 | |
 System map, 1916 | |
 The railroad'sAroostook Flyer passenger train, c. 1950s | |
| Overview | |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Bangor, Maine |
| Reporting mark | BAR |
| Locale | Maine |
| Dates of operation | 1891 (1891)–2003 (2003) |
| Successor | Montreal, Maine and Atlantic Railway |
| Technical | |
| Track gauge | 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) |
| Length | 858 miles (1,381 km) |
TheBangor and Aroostook Railroad (reporting markBAR) was aUnited Statesrailroad company that brought rail service toAroostook County in northernMaine. Brightly-painted BARboxcars attracted national attention in the 1950s.[1][2] First-generation diesellocomotives operated on BAR until they were museum pieces. The economic downturn of the 1980s, coupled with the departure ofheavy industry from northern Maine, forced the railroad to seek a buyer and end operations in 2003. It was succeeded by theMontreal, Maine and Atlantic Railway.
The company was incorporated in 1891 to combine the lines of the formerBangor and Piscataquis Railroad and theBangor and Katahdin Iron Works Railway. It was based inBangor and lines extended from there toOakfield andHoulton in 1894. The line was extended from Houlton toFort Fairfield andCaribou in 1895. A parallel branch line was extended from Oakfield toAshland in 1896. A branch was built from Caribou toLimestone in 1897, and the main line extended from Caribou toVan Buren in 1899. The Ashland Branch was extended toFort Kent in 1902. A southern extension was completed in 1905 through Northern Maine Junction toSearsport onPenobscot Bay. The Medford Cutoff from Packard to South Lagrange was completed in 1907, and a branch was built fromMillinocket to a new paper mill inEast Millinocket. Rails were extended up the Maine side of theSaint John River from Van Buren throughMadawaska and Fort Kent toSt. Francis in 1910; andMapleton was connected toStockholm andPresque Isle on the main line, and to Squa Pan on the Ashland branch. An international bridge was constructed over the Saint John River between Van Buren andSt. Leonard, NB in 1915 to connect with theCanadian Pacific Railway andNational Transcontinental Railway (later merged into theCanadian National Railway).[3]
BAR began hauling potatoes in heatedboxcars in 1895.[4] Potatoes provided a stable income source through the great depression, and provided 50% of the railroad's revenue followingWorld War II.[5] BAR had the second-largest United States railroad-ownedreefer fleet (afterSanta Fe) during the 1950s.[6] BAR made an arrangement withPacific Fruit Express whereby PFE reefers shipped Maine potatoes during winter months and BAR reefers carried California produce during the summer and autumn.[7] While potatoes started moving by truck following completion of theInterstate Highway System into northernMaine in the 1960s, what actually resulted in the railroad losing its potato business forever was thePenn Central Transportation Company (PC), whose interchange service became so bad during the winter of 1969–70 that a large portion of the 1969 potato crop was spoiled by freezing when car heaters ran out of fuel. The claims process against PC was not resolved prior to PC's bankruptcy declaration the following June. As a result, several potato farms went out of business; those that survived distrusted rail service and never returned to using the railroad.[8]
Inbound chemicals and outbound paper from mills on thePenobscot River at Millinocket and East Millinocket were major revenue sources for the BAR from 1900.[9] Another paper mill was built in Madawaska in 1925.[10] Pulpwood and wood chip shipment to the paper mills became increasingly important as potato loadings declined.[11] The remote port facilities at Searsport were a preferred loading point for ammunition duringWorld War II,[12] and BAR transported heating coal and aircraft fuel toLoring AFB forStrategic Air Commandbombers through theCold War. BAR painted 2,500 boxcars in the red, white and blue colors of the US flag during the 1950s. A less-expensive oxide red paint scheme with large white reporting marks was adopted during theVietnam War.[13]
The line fromBrownville Junction toKatahdin Iron Works was abandoned in 1922, but the rails remained in place until 1933.[14]
Into the 1950s, the Bangor and Aroostook operated an afternoon train, theAroostook Flyer, on the company's mainline from Bangor (where a connection could be made from theBoston & Maine'sPenobscot fromBoston[15]), to Brownville, Sherman,Oakfield,Presque Isle, Caribou and concluding inVan Buren (oppositeSt. Leonard in New Brunswick). A morning train making local stops, thePotatoland, ran from Bangor, using the same route, but after Van Buren continued west toSt. Francis.[16]
Service (#9 north/#12 south, and also scheduled to meet thePenobscot) operated from Bangor to Derby, leaving the main route heading west toGreenville, whereupon it joined Canadian Pacific trackage toMegantic, Quebec onLac Mégantic.[17] Greenville served as a transfer point for connecting with east-westAtlantic Limited and otherCanadian Pacific Railway service fromMontreal to Saint John, New Brunswick, viaSherbrooke, Quebec.[18] The company also offered service on an interior branch from Oakfield directly north toFort Kent, a stop on the route to St. Francis.[19]
BARpassenger train service ended in 1961.[20] Bus service, which began in 1936, continued with buses lettered for Bangor and Aroostook running onGreyhound Lines schedules between Aroostook County andNew York City'sPort Authority Bus Terminal until 1984.[21] The Greenville branch was dismantled from 1962 to 1964.[22] Several Aroostook County segments were abandoned when potato traffic disappeared in the 1970s.
BAR merged with the Punta Alegre Sugar and Railroad Company to formBangor Punta in 1964.
In 1995, the BAR was acquired byIron Road Railways. In 2002, the company was declaredbankrupt; the next year its lines were sold toRail World, which initially incorporated them into its newly-formedMontreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway subsidiary.[23] In 2010, the 133 miles (214 km) of track fromMillinocket north to the Canada–US border were sold to the state ofMaine for $20 million to be operated by Irving Oil'sMaine Northern Railway.[24] MM&A kept the line from the Millinocket paper mills south to Searsport; after its 2013Lac-Mégantic derailment and bankruptcy, the line was sold to theFortress Investment Group as theCentral Maine and Quebec Railway (CMQ). In 2019 it was sold by CMQ to Canadian Pacific, as part of expanding its rail service into New England and the Maritime Provinces.
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The Bangor and Aroostook rostered some 150 different steam locomotives over its history. Most were built by theManchester Locomotive Works or theAmerican Locomotive Company (ALCO), which absorbed Manchester in 1901. The most popular type was the4-6-0, with nearly 60.[25] Diesels began arriving in the late 1940s; general purpose types such as theEMD GP7 andEMD GP38 were common. Unusually, the BAR also rostered eightEMD BL2 "branch line" locomotives, precursors to EMD's GPs. Many first-generation diesels remained in operation on the BAR until they were museum pieces.[26] In the 1950s its red, white, and blue boxcars attracted national attention.[27]
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