Portland Company


The Portland Company was established 10 November 1846 by John A. Poor and Norris Locomotive Works engineer Septimus Norris as a locomotive foundry to build railroad equipment for the adjacent Portland terminus of the Atlantic and St. Lawrence Railroad connection between Portland, Maine and Montreal. The shops opened for business in October, 1847. Its first locomotive, the Augusta, emerged from the shops in July 1848 for delivery to the Portland, Saco & Portsmouth. Over the next several decades, the Company produced in its Fore Street facilities over 600 steam locomotives as well as 160 merchant and naval vessels, railcars, construction equipment, Knox automobiles, and the like. Portland Company built the engines of the civil war side-wheel gunboats and. Taking into account its other products, the Company could lay claim to being one of the leading medium-to-heavy steel manufacturers in New England. The company ceased production in 1978.
Presently, according to The Portland Company Complex website, the site has become a marine-oriented complex with a small marina, several marine as well as other office tenants and the Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad Co. & Museum.

5'6"-gauge locomotives for the Atlantic and St. Lawrence Railroad

Works numberDateTypeWeightDriversCylindersA&StL#NameGTR #
2September 18484-4-023 tons60"15x221Montreal101
530 December 18484-4-023 tons60"15x222Machigonne102
624 February 18494-4-022 tons60"15x223 Oxford103
816 May 18494-4-024 tons60"14x204William P. Preble104
1330 December 19494-4-022 tons66"15x205Waterville105
141 February 18504-4-022 tons66"15x206Coos106
1818504-4-025 tons60"15x2026Jenny Lind
19January 18514-4-022 tons60"15x207Felton107
20June 18514-4-024 tons54"17x228Railway King108
28December 18514-4-022 tons60"14x209Casco109
29January 18524-4-022 tons66"15x2010Forest City110
30March 18524-4-020 tons60"13x2011Danville111
3118524-4-023 tons60"13x2027Consuelo
32May 18524-4-022 tons60"14x2212Falmouth112
3611 November 18524-4-022 tons60"15x2013Daniel Webster113
40January 18534-4-024 tons60"16x2214Cumberland114
41April 18534-4-024 tons60"16x2217Norway117
4227 January 18534-4-021 tons66"14x2215Nulhegan115
4311 April 18534-4-023 tons72"15x2216Paris116
4424 June 18534-4-023 tons66"15x2220Gloucester120
4523 May 18534-4-024 tons60"15x2218Yarmouth118
46June 18534-4-024 tons60"15x2219Amonoosuc119
4820 September 18534-4-024 tons60"16x2221Vermont121
4916 November 18534-4-022 tons72"14x2222Gorham122
561 December 18534-4-023 tons72"15x2223J.S.Little123

Two-Foot Gauge Locomotives

In 1890, The Portland Company acquired patterns used by the Hinkley Locomotive Works for 2-foot gauge locomotives. Portland improved the pattern into the most successful design on Maine's 2-foot gauge railroads. The Portland design retained ornate Victorian features including capped domes and a cab roof with graceful reversing curvature. The first of the design was the heaviest and most powerful locomotive on any of the Maine 2-foot gauge railroads at the time of delivery. Portland locomotives became the standard for passenger service as larger freight engines were built. Portland locomotives were subsequently used for yard service and on lines with lighter rail. Portland Company was the dominant manufacturer of freight cars for the Maine 2-foot gauge railroads between 1890 and 1907.
The final 2-foot gauge locomotive built by The Portland Company was a less successful enlargement of the original design. Vulcan Iron Works built two modernized versions of Portland's basic design for the Monson Railroad in 1913 and 1918 after Portland Company ceased manufacture of railway locomotives. The basic Portland design pulled the last Kennebec Central Railroad train in 1929, the last Wiscasset, Waterville, and Farmington Railway train in 1933, and the last Monson Railroad train in 1943.
Works numberDateTypeWeightRailroadNumberNotes
6157 October 18900-4-4 Forney locomotive18 tonsPhillips and Rangeley Railroad1became Sandy River and Rangeley Lakes Railroad #7
61622 October 18900-4-4 Forney locomotive18 tonsSandy River Railroad4became Sandy River and Rangeley Lakes Railroad #5
621December 18900-4-4 Forney locomotiveKennebec Central Railroad2
6222 May 18910-4-4 Forney locomotive18 tonsSandy River Railroad5became Sandy River and Rangeley Lakes Railroad #6 then Kennebec Central Railroad #4 then Wiscasset, Waterville and Farmington Railway #9 preserved
62414 April 18920-4-4 Forney locomotive19 tonsBridgton and Saco River Railroad3became Kennebec Central Railroad #3 then Wiscasset, Waterville and Farmington Railway #8
626November 18940-4-4 Forney locomotive19 tonsWiscasset and Quebec Railroad2
627November 18940-4-4 Forney locomotive19 tonsWiscasset and Quebec Railroad3
628November 19062-4-4 Forney locomotive27 tonsBridgton and Saco River Railroad5

Preserved Portland locomotives

The following locomotives built by Portland have been preserved.
Serial numberWheel arrangement
Build dateOperational ownerDisposition
2334-4-01872Grand Trunk Railway number 40Canada Science and Technology Museum
6220-4-4T Forney locomotive2 May 1891Sandy River Railroad number 5
Sandy River and Rangeley Lakes Railroad number 6
Kennebec Central Railroad number 4
Wiscasset, Waterville and Farmington Railway number 9
Wiscasset, Waterville and Farmington Railway

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