R. R. Station, Fairmont, Maine 3

R. R. Station, Fairmont, Maine 3

"R. R. Station, Fairmont, Maine 3" Rail "Fairmount is a locale within the town of Fort Fairfield, Maine. Just south of Fairmount is the town of Easton. In 1895, the Bangor and Aroostook Railroad constructed a mainline north from Houlton, Maine, to Presque Isle and Caribou. About five miles south of the Presque Isle built-up area, the railroad built a branch-line 13.24 miles to the village of Fort Fairfield in the same year. Fairmount is 6.8 miles from the junction with the main line (originally called Fort Fairfield Junction in railroad materials but later referred to as Phair Junction) and 6.4 miles from the Fort Fairfield passenger station. The Fairmount station is described on an ICC Valuation work paper dated July 6, 1916, as a "combination station," built in 1902. It contained both a freight room and a waiting room, in addition to an office. The building's overall dimensions were 18 feet by 36 feet. The building had a "wood foundation." The wooden platform was 9'4" wide and 155 feet long, made of 3 inch spruce planks. Immediately to the right of the station, barely visible at the edge of the image, connected by the wooden platform, was a "toilet" structure. Passenger service on this branch line ended in the 1940s, but in the early 1900s there often were four passenger or mixed trains per day in each direction. The station was "retired" in 1952, according to the railroad's maintenance cards. The main road south from Fort Fairfield to Easton and beyond to Houlton is behind the station in this image. Today, that route is US Route One A, although it has been shifted a few hundred feet to the north to eliminate sharp curves." -- Peter McKenney, 2011