Colorful Railroad Era Subject of Upcoming Talk

Jonathan Wells, retired Pan Am Railroad engineer

Photo: Boston & Maine Railroad Historical Society

From a press release

The once bustling railroad that ran through Springvale will come alive in an upcoming
slide show and talk by Jonathan Wells, a retired Pan Am Systems locomotive engineer who is an authority on the Worcester, Nashua and Portland division of Boston & Maine Railroad.

This 1905 photo shows a steam locomotive with the former passenger station on Pleasant Street, Springvale near the intersection with Railroad Avenue.

Photo: Maine Memory Network

Sanford-Springvale Historical Society is hosting the lecture “Springvale’s Colorful Railroad Era” at 3 pm on Sunday, October 27 at the Historical Museum at 505 Main Street, a National Historic Landmark site.

The old WN & P was the busiest single track freight railroad in the country in the early 1900s and carried rich vacationers to resorts Downeast. Due to primitive traffic control measures of the day, the railroad also had a terrible crash history.

Wells has been involved with a group that purchased and restored the former Sandown, NH depot, which is now a museum that commemorates the entire WN&P Division. Following the presentation, Lee Burnett will talk about efforts to return stone mileposts to their original location on the Springvale section of the rail bed, now a city-owned linear park.

The talks will be accompanied by a display of memorabilia collected by the family of Frederic Horne, who worked at the Springvale station of the B & M Railroad for 50 years and was the last employee when it was sold to Sanford & Eastern in 1949.

The lecture is open to the public and light refreshments will be served.
For any questions or further information, please call 207-651-1980 or email lfurbish@sanfordhistory.org