TrainsText

Here's what Nancy has to get us started:

…..Train into Farmington Village

The railroad reached Farmington by the end of 1859, but the depot was on the West side of the river. To catch a train, or to use the railroad for freight, a traveler or shipper had to cross the river. Certainly having the train into West Farmington was much more convenient than having no train at all, but it was soon apparent the people of the area would benefit by having a terminus closer to the Village of Farmington.

During the late 1860’s, many articles about a possible railroad location in Farmington appeared in the Farmington Chronicle. And by Nov. 4, 1869, Androscoggin Railroad is surveying an expansion line into the village and laying out a depot location. The paper is relatively quiet about the plans until July. From then on, the paper contains articles about the progress of the railroad bridge and depot in nearly every edition of the paper until the train finally reaches the village at the end of the year.

July 14, 1870: The building of the railroad bridge at this place is progressing finely. The rocky bed of the river has interfered somewhat with the pile driving, when it has been crossed, as it will be in a few days, and the intervale on the east side is reached, the piling will be more rapidly set. The bridge is to cross the river by four forty feet spans, each of which will rest on a double pier of oak piles. It is estimated that it will take two months to complete the structure.

July 21, 1870: The railroad bridge across the river at this place is to be sustained [principally] by oak and brown ash piles….If ice freshets do not disturb them, and fire and other forces leave them alone, the present railroad company and all concerned in the construction of the bridge, will have passed away long before they show any sign of decay.

July 21, 1870: Thursday last, the petitioners for an injunction on the bonds authorized by Farmington Village Corporation to aid the Androscoggin Railroad Company for the work of extending their road to this village, had a hearing before Judge Barron at the Court House, Goodenow and Knowlton, Attorneys for petitions, Samuel Belcher and Hannibal Belcher, for the Village Corporation and its officers, and Wm P. Frye, for [the] Railroad Company the temporary injunction was refused and the case made up for the decision of the Federal Court now in session at Portland.

August 4, 1870: The new depot grounds were visited in a mysterious manner last Thursday night and our readers will remember was very dark. A large amount of earth was removed, some estimate it at fifty cartloads, and dug out about a foot below the grade. Mr. Clarks gang was employed two or three hours next morning carting away the pile of broken boards, which had the appearance of having been underground a long time, and parts of a skelton was reported to have been found.

August 11 1870: The work of extending the Androscoggin railroad to this village has been carried forward, thus far, with energy. About 18000 cubic yard of earth have been received up to the present; 9000 from the Depot grounds in West Farmington, the west end of the bridge and 9000 on this site of the new depot grounds in this village. Mr. David Clark, under whose efficient oversight the work of excavation has been done, informs us that between 3000 and 4000 more cubic yards of earth remain to be thrown out when his portion of the contract will be completed. In regard to the bridge, it is stretching out its wooden legs and arms toward its eastern terminus with a rapidity which neither injunctions nor any more probable creature can impede. It already spans the river and reaches out over the intervale – which it must cross on piles – some 800 feet, and the old Iron Horse, with his freight of timber and piles, goes over it a distance of about 600 feet. And still the work goes on. Nearly as fast as the piles are driven, they are capped, and the stringers and track timbers laid, in the direction of the master building, C. H. Davis. When completed, the bridge will be about 2,200 feet in length. At this rate the work is now progressing, it will be finished and the cars running over it by middle of September. We know little about the Depot buildings, other than that the passenger depot will be some 150 feet and the freight 125 feet in length, but they will be first class and the best on the road.

August 25, 1870: We understand that arrangements are being made by which a daily special train will run over the Androscoggin, starting from the new depot grounds in this village, to accommodate those persons who may wish to attend the State Fair at Augusta.

August 25, 1870: Up to Tuesday night, 20th, the Railroad Company had driven about 500 piles of the bridge now being constructed from the left bank of the Sandy River, across the intervening intervale, to their new depot grounds in this village. It will require some 100 more to finish the work. The bridge is more than half completed, and it is thought the cars will be running on this side of the river by the 10th of September. A portion of the timber for the new depots has arrived at West Farmington, which will be brought to this side as soon as the track is laid across the bridge, when work will immediate commenced on the new depot buildings.

Sept. 8, 1870: Last Friday, while a Frenchman named Geraud was digging under an embankment on the depot grounds in this village, the dirt above him gave way, falling upon his head and shoulders as he stooped to take up a shovel full, bending him nearly double, completely burying him. When dug out he was found to be quite severely injured and has been unable to resume work.

Sept. 22, 1870: Last Thursday, the master bridge building Chas.H. Davis, pronounced the Railroad Bridge at this place ready for the trains. About 11 o’clock AM, an engine and a platform car loaded with sleepers (ties) came across. Quite a crowd of men, women and children collected on the brow of the hill near the residence of H. B. Stoyell, Esq. To give vent to their joyful feelings over the arrival of the first train at Farmington Village. The car quickly unloaded of its sleepers, and returned to the west side of the river with a large load of living freight – the first excursion party that had crossed the bridge. The bridge has been pronounced, by those capable of judging, to be one of the best structures of the kind in this country. Much credit is due to Mr. Davis for the substantial and workmanlike manner in which every portion of it has been completed. He has established a reputation of which many bridge buildings, of much large experience, might well envy him.

Monday morning, the first car-load of timber for the new depot was landed upon the grounds of the Railroad Company, in this village. The remainder will be brought over as rapidly as possible; the depot buildings will soon be under cover, and passenger and freight trains will within a few weeks bring to our door fresh evidence of the energy and enterprice of our people. So far the work has been well done, by railroad company, town and village, and when the whole shall have been completed, no one will regret it. We believe now, as we did in the start, that the benefits to be derived from the completion of this extension, will tower so high above all loss or injury sustained, that many years will not pass our citizens, irrespective of locality, will wonder why it was ever opposed, and will scarcely wish to be recorded as having given it the “cold shoulder”.

Sept. 22 1870: A friend from West Farmington writes: “The Special train for the accommodation of passengers to the State Fair returned safe from the Centre Village Tuesday morning with two passengers and left with nine from West Farmington”. When the new Depots are built and the train runs regularly from this side of the river, we hope we will have the same curiosity to note the arrivals and be prompt to report the same in our columns.

Sept. 29, 1870: Last Thursday forenoon, while men were engaged in removing the dirt for a new road on the east side of the depot grounds in this village, a portion of the embankment gave way, burying three Frenchmen. None were injured except John Cowett, whose leg was badly broken below the knee, the bone being split and forced through the flesh. The wound was dressed by Drs. Blake and Linscott. Young C. is a poor man and has been in the States but a few weeks; has a wife and five children in Canada to whom he was intending to return in about a week.

Oct. 6, 1870: The new Passenger and Freight Depots at this place are rapidly approaching completion. Both buildings will make a fine appearance. The new street will be so far along by the time trains run regularly to this side of the river, as to enable the travel to reach the depots from the north and south without difficulty.

Oct. 6, 1870: Upon the completion of the Railroad Bridge to this village, the master-builder, Chas. H Davis invited his employees to make a trip with him to Lewiston. Arrived at that place, they all repaired to the Railroad saloon, where a sumptuous dinner was served up in a “mine host’s” best style. As the party were about to start out, Capt. Ira Elliott thought he had something to say, and a little job to do, before they started, and in his honest off-hand way, stepped towards Mr. Davis and presented him with a massive solid silver watch0chain, as a small token of their appreciation of him as a man and master workman. We have been unable to learn the particulars of the affair, but understand that all hands enjoyed the occasion hugely, and returned all the happier and better for the excursion.

Oct. 13, 1870: In order to secure the railroad bridge at this place against damage by ice freshets, three immense abutment ice-breakers are being constructed in the channel of the river a few rods above the bridge, which will smash the ice-cakes into such small proportions as to render them comparatively harmless when they strike the pililngs upon which the structure rests. They are built of heavy timbers inter-crossing each other, in the form of a triangle, firmly bolted together, the inside of which looks like an old fashioned “cob house” on an improved scale. The interior is filled with heavy stones and gravel. The tops will be some three or four feet above the highest water mark.

Dec. 8, 1870: Saturday night our citizens were greeted with the whistle of the first through train to this village. As the cars made their way over the bridge, their progress was watched by a large concourse of men, women and children, who had assembled near the passenger depot. No sooner had the engine wheels made their first revolution on the new depot grounds, than some five hundred voices sent up their shouts of welcome. The new depot was packed to its utmost capacity, and when the train stopped a deafening cheer, and a “hip, hip, hurrah!” saluted the passengers as they alighted. The trains commenced running regularly to and from the village Monday morning. By this arrangement, our citizens are favored with the mail some half an hour earlier than before. We have made the assertion, and have no fears of making it again, that the Androscoggin Railroad depots in this village are as neat, pretty and convenient structures as can be found in the State, excepting the Grand Trunk Depot in Portland. They are an ornament to the village, and an honor to the company. The best of lumber was used in their construction, and no part of the work has been slighted. A large number of citizens witnessed the departure of the train Monday morning, which contained about forty passengers.

Feb. 9 1871: Workmen are busily engaged upon the ice-breakers in the Sandy River, just above the new railroad bridge at this place. When completed, they will effectually protest the bridge from damage by even the most sever ice freshets. The company are finished this most important part of the extension in the same substantial manner that the whole work has been done.

Spring 1871: Wednesday of last week, the damage sustained by the Railroad bridge at this place during the late freshet was repaired and that night the trains resumed their usual trips to this village. The curve in the track at the end of the bridge near the new depots having been found too short the defect has been remedied by making it more gradual.



The following information is related to the railroad and its eventual arrival on the east side of the river.

Sept. 2, 1870: The citizens of this town are reminded that a meeting will be held in the town Hall next Saturday afternoon, at 2 o’clock for the purpose of acting upon the question of accepting a road, or roads, laid out to the new depot grounds by the selectmen. Let there be a general attendance, its important that the matter should be settled immediately. The highway to these grounds will unquestionably be used by not only the citizens of this corporation but by the town and county, and the business and traveling public generally, and we hope it will be decided at that meeting to accept and build a road that shall be a credit to the town and an accommodation to all who may have occasion to do business by way of it.

Sept 8, 1870: ….town meeting to decide by the citizens of Farmington….were called upon to vote on the subject of accepting a road to the new depot grounds in this village. Two …….had been laid out by the selectmen but he most practical one commencing at the intersection of Broadway and Pleasant streets, passing on the eastern side of the Depot grounds and accessing Main Street between the dwelling houses of Daniel Beedy and Lorin Sweet seemed from the start to be the one that would be accepted. And it was accepted by a majority that speaks well for the enterprise and public spirit of the town. The sum of ($2800?) was unanimously prompted voted to build the road and pay land damages - $1,900 being the amount of the latter. This sum it is thought will be sufficient to build a road that shall accommodate all person who may have to do business over it. Work has been commenced on it in earnest, and it is hoped that by the time the Railroad Bridge is completed and the company are ready to land passengers and freight upon their new grounds, a good roadway will have been completed and the public will be put to no inconvenience or discomfort for want of prompt action on the part of the town. The railroad company have promptly in the manner of extending their road to the latter of the contract, they have nearly completed their bridge of 2200 feet in length, have got near the [?] a large portion of the lumber for their new Depot buildings and will have their train running on this side of the river inside two weeks, with temporary platforms {?} for passenger and freight accommodation.

Nov. 3, 1870: The street to the new Depot Building is now open to the pubic and it is one of the best in town. Both Mr. Clark and Smith have done themselves credit in building it, and we doubt if they have made much money out of it. The passenger depot is nearly completed, and the trains will commence running to this village in a few days.

Dec. 15, 1870: We understand that Hon. F. G. Butler and A. W. F. Belcher will erect a building early the coming spring, on land owned by the latter, just east of the Farmington Depot of the Androscoggin Railroad in the village, to be used as a store-house for the stores. The building is to be forty two feet deep, with a street front of fifty feet. This is a step in the right direction and we know of no better men to make the thing a success. Convenient store-rooms for the large amount of goods shipped over this road is every day becoming more of a necessity, and we believe the time is not far distant when more such buildings will be needed. Men who are willing to put their hands in their pockets and provide for a public want, not only deserve rich renumeration, but they are those to whom we must now look for the proper improvement of the advantages offered our citizens by the extension of the railroad to this village. One enterprise leads to another, and if the signs of the times indicate anything, some kind of manufacturing will be in successful operation here in less than two years from the day the first train of cars arrived at the terminus of the Androscoggin Railroad. March 16, 1871: The late rains have shown the urgent necessity of building a drain on the east side of the street leading from Pleasant to the new depots. At the intersection of the street with Broadway, and in fact from thence to the stone culvert, the road has been bullied and rendered dangerous. We hope the proper authorities will remedy it before a bill of cost is made up against the town.

April 27, 1871: The new street passing to the depot from Broadway is being repaired – at least the washouts are being tended to. Now is the time to lay a permanent drain on the east side of the street to carry off the water which runs there in torrents during every shower.

This information was taken from the Franklin Chronicle Newspaper copies of which are available on microfilm at the University of Maine Library here in Farmington.