Railroad Name: | Androscoggin and Kennebec Railroad |
Locale: | central Maine |
Start Year: | 1847 |
End Year: | 1862 |
Old Gauge: | converted from in 1871 |
The Androscoggin and Kennebec Railroad (A&K) is a historic U.S. railroad which operated in Maine.
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 (P&K). At Danville, the A&K connected with the Atlantic and St. Lawrence Railroad, which opened in 1853 and was subsequently sold to Grand Trunk Railway.
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 The P&K and A&K did not merge until after the contentious section of the previous merger legislation was repealed on September 9, 1862. The following month on October 28, 1862, the A&K and P&K merged to form the Maine Central Railroad.