Description
A postcard showing freight car #6 of the Cumberland County Power & Light Company. The car was built by the Portland Railroad in 1910 and served as a 'Box Express' (i.e. it was box-shaped and carried express packages, much like today's UPS). The #6 was converted to a 'wrecker' which carried blocks, ropes, jacks, etc. to the scene of a wreck or derailment. Very little freight business was conducted after 1920. However the C. C. P. & L. Co. (now Central Maine Power) Freight Service remained on the car to the end.
The photo in this postcard was taken at the Deering Car house somewhere near the end of its life. It was scrapped just prior to 1940 (curatorial information provided courtesy of Donald G. Curry, Seashore Trolley Museum, 2008).
C.C.P. & L. Co. took over operation of the old Portland Railroad Company in 1912, with a 99 year lease. By 1918, the company was operating 106 closed passenger cars and 100 open cars, (nicknamed hayracks or breezers), on 106 miles of track.
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