Wikipedia:WikiProject Trains/ICC valuations/Maine Central Railroad

Interstate Commerce Commission, Valuation Reports, Volume 30

Location and General Description of Property
The railroad of Maine Central Railroad Company, hereinafter called the carrier, is a standard-gage, steam railroad, whose owned mileage is located entirely in the State of Maine. Mileage operated under lease is located in the States of Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont, and includes about 58 miles in the Dominion of Canada not incorporated in this report. The operated mileage consists of a network of railways traversing the southern part of the State of Maine, a single artery crossing the State of New Hampshire, and lines in Vermont.

The carrier also owns and operates a regular marine service for distributing and collecting summer travel between the road's terminal at Rockland and several points on Penobscot Bay and also between its railhead at Mount Desert Ferry and Bar Harbor, and other points on Mount Desert Island and the adjacent coast.

The carrier wholly owns 642.491 miles of road, all of which it uses. It also uses, under lease, 461.409 miles of road owned by its lessor companies, reported upon hereinafter, and 27.590 miles of road owned by the St. Johnsbury and Lake Champlain Railroad Company—a total of 488.999 miles. The total all-track mileage used is 1,612.721, of which the carrier owns 954.884 miles and the lessor companies and the St. Johnsbury and Lake Champlain 657.837 miles. In addition, the carrier owns and uses jointly and equally with other carriers 0.255 mile of first main track and 0.936 mile of yard tracks and sidings—a total of 1.191 miles of all tracks. These mileages are further classified in the trackage table in Appendix 1, where will also be found further description of the properties operated by the carrier.

The carrier leases trackage from the Portland and Ogdensburg, which it subleases to the Portland Terminal Company, as shown in the report on the Portland and Ogdensburg.

The carrier enjoys certain trackage rights, the most important of which are over the lines owned and used by the Portland Terminal Company, whereby the carrier gains entrance into Portland, Me.

Corporate History
A private act of the Legislature of the State of Maine approved April 1, 1856, and amended March 17, 1862, provided for the consolidation of three railroad corporations, named in Appendix 2. In accordance with this act, two of them, the Androscoggin and Kennebec Railroad Company and the Penobscot and Kennebec Railroad Company, were consolidated under the name of Maine Central Railroad Company on October 28, 1862. From that date the carrier has steadily increased its holdings by purchasing the rights and franchises of other corporations, by leasing railway property, by constructing lines in its own name, and by financing other corporations and subsequently absorbing them. During the 60 years of its corporate existence it has acquired the properties of 12 corporations which, in turn, had succeeded to that of 16 others; so that, either directly or indirectly, the carrier is successor to 28 corporations. The dates of incorporation of predecessor companies and the dates and manner of their succession, will be found in Appendix 2. The principal office of the carrier is at Portland, Me.

The carrier's corporate organization is the result of merger into one system of 12 corporations between the years 1862 and 1914.

A private act of the Legislature of the State of Maine, approved April 1, 1856, provided that the Androscoggin and Kennebec Railroad Company, the Androscoggin Railroad Company, and the Penobscot and Kennebec Railroad Company were authorized at any time to consolidate Into one corporation. On March 17, 1862, a section of the law that had not proven acceptable to the companies was repealed and on October 28, 1862, two of them, the Androscoggin and Kennebec and the Penobscot and Kennebec were consolidated under the name Maine Central Railroad Company.

A private act of the legislature approved February 26, 1873, authorized the Androscoggin Railroad Company, the Portland and Kennebec Railroad Company, the Somerset and Kennebec Railroad Company, and the Leeds and Farmington Railroad Company to consolidate, or such of them as so elected, into one corporation with the carrier. On November 16, 1874, the above-named corporations, with the exception of the first named, were consolidated with the carrier.

Subsequent to this consolidation, the carrier acquired the property, rights and franchises of the several corporations listed below, on the dates indicated and under private acts of the legislature on dates as shown:

Of the corporations whose properties were acquired by the carrier, the Maine Shore Line Railroad Company reserved certain franchise rights and the Washington County Railway Company, Somerset Railway Company, and the Rangeley Lakes and Megantic Railroad Company continued their corporate organizations.

The following statement shows facts concerning the incorporation and succession of companies, which were directly or indirectly predecessors of the carrier.

Development of Fixed Physical Property
Through the consolidation of the Androscoggin and Kennebec Railroad Company and the Penobscot and Kennebec Railroad Company in 1862, the carrier succeeded to 109 miles of road owned by those corporations, which was increased from time to time until, on date of valuation, 642.491 miles of road were solely owned and used in the United States.

The carrier has leased all the property of 13 railway corporations and part of the property of another; some of these lines it later purchased. By leasing these properties, it came into possession of the leasehold interests of their owners in six other properties; that is to say, it subleased them. So that, in all, it leased, directly or indirectly, 19 entire properties and part of another. Each of the 19 it operated for a time under lease, but now and then ownership of one or more of them passed to the carrier by reason of consolidations or purchase, until 4 of the leased and 2 of the subleased properties became its own. Its leasehold interest in the other 13 and its operations of them continued.

The 6 lines formerly leased and subsequently acquired do not constitute all of the carrier's owned property. In addition to them, it has purchased the property of 6 other companies which, during their independent existence, were not operated by the carrier. It has, therefore, succeeded to the property rights of 12 companies. And further, it has constructed lines of its own. The outcome of these transactions is shown in the following summary of mileage of road acquired, all of which is located in Maine.

Leased Railway Property
The carrier uses on date of valuation property owned by other companies and other companies use property owned by the carrier to the extent indicated in the statement below. The description of the property, the period and terms of use, and the rentals accrued for the year ended on date of valuation are as follows: