Rockland station is a railway station located at Union and Pleasant Streets in

Rockland, Maine Rockland is a city in Knox County, Maine, in the United States. As of the 2020 census, the town population was 6,936. It is the county seat of Knox County. The city is a popular tourist destination. It is a departure point for the Maine State ...

. It is the eastern terminus of the

Rockland Branch The Rockland Branch is a railroad from Brunswick, Maine to Rockland, Maine. A charter was granted in 1849 to build a railway from the Portland and Kennebec Railroad on the west side of the Kennebec River to Rockland. Construction through the rock ...

, a state-owned track connecting Rockland and Brunswick. The historic station building was built in 1917 by the

Maine Central Railroad The Maine Central Railroad Company was a U. S. Class I railroad in central and southern Maine. It was chartered in 1856 and began operations in 1862. By 1884, Maine Central was the longest railroad in New England. Maine Central had expanded to w ...

, and was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1978 as Rockland Railroad Station. It presently houses a restaurant, and served for a time as Rockland's city hall. The line is presently inactive, having most recently had seasonal passenger service from 2004 to 2015 operated by the now-defunct

Maine Eastern Railroad Maine Eastern Railroad was a railroad that operated in coastal Maine, between Brunswick and Rockland, on the former Maine Central Rockland Branch rail line.. Maine Eastern passenger trains connected with the Amtrak '' Downeaster'' passenger tr ...

. The line would then be leased to the

Central Maine and Quebec Railway The Central Maine & Québec Railway was a Class II freight railroad operating in the U.S. states of Maine and Vermont and the Canadian province of Quebec with headquarters in Bangor, Maine. It was owned by Railroad Acquisition Holdings, LLC, ...

(CMQ) from 2015 to 2020, then to

Canadian Pacific Railway The Canadian Pacific Railway (french: Chemin de fer Canadien Pacifique) , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canadi ...

following its purchase of CMQ in 2020. CMQ originally planned to reintroduce service on the line, but not with excursions.

Description and history

The Rockland Branch line was completed in 1871, and was first operated by the Knox and Lincoln Railroad. The line was leased to the

in 1891, which took over ownership in 1901 and operated passenger service until 1959. The abandoned line was purchased by the state in 1987, and has been leased over the years to several operators. The line reaches its terminus at the southern end of Rockland's downtown area, with Pleasant Street to the south and Union Street to the east. On the south side of the track stands the 1917 station building. It is a 1-1/2 story masonry structure, built of brick and concrete. The eastern half of the building has a gabled roof with stepped ends, while the western half is only a single story in height, and is hipped at the far end. The short facade facing Union Street has no windows, but has a ceremonial entrance set in a tall round-arch opening with flanking Doric columns and pilasters. On the south side, the eastern half has three large round-arch openings, the outer two filled with multi-pane windows, and what is now the main entrance in the center one.

Passenger service

The station was the terminus for

passenger trains from

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...

, along the

from Brunswick. Until 1958 the Maine Central Railroad ran three trains a day on the days besides Sunday and fewer trains on Sunday. In Portland's

Union Station A union station (also known as a union terminal, a joint station in Europe, and a joint-use station in Japan) is a railway station at which the tracks and facilities are shared by two or more separate railway companies, allowing passengers to ...

, these trains made connections to trains to Boston, New York City, Bangor and the Canadian Maritimes. In the final months, service diminished to one daily except Sunday trip in each direction, until finally discontinuing on April 4, 1959. From 2003 to 2015, the

offered seasonal excursion service to the town, which connected to

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...

's '' Downeaster'' at Brunswick. In October 2017, the Northern New England Passenger Rail Authority announced plans to extend one weekend ''Downeaster'' round trip to Rockland between Memorial Day and Labor Day beginning in 2018. Intermediate stops would be made at Bath, Wiscasset, and Newcastle. As part of preparation, Amtrak, along with the Northern New England Passenger Rail Authority,

Maine Department of Transportation The Maine Department of Transportation, also known as MaineDOT (occasionally referred to as MDOT), is the office of state government charged with the regulation and maintenance of roads, rail, ferries, and other public transport infrastructure in ...

and the Central Maine and & Quebec Railroad, made a test run of a train on August 14.Stephen Betts, 'Train backers ride rails to Rockland,' 'Rockland-Camden-Know-Courier-Gazette, August 15, 2019 https://knox.villagesoup.com/p/train-backers-ride-rails-to-rockland/1828630

Disposition today

After service ended on the line, the station was adapted for use by the city as its city hall, occupying the building until 1996. It was listed on the

in 1978 for its architectural significance, and now houses a restaurant, Trackside Station.

References

{{National Register of Historic Places Railway stations in the United States opened in 1917 Maine Eastern Railroad Maine Central Railroad stations Railway stations on the National Register of Historic Places in Maine Transportation buildings and structures in Knox County, Maine Buildings and structures in Rockland, Maine National Register of Historic Places in Knox County, Maine Former railway stations in Maine

Description and history

Passenger service

Disposition today

See also

References