• The contract to build the Mechanic Falls line, the line from Sabattus to Gardiner and the Augusta-Waterville line, has been awarded to Gore Bros. of Boston. The construction work will begin as soon as the ground is in condition, and it is expected that the roads will be in operation by mid-summer.

• The first consignment of pulpwood by steamer for the International Paper Co. mills at Rumford Falls arrived from the Provinces. The cargo was 10,600 bundles of pulpwood and was brought by the Norwegian steamship Nauna, one of the fleet recently chartered by the I.P. Co. to carry pulpwood between Portland and the Provinces.

50 years ago, 1957

• Lewiston’s three largest funeral homes, Conley & Fahey Funeral Home, Fortin Funeral Directors and Pinette Funeral Directors, announced that they will discontinue immediately the virtually free ambulance service they have been supplying.

• A quick afterthought by Old Man Winter deposited more than 4 inches of snow on Twin City streets to tie up morning traffic and to make the going slippery on all roads hit by the northeaster.

A sharply stepped-up program of laboratory mouse breeding in Boston has been necessitated by an accelerated national program to find improved cancer-fighting chemicals.

25 years ago, 1982

A 30-car freight train trapped on April 7 by a large snowslide in Crawford Notch was finally freed at 6:30 p.m. Crews and a large crane worked all day to free the train but were unsuccessful until the Maine Central Railroad brought in two additional locomotives in addition to the four which were already part of the train. Five crewmen on board the train during the accident were unhurt after search teams and rescuers on snowmobiles found them. Two men were taken out of the caboose and another three remained in the locomotive until enough snow could be removed to get them out, several hours later.