Railroad

In an age when railroads spread across America, workers were proud of their accomplishments. These men posed to show off their beautiful locomotive and their success in building the track

Before the railroad arrived at Island Pond, the population went from a humble 200 farmers and land dwellers to a thriving 1,500 in just twenty years. A large number of new residents arrived with the development of the tracks and other railroad employment. The town soon became an important location as the halfway point between Montreal, Quebec and Portland, Maine where international links were formed by the Grand Trunk Railway.

The Grand Trunk Railway became bankrupt in 1923 and was taken over by the Canadian Government which ran the railroad through the Canadian National Railroad. Once the Canadian Government started operating the railroad, the economy was outweighed by political considerations and much of the commercial business was diverted from Portland, Maine to the Canadian ports of Halifax and St. John.

The decline of the railroad contributed to the economic deterioration of Island Pond. Passenger service ended in 1963 and by the mid-1970s much of the infrastructure was demolished.

Gallery of Railroad-related images. To view more, you can visit us at the museum and peruse the 22,000 images in our many albums.