Downeast Scenic Railroad (DSRX) Discussion

Thanks, my phone wasn't down loading the page earlier. I'm a little surprised they are still only operating on weekends, I thought for sure they would have a couple of weekday departures (like a Tuesday, Thursday type of thing) by now.

Its hard to run a tourist railroad during the week with a entirely volunteer base. There maybe other circumstances which result in just weekend departures, but this is the main reason I can think of.

Coach 155 was pulled out of the “paint shop” today by Alco S4 number 1055. Getting ready for next weekend’s first passenger runs.

1055 working the yard at Washington Junction, assembling the consist for next weekend’s passenger runs.

b&m 1566 wrote:I never realized the state was going to repair the bridge so soon.

More has been done than meets the eye in those photos. Quite a bit of concrete work underway there (and I'm sure more to come).

I drove past the bridge last weekend, looks good

I was up in Ellsworth on Columbus Day weekend. Didn't get the chance to ride but did swing by Washington Junction to ogle the new shop building and look around briefly from the trail parking lot. Then my wife and I walked a ways westward down the trail, and between Main Street/Washington Junction Road and Wyman Road we saw the train approaching on its way back to the yard at the end of the day and got some nice photos.

Couple of questions - anyone have any idea what purpose/business that the now cut off siding between those two roads served? And, while it was evident on Columbus Day weekend that the Union River bridge was close-but-not-quite ready for service, did DSRX manage to meet their "end of the summer" goal of getting onto the bridge the next weekend (10/13-14, their last operating weekend of 2018)?

Good evening,
The cut off siding was for a propane dealer. Petroline I think the name was. I do not know when it was put in. When the trail extension was built, it was decided to pull the switch. It could be put back if the need for it arises.
We did not meet our goal of getting across the bridge before the end of the season. We did get all the ties in between the Route 179 crossing and 500 feet west of the bridge, or I should say our contractor did. We have been ballasting and tamping it for the last 2 weekends. The west side is done and about half the east side is done.
The bridge timbers have not been replaced, yet. We expect them to be done by the end of next month.
Leverett Fernald

That is great news indeed. Years of hard work finally paying off.

Thanks for the info, Leverett! Wishing you and your hard working colleagues continued success!

It's really neat to see this railroad grow right before our eyes, exciting times for sure. Hopefully the wife and I can get back up there soon, to hop on aboard for another ride.

I saw a pic on Facebook of the first train over the Union River Bridge in Ellsworth.

Congrats!

Just wanted to post that my wife and I rode the afternoon train today, and -once again- we enjoyed ourselves greatly. We are impressed by how professional, enthusiastic, and friendly this all-volunteer group is. The sizable crowd of patrons on board seemed to enjoy the leisurely ride. Great narration; I learned many new things I hadn’t heard on our last ride in 2014. The volunteers were all great, including the ticket window, conductor, brakemen, engineer, and “Roger the Water Boy”. I really enjoyed the extra trip over the Union River bridge. There were some kayakers navigating the river downstream.

I highly recommend this well-run scenic railroad.

Alan

article in today's bangor daily news: https://bangordailynews.com/2020/05/26/ ... n-project/

From the BDN article:

"The tender car, which will carry up to 98,000 gallons of water..." (emphasis added)

Is that a typo?