when Charles Duncan snapped this view on June 29, 1936.
This track, which tied together with the Highlands line
(Ohio Street) and the Hammond Street line in a big loop
did not become part of the Bangor trolley system until
1922. In 1940, this locale became the site of Bangor's
Dow Air Force Base and warplanes took the place of the
trolley cars. Image from Charles D. Heseltine Collection
Here is the newest release in the Maine Bicentennial series of electric railways in Maine. This is the 6th, and final blog post on Bangor, Maine, electric railway systems. This post features the Bangor Hydro-Electric Company summary/images from the book, "Bangor Street Railway" by Charles D. Heseltine, published as Transportation Bulletin No. 81 January -December 1974 through Connecticut Valley Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society copyright 1976 Roger Borrup and Charles D. Heseltine. Some text/images may be from the NEERHS 2015 publication, "The Illustrated Atlas of Maine's Street & Electric Railways 1863-1946. Additional images will be credited.
Bangor local lines
Map by Charles D. Heseltine in the NEERHS 2015
publication, "The Illustrated Atlas of Maine's Street & Electric
Railways 1863-1946.
Winter 1920 - Trolley lines all over New England experienced
the worst winter operating conditions. Photo of State Street
in Bangor with crews using pickaxes to break up the ice.
Image from Charles D. Heseltine Collection
- 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
Single-truck Birney safety cars proved their mettle in the snow
the first winter in Bangor. Here is No. 56 on Outer State Street
in March 1920. Image from Charles D. Heseltine Collection
Bangor Hydro-Electric Company
Certain reorganizations in the financial structure of the Bangor Railway & Electric Company resulted when the General Electric Company divested itself of its subsidiary, the Electric Bond & Share Company, in 1924. As a result, the Bangor Hydro-Electric Company was organized, on June 9, 1924. Stock in this company was exchanged on an equal basis for stock in the Bangor Railway & Electric Company. The new company formally took over operations on March 1, 1925.
The overhead wire maintenance crew using the tower-truck in
the carbarn yard in Bangor on November 4, 1935.
Image from Edwin "Bill" Robertson Collection - PWM
At that time the Bangor trolley system was operating on a total of 58.73 miles of mainline track, including the lengthy Charleston line. No new railway vehicles were ever purchased by the Bangor Hydro-Electric Company. The line utilized reliable semi-convertible cars for the long suburban runs, double-truck safety cars for the Hampden and Brewer lines, and single-truck safety cars for servicing the local Bangor city routes. The last track extension was in 1930, a 700-foot extension to the Hampden line was built to serve the plant of the Hughes Brothers Company near the "Tin Bridge."
Bangor, Hampden & Winterport Railway
(Never did reach Winterport...btw)
Map by Charles D. Heseltine in the NEERHS 2015
publication, "The Illustrated Atlas of Maine's Street & Electric
Railways 1863-1946.
Boarding No. 10 on Main Street in Bangor, heading for
Hampden. Circa 1935 Image from O. R. Cummings
Collection in the NEERHS 2015 publication, "The Illustrated
Atlas of Maine's Street & Electric Railways 1863-1946.
The 1920s were marked by the movement to build better highways and farmers were acquiring their own trucks to haul their produce to market. Trucking firms were also springing up as the highway system improved and expanded, offering door-to-door service. It forecast the end of the trolley freight service.
Kenduskeag to Charleston map
Map by Charles D. Heseltine in the
2015 publication, "The Illustrated Atlas of
Maine's Street & Electric Railways 1863-1946.
J. G. Brill Co. builder's photo of combination car No. 32
in Philadelphia, PA in 1906 prior to being shipped to Bangor.
A combine or combination car was designed to handle express
or light freight and also carry passengers. Generally,
one-third of the car compartment was for freight, usually
with a sliding door on one or both sides of the body, and
two-thirds of the car compartment had seats for carrying
passengers. Combines were commonly used on rural lines
like the Charleston Division.
Image from Charles D. Heseltine Collection
The Charleston Division was sustained by its freight service without comparable passenger revenues, fell victim to the changing times, and was abandoned on April 30, 1931. A private bus service took over to handle the few passengers and the mail over the Charleston route. In 1940, Bangor Hydro-Electric took back this route when it inaugurated the Penobscot Transportation Company in the gradual changeover to bus operation.
Combine No. 34 crossing the Kenduskeag Stream. Notice the
harvested logs in the stream. Image from O. R. Cummings
Collection in the NEERHS 2015 publication, "The Illustrated
Atlas of Maine's Street & Electric Railways 1863-1946.
Bangor - Kenduskeag map
Map by Charles D. Heseltine in the
2015 publication, "The Illustrated Atlas of
Maine's Street & Electric Railways 1863-1946.
Following the practice of many street railways of the period, Bangor elected to brighten up its rolling stock in 1934. As the cars rolled out of the paint shop following their annual overhaul, they sported a yellow hue rather than the dark green and cream of former days. They had come full circle, as the first electric cars in Bangor had likewise been painted yellow with cream trim.
Bangor, Orono & Old Town Railway
Map by Charles D. Heseltine in the
2015 publication, "The Illustrated Atlas of
Maine's Street & Electric Railways 1863-1946.
The Old Town line - photo by H. T. Crittenden, July 15, 1938,
from the collection of Edward Bond. No. 86 a 1913, Wason Car
Company semi-convertible.
It might be recorded that in 1935 the street railway was indirectly influential in bringing about the complete modernization of the fire department of the City of Old Town. In responding to an alarm of fire, the horse drawing the city's last horse-drawn hose rig slipped on the trolley car rails, breaking its leg, which led to the city replacing the hose wagon with a motorized truck.
No. 20 was Bangor's first single-truck Birney safety car.
Here it is on Main Street, opposite the carbarn in 1935.
Image from Charles D. Heseltine Collection
In 1939, the Federal government began to develop Dow Air Field, and the Westland Avenue track of the trolley line had to be abandoned. This trackage had tied connected the Hammond Street and the Highlands lines. This caused the line to make adjustments, resulting in some sections of the trackage being terminated.
No. 52, one of the many single-truck, Birney safety cars
on the Hammond Street-Western Avenue loop. Here on a
turnout in the open country, which would become the site
of the Dow Airfielf of the U. S. Air Force. The man wearing
the white shirt is Linwood Moody, historian for the Maine
Narrow Gauge. Image from Charles D. Heseltine Collection
Operations over the remainder of the Hampden line came to a close on July 27, 1940. With the abandonment of the Hampden line, the Penobscot Transportation Company, a newly organized subsidiary of the Bangor Hydro-Electric Company, commenced operation of three White Company-built buses the following morning between Market Square and Hampden. The paint schemes of electric cars soon changed to match the paint scheme of the new buses.
1939 brought reductions to the lines serving Hammond Street.
See where the tracks have been removed where they used
to turn the corner onto Westland Avenue.
S. D. Maguire image, May 1944.
The waiting shelter at Dorothea Dix Park as seen
in Hampden in 1970, many, many years after the last trolley
car made a stop. Image from Charles D. Heseltine Collection
The final run of the electrics in Old Town came at 1:42 a.m. on the morning of March 30, 1941.
It had been the intention of the company to phase out the remaining trolley operations by the end of 1943, but the acute shortages brought on by WWll held up this plan, with the faithful Birney safety cars providing service on the local lines. The double-truck semi-convertibles were scrapped in 1942.
Weekly passes were in use by the successor
Penobscot Transportation Company during
wartime years of 1940-1945 when it
operated Bangor's city trolley lines.
Image from Charles D. Heseltine Collection
Snow and ice-packed in the flangeways had sent No. 54 off
the rails on the State Street bridge in the wartime 1940s image.
Image from Charles D. Heseltine Collection
The seven double-truck safety cars no longer required, were sold to the Johnstown (PA) Traction Company in 1942, where they were renumbered 305-311. All but No. 311 were scrapped by that company in 1947, but No. 311 remained in service to make one of the final runs of that company in 1960 - the last small city street railway operations in the United States.
One-of-seven, 8-wheel (double-truck), light-weight, safety
cars built in 1921, that arrived in Bangor from the Wason
Company in Springfield, MA, in 1922. It would become
Johnstown Traction Company No. 311 and be saved
and sold to the Rockhill Trolley Museum (PA). It is
Bangor's only surviving trolley operates today at its
happy home in Rockhill Furnace, PA.
Photo courtesy of Joel Salomon
No. 311 was acquired from the Johnstown Traction Company by the Rockhill Trolley Museum. No. 311, formerly No 14 of the Bangor Railway & Electric Company/Bangor Hydro-Electric Company, was the first trolley acquired by the Rockhill Trolley Museum. No. 311 was restored and today lives a very happy life PA, giving passengers trolley rides at Rockhill Trolley Museum.
The end of the electric railway service in Bangor came on December 31, 1945.
Last run - President Graham of the Bangor
Hydro-Electric at the controls of No. 40.
Image from Charles D. Heseltine Collection
President Graham in the doorway as operator Thomas
Davis poses for the photo on State Street, Bangor, as No. 40
was making a final circuit of the city trolley lines.
Image from Charles D. Heseltine Collection
The highwater mark for passengers carried and total passenger revenues in a year was 1926, when the line carried 4,347,481 passengers which generated revenues of $128,304.
We are still in need of funds for creating the interpretation programs that will tell this fascinating 100+-year-old story of the Narcissus. For information on donation options, scroll down this post and find the one that best fits your position. Fund 816 to help with the restoration and Fund 817 (PLI Education-Interpretation programs ) should be noted when making a donation.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Click Here for the post that has the short virtual 3-D video of the digital model of the Narcissus, with components added to the file from earlier this year (the gold leaf file had not been added yet).
Restoration work continues on the Narcissus. The Narcissus is more than 110 years old now and has so many incredible stories to share. The restoration of this majestic icon of Maine's electric railway history is but one of those incredible stories.
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.
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
Seashore Trolley Museum Promo Video
The paperback edition of Teddy Roosevelt, Millie, and the Elegant Ride can be purchased online through the Seashore Trolley Museum's store website. Books purchased through the Museum's website directly benefit the Museum and the Narcissus project.
Click Here to go to the Museum Store web page to order online
Click Here to go to the Amazon page to order the ebook or audiobook online
Paperback books are available at these local bookstores in Maine:
Center for Maine Crafts, West Gardiner Service Plaza
The Book Review, Falmouth
The Bookworm, Gorham
Letterpress Books, Portland
Maine Historical Society Store, Portland
Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad, Portland
Morph Gallery & Emporium, Kennebunk
New Gloucester Historical Society, New Gloucester
Nonesuch Books and More, South Portland
Seashore Trolley Museum, Kennebunkport
Sherman's Maine Coast Book Shops, All Locations
Thompson's Orchard, New Gloucester
Teddy Roosevelt, Millie, and the Elegant Ride
by Jean M. Flahive
Illustrations by Amy J. Gagnon
Listen to a 2-minute, 30-second, Retail Audio Sample of the Audiobook
Millie Thayer is a headstrong farmer's daughter who chases her dreams in a way you would expect a little girl nicknamed "Spitfire" would-running full tilt and with her eyes on the stars. Dreaming of leaving the farm life, working in the city, and fighting for women's right to vote, Millie imagines flying away on a magic carpet. One day, that flying carpet shows up in the form of an electric trolley that cuts across her farm. A fortune-teller predicts that Millie's path will cross that of someone famous. Suddenly, she finds herself caught up in events that shake the nation, Maine, and her family. Despairing that her dreams may be shattered, Millie learns, in an unexpected way, that dreams can be shared.
A resource for teachers
Companion curriculum State-standard-based units,
vocabulary, and reading activities for use in grades 3-8
are available online as downloadable resources through
Seashore Trolley Museum's website
www.trolleymuseum.org/elegantride/
Maine Historical Society has created eight companion lesson units in Social Studies and ELA that were inspired by Teddy Roosevelt, Millie, and the Elegant Ride - These State-standard-based lesson plans for use in grades 6, 7, and 8 are easily adapted for use in grades 3-5. Vocabulary and Reading activities for grades 3-8 along with the eight lesson plan units are available free and may be downloaded through Seashore Trolley Museum's website www.trolleymuseum.org/elegantride/
Go to the Teacher Resource Page in the pull-down for more details.
A 60-second intro to Teddy Roosevelt, Millie, and the Elegant Ride by author, Jean Flahive
Click Here to watch the video on YouTube
Award-winning author, Jean M. Flahive
Please Consider a Donation to the Narcissus Project to help us tell the incredible story of the Narcissus through the interpretation portion of the Narcissus Project.
Here is an example of how donations to the Narcissus Project now will help with the interpretation portion of the project. The interpretation programming will include exhibits, displays, and education programming. In 2019, through generous donations to the Narcissus Project, we were able to conserve, replicate, and have high resolutions digital image files made of the original, 1910, 28.5-foot long, surveyor map of the elevation and grade of the 30-mile private right-of-way of the Portland, Gray, and Lewiston Railroad (Portland-Lewiston Interurban) Click Here
Thank You!
the crowd gathered in Gray, Maine on August 18, 1914.
Image courtesy of Gray Historical Society
The Narcissus as the Sabattus Lake Diner in Sabattus, Maine,
circa 1940. Photo by John Coughlin in the Kevin Farrell
Collection at Seashore Trolley Museum
L. Henri Vallee (right) and family members in the
Narcissus, when it was Vallee's summer camp in
Sabattus, Maine circa 1958. Photo courtesy Daniel Vallee
Inside the Donald G. Curry Town House Restoration Shop, the Narcissus is in the midst of major work as we strive to complete its restoration. We are now planning the interpretation portion of the Narcissus Project. Donations to the Narcissus Project may be used in the future to help tell the incredible 100-plus-year-old story of the Narcissus. Your donation to the Narcissus is helping to make the dream of the project's success, a reality.
See below for Donation options -
It starts with YOU
Your Donation Matters
Make a Donation TODAY
Please Help the Narcissus.
Donation Options to Help the Narcissus Project:
The New England Electric Railway Historical Society
is the 501c3 organization that owns and operates the Seashore Trolley Museum in Kennebunkport, ME, and the National Streetcar
Museum in Lowell (MA).
The New England Electric Railway Historical Society registered with the IRS (EIN# 01-0244457) and was incorporated in Maine in 1941.
Check or Money Order ***** should be made payable to:
New England Electric Railway Historical Society
In the memo: for a donation to the Interpretation programming
please write: PLI Education Fund 817
For a donation to help with the restoration write: Narcissus Fund 816
Mail to: Seashore Trolley Museum
P. O. Box A
Kennebunkport, ME 04046
Credit Card ***** donations can be one-time donations or you
may choose to have a specific amount charged to your card
automatically on a monthly basis. Please contact the Museum bookkeeper, via email at finance@trolleymuseum.org or by phone, at 207-967-2800 ext. 3.
Online Donations - may be made by using a Credit Card:
Click Here to make an online donation through the Museum's website - When at the Donation page: Fill in donor info, etc., when at "To which fund are you donating? Scroll down to "Other" and type in: 816 Narcissus, then continue filling in the required information.
Click Here for PayPal - to make an online donation: you can use email: finance@trolleymuseum.org and in the message box write:
For "Narcissus Fund 816" - if supporting the restoration
For "PLI Education Fund 817" - if supporting Interpretation programs
Donation of Securities ***** We also accept donations of
securities. You can contact the Museum bookkeeper, via email at finance@trolleymuseum.org or by phone, at 207-967-2800 ext. 3,
for brokerage account information for accepting donated securities.
BONUS ***** If you work for a company/corporation that will
"match" an employee's donation to an approved 501c3 non-profit
educational organization, please be sure to complete the necessary paperwork with your employer so that your donation is matched :)
Questions? ***** Please contact Narcissus project sponsor:
Phil Morse, narcissus@gmail.org or call 207-985-9723 - cell.
Thank You :)
Thank You for our Current Funding Partners
* 20th Century Electric Railway Foundation - 2020/2018 - Major Gift, 2017/2014 Matching Grants
* Renaissance Charitable Foundation (LPCT) by Fiduciary Trust Charitable Giving Fund
* Renaissance Charitable Foundation (LPCT) by Fiduciary Trust Charitable Giving Fund
* Mass Bay RRE - 2018 Railroad Preservation Grant
* Thornton Academy (Saco, ME) - Staff & Alumni - Matching Grant Challenge 2014
* New England Electric Railway Historical Society (Kennebunkport, ME) - Member Donations
* Amherst Railway Society - 2015 Heritage Grant
* National Railway Historical Society - 2016 & 2015 Heritage Preservation Grants
* Enterprise Holding Foundation - 2015 Community Grant
* Theodore Roosevelt Association - Member Donations
* John Libby Family Association and Member Donations
* The Conley Family - In Memory of Scott Libbey 2018/2017/2016/2015
* The W. S. Libbey Family - Awalt, Conley, Graf, Holman, Libbey, McAvoy, McLaughlin, Meldrum, O'Halloran, Salto, - 2018/2017
* The Hughes Family 2017/2016/2010
* New Gloucester Historical Society and Member Donations
* Gray Historical Society and Member Donations
* Gray Public Library Association - Pat Barter Speaker Series
* Scarborough Historical Society - PRR/PLI
* LogMein - Matching Employee Donation
* IBM - Matching Employee/Retiree Donations
* Fidelity Charitable Grant - Matching Employee Donations
* Richard E. Erwin Grant - 2017/2016
The Narcissus, with interior back-lit, stained glass windows is majestic.
Make a donation today to help restore the interior of this Maine gem.
Help Theodore Roosevelt's Maine Ride get back on track! Once restored,
you will be able to ride in luxury on this National Register Treasure at
Seashore Trolley Museum in Kennebunkport, Maine.
PWM photo
Please Consider Making a Donation to the project of the National Register of Historic Places member, Narcissus. We are currently raising funds to advance the restoration and to tell the incredible story of this Maine gem.
Various News stories during the summer of 2015 about the
Narcissus and its connection to Theodore Roosevelt. TR
was a passenger on the Narcissus on August 18, 1914.
Patricia Pierce Erikson photo
The Narcissus - July 31, 2015. Make a donation today.
Help Theodore Roosevelt's Maine Ride get back on track!
Once restored, you will be able to ride in luxury on this
National Historic Treasure at
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