Portland Company

Portland Company
IndustryRailroad equipment
FoundedNovember 10, 1846 (178 years ago) (1846-11-10)
Founder
Defunct1978 (1978)
Headquarters
New England
,
United States

The Portland Company was established 10 November 1846 by John A. Poor and Norris Locomotive Works engineer Septimus Norris as a locomotive foundry to build railroad equipment for the adjacent Portland terminus of the Atlantic and St. Lawrence Railroad connection between Portland, Maine, and Montreal.[1] The shops opened for business in October, 1847.[2] Its first locomotive, the Augusta, emerged from the shops in July 1848 for delivery to the Portland, Saco & Portsmouth (later part of the Boston and Maine Railroad). Over the next several decades, the company produced in its Fore Street facilities over 600 steam locomotives as well as 160 merchant and naval vessels, railcars, construction equipment, Knox automobiles, and the like. Portland Company built the engines of the civil war side-wheel gunboats Agawam and Pontoosuc.[3] Taking into account its other products, the company could lay claim to being one of the leading medium-to-heavy steel manufacturers in New England. The company ceased production in 1978.

Presently, according to The Portland Company Complex website, the site has become a marine-oriented complex with a small marina, several marine as well as other office tenants and the Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad Co. & Museum.

The Portland Company building is the only intact 19th-century industrial structure on the Portland waterfront,[4] and an area which has become known as Portland Foreside.[5] In February 2016, Portland City Council voted to approve the creation of a historic district which would permit a developer to demolish the former erecting shop in the complex but preserve seven other buildings during the creation of a public plaza.[6] Six months later, the developer asked to move the main building, built in 1895 and formerly known as the Pattern Storehouse, 230 feet (70 m) in order to add a road, parking garage and mixed-use buildings in the complex.[7]

As of 2024, the building is the home of the restaurant Twelve.[8]

5 ft 6 in (1,676 mm)-gauge locomotives for the Atlantic and St. Lawrence Railroad

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Coos was the 14th locomotive built by Portland Company
Black print by engraving on white paper of the bust of a middle-aged white man with hair parted on the side and bunching up kind of like Princess Leia around his ears with a mildly stern countenance and the smallest jowls. He is wearing a standard suit jacket over a white shirt and a simple bow tie around the collar. There is nothing in the background but the white of the paper.
Founder John A. Poor
Works number Date Type Weight Drivers Cylinders A&StL# Name GTR #
2 September 1848 4-4-0 23 tons 60" 15x22 1 Montreal 101
5 30 December 1848 4-4-0 23 tons 60" 15x22 2 Machigonne 102
6 24 February 1849 4-4-0 22 tons 60" 15x22 3 (1st) Oxford 103
8 16 May 1849 4-4-0 24 tons 60" 14x20 4 William P. Preble 104
13 30 December 1949 4-4-0 22 tons 66" 15x20 5 Waterville 105
14 1 February 1850 4-4-0 22 tons 66" 15x20 6 Coos 106
18 1850 4-4-0 25 tons 60" 15x20 26 Jenny Lind
19 January 1851 4-4-0 22 tons 60" 15x20 7 Felton 107
20 June 1851 4-4-0 24 tons 54" 17x22 8 Railway King 108
28 December 1851 4-4-0 22 tons 60" 14x20 9 Casco 109
29 January 1852 4-4-0 22 tons 66" 15x20 10 Forest City 110
30 March 1852 4-4-0 20 tons 60" 13x20 11 Danville 111
31 1852 4-4-0 23 tons 60" 13x20 27 Consuelo
32 May 1852 4-4-0 22 tons 60" 14x22 12 Falmouth 112
36 11 November 1852 4-4-0 22 tons 60" 15x20 13 Daniel Webster 113
40 January 1853 4-4-0 24 tons 60" 16x22 14 Cumberland 114
41 April 1853 4-4-0 24 tons 60" 16x22 17 Norway 117
42 27 January 1853 4-4-0 21 tons 66" 14x22 15 Nulhegan 115
43 11 April 1853 4-4-0 23 tons 72" 15x22 16 Paris 116
44 24 June 1853 4-4-0 23 tons 66" 15x22 20 Gloucester 120
45 23 May 1853 4-4-0 24 tons 60" 15x22 18 Yarmouth 118
46 June 1853 4-4-0 24 tons 60" 15x22 19 Amonoosuc 119
48 20 September 1853 4-4-0 24 tons 60" 16x22 21 Vermont 121
49 16 November 1853 4-4-0 22 tons 72" 14x22 22 Gorham 122
56 1 December 1853 4-4-0 23 tons 72" 15x22 23 J.S.Little 123

Two-foot gauge locomotives

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In 1890, The Portland Company acquired patterns used by the Hinkley Locomotive Works for two-foot gauge locomotives. Portland improved the pattern into the most successful design on Maine's two-foot gauge railroads. The Portland design retained ornate Victorian features including capped domes and a cab roof with graceful reversing curvature. The first of the design was the heaviest and most powerful locomotive on any of the Maine two-foot gauge railroads at the time of delivery. Portland locomotives became the standard for passenger service as larger freight engines were built. Portland locomotives were subsequently used for yard service and on lines with lighter rail. Portland Company was the dominant manufacturer of freight cars for the Maine two-foot gauge railroads between 1890 and 1907.

The final two-foot gauge locomotive built by The Portland Company was a less successful enlargement of the original design. Vulcan Iron Works built two modernized versions of Portland's basic design for the Monson Railroad in 1913 and 1918 after Portland Company ceased manufacture of railway locomotives. The basic Portland design pulled the last Kennebec Central Railroad train in 1929, the last Wiscasset, Waterville, and Farmington Railway train in 1933, and the last Monson Railroad train in 1943.

Works number Date Type Weight Railroad Number Notes
615 7 October 1890 0-4-4 Forney locomotive 18 tons Phillips and Rangeley Railroad 1 became Sandy River and Rangeley Lakes Railroad #7
616 22 October 1890 0-4-4 Forney locomotive 18 tons Sandy River Railroad 4 became Sandy River and Rangeley Lakes Railroad #5
621 December 1890 0-4-4 Forney locomotive Kennebec Central Railroad 2
622 2 May 1891 0-4-4 Forney locomotive 18 tons Sandy River Railroad 5 became Sandy River and Rangeley Lakes Railroad #6 then Kennebec Central Railroad #4 then Wiscasset, Waterville and Farmington Railway #9, preserved in operational condition at WW&F Railway Museum
624 14 April 1892 0-4-4 Forney locomotive 19 tons Bridgton and Saco River Railroad 3 became Kennebec Central Railroad #3 then Wiscasset, Waterville and Farmington Railway #8
626 November 1894 0-4-4 Forney locomotive 19 tons Wiscasset and Quebec Railroad 2
627 November 1894 0-4-4 Forney locomotive 19 tons Wiscasset and Quebec Railroad 3
628 November 1906 2-4-4 Forney locomotive 27 tons Bridgton and Saco River Railroad 5

Preserved Portland locomotives

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The following locomotives built by Portland have been preserved.

Serial number Wheel arrangement
(Whyte notation) 		Build date Operational owner(s) Disposition
233[9] 4-4-0 1872 Grand Trunk Railway number 40 On display at the Canada Science and Technology Museum[10]
622 0-4-4T Forney locomotive 2 May 1891 Sandy River Railroad number 5
Sandy River and Rangeley Lakes Railroad number 6
Kennebec Central Railroad number 4
Wiscasset, Waterville and Farmington Railway number 9 		Operational at the Wiscasset, Waterville and Farmington Railway[11]

References

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  • Alexander, E.P. (1941). Iron Horses. Bonanza Books.
  • Barney, Peter S. (1986). The Wiscasset, Waterville and Farmington Railway: A Technical and Pictorial Review. A&M Publishing.
  • Clegg, Anthony & Corley, Ray (1969). Canadian National Steam Power. Trains & Trolleys: Montreal.
  • Cornwall, L. Peter & Farrell, Jack W. (1973). Ride the Sandy River. Pacific Fast Mail.
  • Crittenden, H. Temple (1976). The Maine Scenic Route. McClain Printing.
  • Holt, Jeff (1986). The Grand Trunk in New England. Railfare.
  • Johnson, Ron (n.d.). Maine Central R.R. Mountain Division. 470 Railroad Club.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: year (link)
  • Jones, Robert C. (1979). Two Feet Between the Rails (Volume 1 - The Early Years). Sundance Books.
  • Jones, Robert C. (1980). Two Feet Between the Rails (Volume II - The Mature Years). Sundance Books.
  • Jones, Robert C. & Register, David L. (1987). Two Feet to Tidewater The Wiscasset, Waterville & Farmington Railway. Pruett Publishing Company.
  • Jones, Robert C. (1993). Two Feet to the Lakes. Pacific Fast Mail.
  • Jones, Robert C. (1999). Two Feet to Togus. Evergreen Press.
  • Meade, Edgar T. Jr. (1968). Busted and Still Running. The Stephen Greene Press.
  • Moody, Linwood W. (1959). The Maine Two-Footers. Howell-North.
  • Switzer, David C. (November 1964). "Down-East Ships of the Union Navy". Proceedings. 90/11/741. United States Naval Institute.

Notes

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  1. ^ S.B. Beckett (1850). The Portland directory and reference book, for 1850-51. Thurston & Co., printer.
  2. ^ Holt, Jeff (1985). The Grand Trunk in New England. Railfare. p. 124. ISBN 0-919130-43-7.
  3. ^ Switzer, November 1964, p.85
  4. ^ "Greater Portland Landmarks - Portland Company". Greater Portland Landmarks. Retrieved 2024-04-21.
  5. ^ "Next Phase of Portland, Maine, Mixed-Use Project Gets Green Light : CEG". www.constructionequipmentguide.com. Retrieved 2024-04-21.
  6. ^ "City Council approves historic district that allows demolition of Portland Co. building". Press Herald. 2016-02-17. Retrieved 2024-04-21.
  7. ^ "Project at Portland Co. site involves moving historic brick building". Press Herald. 2016-08-03. Retrieved 2024-04-21.
  8. ^ Tavares, Nathan (2022-07-13). "First Look: This New Portland Restaurant Is a Love Letter to Local Food". Boston Magazine. Retrieved 2024-04-21.
  9. ^ McGee, David (2007). "Canadian National 4-4-0 #40" (PDF). Railway Bob. Archived from the original (PDF) on November 15, 2019. Retrieved November 15, 2019.
  10. ^ Clegg, Anthony & Corley, Ray (1969). Canadian National Steam Power. Trains & Trolleys: Montreal. p. 58.
  11. ^ "The Restoration of Engine 9". Wiscasset, Waterville and Farmington Railway Museum. Retrieved 2013-03-31.

Archives and records

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