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ditching has been done. The track is laid with steel rails upon good sound ties, and is well aligned, surfaced and ballasted. The road-bed is well graded and generally well ditched and drained; the bridges are all wooden structures, and are in good condition; the station buildings are well built, comfortable and convenient; the rolling stock is firstclass. The Houlton Branch diverges from the main line of the New Brunswick Railway at Debec Junction, and extends to Houlton, eight miles. Only three miles of this road are within the limits of this State. The track and road-bed are in excellent condition in every respect. There are no bridges on this branch within the limits of this State. The station buildings at Houlton are poor, and should be replaced by better structures. A new freight platform has been built at Houlton. No accidents have occurred upon this road or on the Aroostook River Railroad, resulting in injury to persons or property.

ORCHARD BEACH RAILROAD.

This road was built for the accommodation of summer visitors at this popular resort. The track is laid upon the sand along the beach, and is kept in a safe condition for the service required. There is but one pile bridge and that is in good condition. Open observation cars are run for the purpose of giving an unobstructed view of the ocean and outlying islands. Trains are run during the summer months

only.

PORTLAND AND ROCHESTER RAILROAD.

This road has been maintained the past season in the same good condition as stated in our report of last year. The track is in good line and surface and well ballasted. The road-bed is wide, well graded, ditched and drained, and the location between the fences cleared of trees, bushes and rubbish. During the past year about eighty-three tons of steel rails, eleven thousand new cross ties, and twenty sets of switch ties have been laid. About four thousand feet of new side-tracks

have been laid, and sixteen safety switches with automatic stands purchased. Two miles of track have been raised and ballasted. Two cattle passes have been filled, and culverts substituted in their places. New granite abutments have been built at Elder's hay pass in Gorham, and the wooden stringers replaced by iron I beams. The track at that point has been raised and ballasted; the over-head bridge at South street has been replanked, and hard pine stringers have been laid on one span of the Saco river bridge, and the entire floor system has been repaired; the wooden stringers at Allen's hay pass in Alfred have been replaced by iron I beams. The walls of the open water-ways at Ash swamp and Jones' meadow have been re-built, and the wooden stringers replaced by iron I beams. New crossing gate-houses have been built at Ocean street, Deering, Cumberland Mills and Westbrook Junction. New platforms have been built at Westbrook, Cumberland Mills, Gorham and Springvale. Needed repairs have been made to buildings, etc., at other points. Eight miles of new fence and fourteen hundred and sixty feet of snow fence have been built. At Portland the Marginal Way wharf has been newly capped and planked, and the tracks planked between the bridges. A retaining wall one hundred and twelve feet long and fifteen feet high has been built at the Marginal Way bridge. The embankment of the Marginal Way at Portland should be widened and riprapped to protect it from the action of the water, and the sluice-ways should be re-built; the rolling stock is first-class and in good condition. One new engine, one combination car and five new platform cars have been added to the equipment, and ninety-four freight cars have been repaired and strengthened. The road is carefully and economically managed, and no accident has occurred resulting in injury to persons or property.

PORTLAND RAILROAD. (HORSE.)

This road is in very good condition its entire length. The paving along the city lines has been kept in thorough repair and the tracks extending out of the city have been maintained

in good line and surface. New steel rails have been laid along Pleasant street; all of the buildings at the Deering terminus have been put in good repair and painted. Two new cars have been built this season and the entire rolling stock is in good condition. The company own 223 horses, all well cared for and in excellent condition; the road is well managed; the cars are kept clean and comfortable.

ROCKPORT RAILROAD, (2.50 miles in length).

This road is located in the town of Camden and is used for the purpose of transporting limerock from the quarries to the kilns at the village of Rockport. The road has been in operation about three years. The track is laid with steel rails upon good cross-ties but needs to be aligned, surfaced and ballasted. The trestle bridges are in fair condition and safe for the service required of them. No passengers are carried upon this road. The rolling stock is good and adapted to the purposes for which it is used.

RUMFORD FALLS AND BUCKFIELD RAILROAD.

During the past season the road-bed between Sumner and Canton has been widened and raised and a portion of the track re-laid with steel rails and new cross ties, making in all twenty-one miles of steel rails. The remainder of the track is laid with iron rails and it will be necessary to renew a portion of this the coming season. The track is all well ballasted, aligned and surfaced; the bridges (with three exceptions) have all been re-built within five years, and are in good order. The Ryerson, Buckfield and Canton Mills bridges are now being repaired and strengthened. A new side track has been laid at Buckfield, and a new turn table built at Mechanic Falls. The station buildings are comfortable, convenient and in good order; the rolling stock is good, and the passenger train is equipped with the Sewall system of heating by steam from the locomotive. One car has been re-built for use on the mixed train.

SANDY RIVER RAILROAD. (Gauge two feet).

During the past season two hundred tons of new steel rails and seventeen thousand cedar cross-ties have been laid, making a total of six miles of steel rail track on the road. The road-bed has been raised in many places and the ditches cleared. The long high trestle bridge at Strong has been fully repaired and strengthened, and stone culverts and earth embankments have replaced wooden trestles at other points. Several of the smaller trestle bridges have been repaired and others are to be replaced by solid earth embankments. The bridge and culvert masonry is generally good, but the east abutment of the Sandy river bridge at Phillips has started a little, and should be backed up with stone to prevent further movement. The station buildings are in fair condition; the rolling stock is good. Six new freight cars have been added this year. The road is carefully managed and is constantly being improved. No accidents have occurred.

SEBASTICOOK AND MOOSEHEAD RAILRoad,

This road remains in about the same condition as stated in our report of last year. The track is laid with steel rails, upon good sound cedar cross-ties and fairly well ballasted. The road-bed is generally in good condition; there is but one bridge upon the line and that is in good order. The station buildings are comfortable and the rolling-stock is fair.

SOMERSET RAILROAD,

This road has been greatly improved during the last three years and compares very favorably with other roads in the State. A considerable portion of the track has been re-laid with steel rails upon good cross-ties, and all well ballasted. The road-bed is wide, well ditched and drained throughout its entire length; the track is in remarkable good line and surface and rides very smoothly. The modern lattice bridges over the Kennebec river at Norridgewock, Madison and the

Carrabassett stream at North Anson are in good condition, and all rest upon abutments and piers of first-class masonry. The station buildings at Norridgewock, Madison and Anson are old but in fair condition; the buildings at Embden are new and very good; the rolling stock is fair. The extension of the road from Embden to Solon is nearly completed and will be opened for traffic very soon. The bridge across the Kennebec river at Solon is an iron truss resting upon granite abutments and piers of first-class masonry. The road is well and carefully managed. No accident has occurred resulting in injury to persons or property.

ST. CROIX AND PENOBSCOT RAILROAD.

From Calais to Princeton, twenty-two miles, seventeen miles in Maine, five miles in the Province of New Brunswick. This road is used principally for the transportation of lumber and other freight, but regular mixed trains are run at a low rate of speed for the accommodation of passengers. During the past season, two hundred and twenty tons of new steel rails and four thousand three hundred cedar ties have been laid, and about three thousand yards of ballast put on the road-bed. The long bridges over the St. Croix river at Baring and Sprague's Falls have been thoroughly repaired and new abutments have been built at the over-head bridge at Salmon Falls. The cast iron chairs at the points on more than two miles of track have been replaced by fish plates. The road-bed has been somewhat improved by ditching and draining, and is generally in better condition than it has been for several years. The station buildings and rolling stock are in fair condition. The road is managed with great care and with freedom from accidents.

WATERVILLE AND FAIRFIELD HORSE RAILROAD.

This road has been built and operated about two years. The road is well built in every respect, and the business has largely exceeded the expectations of its projectors. The cars

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