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Maine’s history with railroads dates back to the mid-1800s. In Portland, the Portland, Saco & Portsmouth Railroad started running in 1942. Fast forward to 2002.
This was the year passenger service was restored, when Amtrak’s Downeaster started running from Portland to Boston, with stops in Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts. Here are five photos that show Portland’s rich train history across five decades, starting with the ’30s. Several women get ready to travel from Portland’s Union Station in a photo from 1939.
Special trains helped transport thousands of visitors to Maine mountains, lakes, sea and countrysides for summer vacations and summer camps. Portland Press Herald photo courtesy Portland Public Library Special Collections and Archives In late June 1940, a girls summer camp group gathers at Union Station in Portland in front of the arrivals board, tennis racquets in hand . Portland Press Herald photo courtesy Portland Public Library Special Collections and Archives Four men stand outside the Swift and Company warehouse at 336 Commercial St.
in Portland in 1951, next to boxcars filled with steaks. Portland Press Herald photo courtesy Portland Public Library Special Collections and Archives In June 1960, groups of children head to summer camp. More than 1,000 campers passed through Union Station on that day, with more special trains scheduled for the next day.
Press Herald photo courtesy of Portland Public Library Special Collections and Archives A freight train runs along Commercial Street by Portland’s waterfront in a photo from the Evening Express on Sept. 27, 1983. Press Herald photo courtesy Portland Public Library Special Collections and Archives See more photos of life in Maine from our archives here.
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