A Maine Line and a Main Producer

The locomotive pictured on the front of this post card is an Alco S2 Switcher.

Like its S1 sister, the Alco S2 was first produced in 1940 featuring an end-cab design using McIntosh & Seymore's 539 diesel engine. The S2 was powerful and came equipped with a 1,000 horsepower rating which was very suitable for a wide range of duties from yard and switching services to freight operations. The adept little switcher was a favorite among industries because it could lug around heavy cuts of cars while also being able to negotiate the sharp curves and tight clearances found in these settings. Easily the most popular design of the S series the S2 sold more than 1,500 units to various Class Is, short lines, and industries by the time production had ended in June 1950. The information above was taken from this website. I strongly recommend that you visit it when you want to know anything train related: https://www.american-rails.com/mec.html This locomotive is shown working on the Maine Central Railroad. The Maine Central was created in 1862 through the merger of the Androscoggin and Kennebec Railroad and the Penobscot and Kennebec Railroad, resulting in a line from Danville to Bangor. The line connected with the Grand Trunk Railway on its Portland-Chicago mainline at Danville and with the Bangor and Piscataquis Railroad in Bangor. As a result of its connection with the Grand Trunk, the Maine Central initially operated on a track gauge of 5 ft 6 in known as "Canadian" or "Portland gauge". Maine Central purchased the Portland and Kennebec Railroad, which was built to standard track gauge, since it connected with the Boston and Maine Railroad at Portland. By 1871, the Maine Central completed its conversion to standard gauge to facilitate interchange of cars. In 1882, Maine Central leased the European and North American Railway (E&NA). In 1889, the Canadian Pacific Railway purchased trackage rights from the Maine Central. This Maine Central trackage formed part of the CPR's Montreal-Saint John mainline. This line was an important rail route for Canadian war material heading to the port of Saint John for shipment overseas to Europe. In 1888, the Maine Central leased the Portland and Ogdensburg Railroad, which ran from Portland, through the White Mountains of New Hampshire via Crawford Notch, and into St. Johnsbury, Vermont, where it connected with the Southeastern Railway. Maine Central also operated a line southeast from Bangor along the coast through Machias to Calais, with branches to Bucksport, Bar Harbor and Eastport. Maine Central gained stock control of the Sandy River and Rangeley Lakes Railroad in 1911 and the Bridgton and Saco River Railroad in 1912 and operated both as narrow gauge branch lines. The Maine Central was at its height by 1917 when it became nationalized during World War I under the United States Railroad Administration, having trackage which extended over 1,358 miles. It ran from Vanceboro, Calais and Eastport in the east, to Portland in the south, St. Johnsbury, Vermont in the west, and to Lime Ridge, Quebec in the north. Following World War I, Maine Central began retracting. It sold or abandoned lines such as the narrow gauge and logging branches, as well as its hotels, ferries and steamships. Beginning in 1933, Maine Central entered into a "joint management" agreement with the Boston and Maine Railroad, with which it shared the Portland Terminal Company. Faced with increased competition from cars, trucks and buses, Maine Central operated its last passenger train on September 5, 1960, and continued to reduce its freight business to reflect changing traffic. In 1980, the railroad was purchased by U.S. Filter Corporation and was then sold in 1981 to Guilford Transportation Industries, which later purchased the Boston and Maine Railroad (and thereby the Portland Terminal) in 1983 and the Delaware and Hudson Railway in 1984. The information about the Maine Central was taken from this website: https://www.trains-and-railroads.com/maine-central-railroad Here is the back of the post card: