Androscoggin and Kennebec Railroad

The Androscoggin and Kennebec Railroad (A&K) is a historic U.S.

railroad Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

which operated in

Maine Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and ...

. The Androscoggin and Kennebec Railroad Co. received a charter on March 28, 1847, and by January 1850 had built a line between Waterville, Maine, and Danville, Maine (now Auburn). At Waterville, the A&K connected with the

Penobscot and Kennebec Railroad The Penobscot and Kennebec Railroad (P&K) is a historic U.S. railroad which operated in Maine. The Penobscot and Kennebec Railroad Co. received a charter on April 5, 1845, and built a line between Bangor, Maine and Waterville, Maine. At Wate ...

(P&K). At Danville, the A&K connected with the

Atlantic and St. Lawrence Railroad The St. Lawrence and Atlantic Railroad , known as St-Laurent et Atlantique Quebec in Canada, is a short-line railway operating between Portland, Maine, on the Atlantic Ocean, and Montreal, Quebec, on the St. Lawrence River. It crosses the C ...

, which opened in 1853 and was subsequently sold to

Grand Trunk Railway The Grand Trunk Railway (; french: Grand Tronc) was a railway system that operated in the Canadian provinces of Quebec and Ontario and in the American states of Connecticut, Maine, Michigan, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont. The rail ...

. In 1846, the year that the P&K was chartered, a law was enacted permitting both the P&K and A&K to consolidate under a new name. The legislation was not acceptable to both companies, thus the A&K was chartered in 1847. The P&K and A&K did not merge until after the contentious section of the previous merger legislation was

repealed A repeal (O.F. ''rapel'', modern ''rappel'', from ''rapeler'', ''rappeler'', revoke, ''re'' and ''appeler'', appeal) is the removal or reversal of a law. There are two basic types of repeal; a repeal with a re-enactment is used to replace the law ...

on September 9, 1862. The following month on October 28, 1862, the A&K and P&K merged to form 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 ...

. {{DEFAULTSORT:Androscoggin Kennebec Railroad Defunct Maine railroads Predecessors of the Maine Central Railroad Railway companies established in 1845 Railway companies disestablished in 1862 5 ft 6 in gauge railways in the United States