran out its days on the Lewiston-Auburn lines. It is shown

on Sabattus Street, Lewiston, in 1935.

O. R. Cummings Collection

Receivership for the A & K
     The A&K went into receivership on August 3, 1940, and on January 10, 1941, the assets, properties, and franchises of the company were sold at a public auction to the H. E. Salzberg interests of New York City.
     Transfer to the new owner took place on April 1, 1941, and on that same date, the Lewiston-Auburn Transit Company came into being.
     Permission to motorize the remaining rail lines of the former A&K was soon obtained from the PUC; buses were ordered from General Motors, and with their arrival, the training of operators began.

Taking down the Lewiston-Waterville overhead after

the abandonment of the line. From O. R. Cummings

1963 book, "Lewiston, Augusta, & Waterville Street Railway

Buses Took Over in September 1941
     By late August, all was in readiness for the changeover, and on September 1, 1941, the Lisbon Falls, Sabattus, and Mechanic Falls route and the three city lines were motorized. Five days later, on September 6th, buses took over the two remaining lines.
     The Lewiston-Auburn Transit Company had a life span of approximately 18 years, with bus service being permanently suspended on February 28, 1959, after a strike by the employees.

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

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.

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.

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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