The Boston and Maine Railroad, "The Route Of The Minute Man"

The Boston and Maine Railroad has its beginnings in the summer of 1835 and would connect its namesake city with Portland, Maine (thus where its name comes from). The formation of the B&M came about from the mergers of several smaller lines, which would assume the Boston and Maine banner. These included such names as the Maine, New Hampshire & Massachusetts Railroad; Boston & Lowell; Eastern Railroad; Worcester, Nashua & Portland, Northern Railroad; Connecticut Railroad; Concord & Montreal; and Fitchburg Railroad. Through these mergers, by the early years of the 20th century the B&M had grown to its largest length, over 2,000 miles, which reached the markets of (aside from Portland and Boston) northeastern Vermont and northern New Hampshire, most of Massachusetts and western New York (basically most of New England).

The growth of the B&M was a result of a heavily industrialized Northeast which existed for many years until following WWII when businesses slowly began to move away (most notably from the 1960s through the 1980s). During this time the B&M was a very profitable operation and while never a large operator of passenger trains did run commuter services with its more well known named trains including the Ambassador (Concord, New Hampshire to White River Junction, Vermont), Alouette (Boston and Wells River, Vermont), Green Mountain Flyer (Bellow Falls, VT to Montreal via CN and the Rutland Railroad), and the lightweight streamliner Flying Yankee a near identical sister to the famous Burlington Zephyr 9900.

Like most Northeastern carriers, following WWII (and especially the latter 1950s) the Boston and Maine Railroad began to see profits drying up and it did not help any that during the late 1950s and early 1960s the railroad had a president unable to effectively manage the railroad (one problem of which was deferring maintenance and allowing the railroad to deteriorate to critical conditions). It was almost inevitable then that the B&M went bankrupt on February 1, 1970 (a time period when almost all of its surrounding competitors were throwing in the towel as well).

Miraculously, however, it was able to avoid inclusion into the Consolidated Rail Corporation (Conrail), which began operations on April 1, 1976. A new president kept this from happening whose name was Alan B. Dustin. Dustin rescued the railroad from the brink and through aggressive management, marketing, and sound railroading the B&M began to once again see black (which, considering the Northeast rail grid during these years its amazing the railroad was able to accomplish such a feat).

Now a successful Regional operation it’s not surprising that someone would be interested in purchasing the B&M. After recently emerging from its 1970 bankruptcy, the Boston and Maine Railroad was purchased by Timothy Mellon, founder of Guilford Transportation Industries in 1983.

Motive Power Fleet

All-time Boston and Maine Railroad Diesel Locomotive Roster and Preserved Units

Notable Boston and Maine Railroad Passenger Trains

Alouette: (Boston - Montreal)

Ambassador: (New York - Boston/Montreal)

Cheshire: (Boston - White River Jct.)

Day White Mountains: (New York - Berlin, New Hampshire)

Green Mountain Flyer: (Boston - Montreal)

The Gull: (Boston - Halifax, Nova Scotia)

Kennebec: (Boston - Portland - Bangor)

Minute Man: (Boston - Troy, New York)

Montrealer/Washingtonian: (Washington - Montreal)

Mountaineer: (Boston - Littleton/Bethlehem, New Hampshire)

Pine Tree: (Boston - Portland - Bangor)

Red Wing: (Boston - Montreal)

State of Maine: (New York - Portland)

Mellon’s new system included a black livery with a bright orange trim and white lettering and sub-lettered his equipment to the owning railroad (such as the Maine Central, Boston & Maine, and D&H). Today the D&H is no longer part of the system and Guilford would later change its name to Guilford Rail System and even it no longer exists as its name was dissolved in 2006 in favor of parent Pan Am Systems’ Pan Am Railways. Today the Boston and Maine Railroad is still officially on the books although it survives now mostly in name only and it is unlikely the railroad will ever be spun off from the Pan Am system.

For more on the B&M you may want to consider Boston & Maine Trains and Services from author Bruce Heald. The book is 128 pages in length and not only offers a well-written history of the Boston & Maine system itself but also goes into detail (to some extent) of the overall growth of the New England railroad industry from its earliest beginnings to the "golden age" of the region. If you have any interest in the B&M you will likely find this book quite interesting.