INTRODUCTION:
The Maine Central Mountain Division began with the vision of two Portland Businessmen in 1866. It was a magnimous task to say the least but the two visionaries, John and Samuel Anderson, obviously had a great deal of determination. John and Samuel formed the Portland and Ogdensburg Railroad Company which between September 6, 1870 and December 22, 1875 constructed a railroad from the Atlantic Ocean at Portland Maine to the Connecticut River at St. Johnsbury Vermont through some exceptionally rugged terrain.
The Portland and Ogdensburg RR Company however soon experienced financial difficulties and on August 20, 1888 the line previously owned by the Portland and Ogdensburg became a part of the Maine Central Railroad Company hence the name "The Maine Central Mountain Division."
The Portsmouth, Great Falls and Conway Railroad also, like the Portland and Ogdensburg, was an other developing railroad in the last third of the 19th century. As its name implies the PGF&C constructed a line from Portsmouth to North Conway New Hampshire. The 71 mile long railroad reached North Conway in June of 1872 (1 year after the P&O) and the Eastern Railroad, which dominated this branch from the start, began running through trains from Boston to North Conway. The Eastern Railroad, like the P&O, also fell into hard times and was absorbed by the Boston and Maine on December 2, 1885.
Both of these railroads operated under the same management (B&M and MEC) for nearly a century and cooperated rather well together often running through trains from Boston to St. Johnnsbury on both lines. As the automobile and the truck became more popular coupled with the decline of industries along both lines, both railroads were forced out of service. The B&M, North Conway Branch went first in 1972 at which date much of the railroad fell into disrepair as it is today. The length from Conway to N. Conway N.H. however in 1974 became part of the newly formed Conway Senic Railroad which runs excursions along the route today.
The Maine Central continued to operate the Maine Central Mountain Division until its sale to Guilford Transportation Industries in June 1981. Guilford Transportation, finding the railroad comparitively less economical than sending freight over some of the other railroads that it owned (it acquired the B&M and the Deleware and Hudson RR's shortly after the purchase of the MEC) decided to cut the difficult to maintain railroad out of its system. The last regularly scheduled freight train ran through the notch to St. Johnsbury on September 3, 1983. While there were several other special runs through the notch in the next year, the last freight went through on October 3, 1984.
After 12 years of duscussion Guilford sold the railroad in New Hampshire to the State of New Hampshire in 1994 who in turn soliced bids for the line. The Conway Senic won the bidding and beginning on September 5, 1995 trains began running through Crawford Notch again. Today the Conway Senic has restored most of the railroad whithin the state of New Hampshire however the line within Maine has been abandoned.
The following map shows most of the Conway Senic RR today: