The Eastern Railroad revisited

[Manalishi]

North Berwick station courtesy of the B&M Historical Society and the same view today. The "platform" where the boy is walking in the vintage photo is still visible in the current photo.

26446900752 1800.jpg

DSCN1274 1800.jpg

[Manalishi]

Main Street, North Berwick. I count at least 7 tracks crossing what is now Lower Main St. circa 1910. A lot of railroad action for such a small town.

I met a gent a few years ago whose uncle worked for the B&M in the 1940s. He worked in North Berwick at one of those crossings and sent a postcard to his brother stating that on 7/1/1949, 23 trains passed his gate crossing from 10 pm to 6:30 am the next morning.

Bottom, old postcard, Eastern on the left, B&M on the right, North Berwick looking toward Portland.

DSCN0577 1800.jpg

DSCN0007.JPG

[Manalishi]

West Brook, 1st crossing, just north of Rt. 9, N. Berwick. I've read in this forum that probably the only reason this bridge is still intact is the business relationship with the Swenson Granite Quarry, which ended in the 1970s.

[Manalishi]

Perry Oliver Rd. crossing. The Eastern passed under an overpass here which was removed decades ago and the gap filled in. However, 2 tell-tales remain, one on each side of the road. Neither has seen a train pass under them since 1944. Oddly, even though there were many bridges over the Eastern in Maine, these are the only tell-tales I've found, at least to Arundel.

A silent sentinel in the fading November daylight.

DSCN0565 1800.jpg

DSCN0566 1800.jpg

DSCN0567 1800.jpg

[Manalishi]

Other side, looking toward Portland. I'm surprised these tell-tales have remained intact for so many decades.

DSCN0568 1800.jpg

DSCN0569 1800.jpg

[nkloudon]

Back in the day... they built things to last!

[Manalishi]

They sure did. The "coat hangers" hanging from the horizontal arm of the tell-tail all seem to be in place, still waiting to warn a railroad man of an oncoming bridge.

The few bridges that remain still seem to be able to support a train although the only thing they have to support these days is a hiker or a mountain biker.

[Manalishi]

West Brook, 2nd crossing. If the 1st West Brook crossing bridge was left in place after the Swenson Granite Quarry went out of business, why remove the second bridge?

Anyway, the railroad was nice enough to leave a few rails in place so that someone could build a rickety wooden bridge for the mountain bikers.

DSCN1459 1800.jpg

DSCN1462 1800.jpg

DSCN1464 1800.jpg

[Manalishi]

Looking toward Portland.

DSCN1471 1800.jpg

DSCN1475 1800.jpg

[Manalishi]

The Merriland River crossing in Wells. There are a few bridges in this style. Instead of a steel girder bridge, the railroad chose to bridge the river with what looks like a giant concrete slab which was then covered with dirt to form the right-of-way.

[Manalishi]

The Eastern crossed under what is now Rt. 109 in Wells. I took this shot in 2005, the view looking south towards N. Berwick. Wells depot would have been on my right. This bridge was a replacement for an earlier bridge and was, in turn, replaced about 10 years later.

The vintage postcard shows Rt. 109 and the bridge looking towards Sanford about 1910. Also shown is Wells depot, perched on an embankment overlooking the tracks. The station sign (Wells Depot) is just visible below the middle window. Odd that it has the word "depot" as part of its name. This station was also known as Highpine.

Last shot, same view in 2016, showing the modern replacement bridge. Wells depot is long gone. The house on the right is the same in both photos.

DSCN0575 1800.jpg

DSCN0576 1800.jpg

DSCN0826 1800.jpg

[Manalishi]

Map of the Wells Depot area from 1872 and, bottom, looking towards Portland with Route 109 and the Wells depot location right behind me.

2019-12-02 23_33_50-Window.png

DSCN0585.JPG

[Manalishi]

The ROW drops steeply to the bottom of the forest floor and it is here that the Eastern crossed Hobbs brook just south of Hobbs Crossing in Wells.

DSCN0590 1800.jpg

Looking south from Hobbs Crossing.

DSCN0593 1800.jpg

[Manalishi]

The Eastern crossed Meetinghouse Rd. at what is known as Hobbs Crossing. This was also the site of a train wreck in the 1800s although an educated guess is that the wreck didn't occur at the crossing itself but a short distance south of it. The picture of the wreck is from an old stereoview.

hobbsmap 1800.jpg

Hobbs Crossing at Meetinghouse Rd. today.

DSCN0594 1800.jpg

Hobbs Crossing train wreck

hobbs.jpg

[MEC407]

Thanks again for re-posting these photos and the accompanying narratives!