Bethel station (Maine)

Bethel station was a railroad station in Bethel, Maine. The passenger service at the station was closed in 1953. In addition to passengers, trains carried mail and Railway Express Agency shipments. Trains 16 and 17 (east and west) passed through Bethel daily stopping at each station on their way between Portland, Maine and Island Pond, Vermont. In September 1960, passenger train service ended on the Grand Trunk between Portland and Island Pond.

Bethel
General information
LocationBethel, Maine
United States.
Coordinates44°24′38″N 70°47′21″W
History
Opened1865
Closed1968
Former services
Preceding station Canadian National Railway Following station
Allens
toward Montreal
 Montreal – Portland Locke's Mills
toward Portland

History

The St. Lawrence and Atlantic Railroad was chartered in Maine on February 10, 1845. On March 10, 1851, the St. Lawrence and Atlantic engine, Montreal, entered Bethel with the regular morning train from Portland to commence regular service between the two points.

On September 26, 1874, the rails of the St. Lawrence and Atlantic Railroad which had been laid on the broad gage of 5 feet 6 inches were changed on the same day to the standard gage of 4 feet 8 ½ inches from daybreak to 9 am from Montreal to Portland.

During the last decade of the 19th Century, there were three scheduled passenger trains going down and up from Portland and stopping at Locke's Mills, Bethel, West Bethel (Allen), and Gilead. Passenger service was in addition to extensive freight service.[1]

References
  1. Johnson, Ron The Best of Maine Railroads (1985) Portland Litho p.58
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