Windham Historical Society sponsors Mountain Division Railroad Line program

Today the Mountain Division track bed is best known as a walking, hiking, biking area for exercise and outdoor adventure. But in its early days the Mountain Division Railroad Line provided service for travelers and freight along the village routes to and from Portland and other destinations as well as a transportation source for summer visitors to grand Victorian hotels in Naples, Crawford Notch, North Conway, and beyond.

Historian Doug Noble will give a PowerPoint presentation
at the Little Meetinghouse, 719 Roosevelt Trail in North'
Windham, at 7 p.m. on Monday, June 22 and discuss the
Mountain Division Railroad Line's journey through towns,
stations and some other buildings along its route. The
presentation will include old photographs, postcards and
news clippings such as this one of a railroad crew from
years ago. SUBMITTED PHOTO      

At 7 p.m. on Monday, June 22, Doug Noble will give a PowerPoint presentation at the Little Meetinghouse, 719 Roosevelt Trail in North Windham that will discuss the Mountain Division Railroad Line’s journey through towns, stations, and some of the other buildings along its route. Among the visuals that Noble will present are pictures, postcards, and news clippings.

Noble is a member of the Baldwin Historical Society and developed this program about the railroad stations of the Portland Ogdensburg railroad based on a glass negative of Sebago Lake Station he found on eBay.

The old Mountain Division Railroad Line, formerly known as the Maine Central Railroad's Mountain Subdivision, is a historic, roughly 400-mile rail corridor spanning from Ogdensburg, New York to Portland, Maine. It stretches through the White Mountains and western Maine. Essentially a Maine system of transportation, at one time the railroad line left the state, traveled into New Hampshire and on to as far away as St. Johnsbury, Vermont. One time a branch even reached into Quebec in Canada.

It was originally chartered in 1867 as the Portland and Ogdensburg Railway and was originally envisioned to reach Ogdensburg at the foot of the Great Lakes and capture a part of the huge lake traffic especially during the winter when the St. Lawrence River was frozen over. Backers from Portland saw Maine rivaling Boston as a major point for shipping but that never happened.

For years, the Mountain Division Railroad Line was the center for commerce and travel through this area and the backdrop for history in the Lakes Region and beyond.

Windham Historical Society will be the program’s sponsor and will have available for viewing posters of a rail timetable and a map of early railroad lines in Maine. Photos of Windham depots, Union Station (Portland) and other items of railroad interest will be on display.

All are welcome and light refreshments will be served. Donations will always be welcomed. <